Benilde-St. Margaret’s has cracked down on policies this year. The school feels a lot stricter and some teachers tend to police their students way too much. This is a college preparatory school, but is it preparing students for college?

Most recently, the school blocked messages on all school laptops. In college that is not a restriction and students will be more inclined to send a message during class, as they weren’t allowed to in high school. It can cause students to be distracted by sending messages.

This year the school has gotten strict on food in class and not allowing students in the lunch room while in class. Teachers don’t let students eat in class, but that is not a restriction in college—the policing of when students can eat and where is not realistic. If students have finished their work in class and have asked their teacher they should be allowed to grab food. The school can’t control when a student is hungry, because the students can’t control when they are hungry. Students should figure out how to fuel their bodies while also getting their work done because they will be on their own in college.

Some teachers tend to not allow students out of class to use the restroom. They say that “this part of the lesson is important” or “you just had lunch and passing time” this is something that students can’t control. Students should be able to decide if they can handle missing class time especially if they don’t have a track record of wandering the halls. No college professor is going to tell you that you can’t use the bathroom. They get annoyed if you even ask and prefer if you just get up and leave.

Students with a free period are now confined to a space for the whole class hour. They have to sign in and ask for permission to leave the area. During your free time in college, you are allowed to go wherever you want and don’t have to ask for permission. You do get more freedom in college in general, but having to ask for permission to leave the space you are in when you don’t have a class is ridiculous. There is no harm caused by students moving from place to place, especially when they aren’t disturbing any classes and some students need to do work in different places based on their homework.

The dress code affects students’ learning and is too strict around certain groups. It doesn’t affect students in the way the school believes. It doesn’t affect them academically, it just makes students frustrated. Students are restrained from wearing certain things. For example, students have to wear shorts that are quite long for most, so it restricts mostly girls from wearing them. When students move up to a higher level of schooling or even to the outside world, that isn’t something that will affect them, so why make it a rule now? I understand certain rules for the dress code. Such as the tank tops and shirts that have inappropriate graphics on them. Other rules however feel very targeted at certain groups of individuals and most won’t have the rule in college.