Everyone would like the idea of an open campus, it will offer Triton students the opportunity to leave school for a little time during a study or lunch, along with allowing students to take some time for themselves and return to school replenished with energy and ready to learn. I think some Triton students deserve the privilege of an open campus, and some students don’t.
Students would not have to skip classes. Kids are always looking for a class they think they might be able to skip, like study periods and other classes where maybe all their work is done or theres a sub that day. Either way, skipping class like this usually results in kids falling behind along with detention, and descending grades. We believe giving Triton students an open campus will allow students to designate a certain time to leave the school rather than leaving during a class period and skipping their class. Doing this will encourage kids to leave at an appropriate time, giving them time for themselves without the descending grades and detentions.
Students would also have the opportunity to eat what they want. We as students appreciate everything that our food staff does for us, they provide us with nutritious meals that get us through the day and give us choices with what we eat. Although, I believe anyone would rather have a French Toast bagel from “Abes”, or an Acai Bowl from “The Fresh Fix”. Triton Junior Lukas Rainsford was asked if he would rather have an Abe’s bagel or school lunch, and he quickly answered, “I would rather have an Abe’s bagel” as would most students here. Rainsford was also questioned about how an open campus would affect him, he said “An open campus at Triton would be a great idea, it would allow us to go to our homes and get our food and would give us a nice break from school.” As a high school in a more remote area we have to consider that we aren’t surrounded by a business that is right outside of our campus. If we want to get lunch somewhere as students with cars we have to drive at least 3 minutes to find an industrial area. This doesn’t mean an open campus is impossible for Triton, it just means that an option to leave school would most likely be for only kids with driver’s licenses. Triton Senior Liam Kneeland was asked how he felt if Triton had an open campus, Kneeland right away had a strong opinion stating, “I believe that students should leave whenever and wherever they want in their free time.” Kneeland was also asked if there should be a punishment if students are late and/or skipping off their free time, he said that, “Students should get in trouble if they aren’t on time and skipping class, the school should come up with a system for that problem.”
This would improve students’ enjoyment and encourage them to show up to school. Kids come to school and most don’t enjoy it, some would say they feel imprisoned, like they have no freedom. Allowing an open campus would give kids a greater sense of freedom, this would encourage kids to show up to school more. Triton Junior Kaiden Fowler says “Kids would be much happier and much more willing to go to school” and “You would get a better work ethic out of kids, and they would be in a better mood” he said this because we would all be happier if we could take a break from school to go home and eat what we want, and just have that sense of freedom to do the things we want to do.
Most schools would say no to open campuses since they don’t trust students’ bad habits of skipping and doing wrong in their free time outside of school. We asked Mr. Kelley in an in-class discussion what he thinks would happen if we had an open campus. (Not direct quote) He talked about how during the time that he was an assistant principal, seniors were allowed an open campus and he was dealing with kids coming back to school high and some not returning at all.
To tackle this issue we can use tactics that will only allow certain students to have the privilege of an open campus, just like sports eligibility the school can make a student ineligible from an open campus if failing multiple core classes. This would not only prevent kids from skipping if doing badly at school but encourage them to get their grades up for their open campus privileges. If previous issues occur, then school staff and assistant principals can enforce school rules and make sure kids who break the rules get punished with detentions or Saturday school.
We think that eligible students should be allowed to have an open campus. This would encourage kids to get better grades so they can gain the privilege and also give kids more freedom and enjoyment at Triton.
