By: Poppy Bishop 1/28/2025
There are always grievances throughout the school, but some are common enough that they are becoming more serious problems. One has stood out at EJHS for a long time, and we are ready for it to be addressed. Accountability for students simply means knowing what you need to do as a kid in school, and the responsibilities you have. This definition has clearly been misinterpreted, in a way that should not have been changed, due to the lack of consistent discipline from some teachers throughout the school.
It is 8:20 in the morning, and class has just started. The problem is, can you call it class whenever people are standing on desks, running through the room, and/or yelling while expecting no consequences? The problem is, what they expect is what they get. Teachers and faculty around EJHS have let kids who have no sense of respect, responsibility, or awareness pretty much do what they please. How would you feel when you are trying to focus on the material in front of you, but can’t because of the 5 or so kids yelling across the room with the teacher sighing in the back of the class? Or, whenever you are assigned homework because the class couldn’t finish the notes and you all had to shut your computers because of the people who decided to disrupt the class? It is simply unfair and sad for the people that honor the purpose of school, and are trying to simply gain knowledge, but can’t because of the people that decide to abuse the objective of school.
Accountability is one of the main issues students face in the Edgewood school system. The problem isn’t necessarily the teachers, it is the fact that most of the time, the rules set in place by our school administration are not followed through. Many kids in our school behave in a way that is not productive, but usually don’t get a serious consequence. Students who value school are expecting more punishment for those kids or simply just an equal punishment in the future. Crowncounseling.com reads, “40% of students experiencing severe burnout reported a significant drop in grades.” It also states, “Students with high burnout scores had a 25% lower GPA on average than other students.” If compliant students did half the things that these kids are doing in our school, we’d have huge consequences, but when they do it, it’s okay because “it’s just what they do.” It is not showing equality in our school to have some kids who put in effort and try their best be held to a higher standard simply because there is no accountability for kids who don’t put in the effort.
While we understand some kids don’t have support at home or academic support, that does not make it okay to interfere with the education of others. According to elevatetheusa.org, “Over 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year.” For these kids, throwing them into a classroom isn’t helping them, and on top of that it isn’t helping us. We have always tried to be understanding and tolerate the challenges that other kids face, but at what point do you have to say that the cost of that tolerance outweighs the benefit for all involved?
What we hope to see in the future, as compliant students, is accountability for all students. It is unfair to keep the same pattern of compliant students getting forgotten about, all because we are squared away when it comes to work and behavior. It’s exhausting to go to school all day, do every assignment, and follow all the rules when others don’t and get a surface-level punishment. Is it worth it to keep trying in school if there aren’t any consequences for not trying?
Since bringing these concerns to light, EJHS administration has made efforts to help students who are at risk of dropout. Elevatetheusa.org says, “In the United States, 75% of crimes are committed by high school dropouts. A high school dropout will, on average, earn $375,000 less dollars than high school graduates, and $1,000,000 less than college graduates.” The question is, how do we prevent students from dropping out? A new program that Edgewood as a corporation has adopted is the JAG Program. This program will help students who seem to see little value in school to better understand its purposes and hopefully begin to engage them more on a daily basis. EJHS has also created a room designated to In-School Suspension, or ISS room, where students can be regulated after making choices that resulted in them being there. Life does go on after high school, and many people forget that getting a good education is crucial to most people’s post-education lives. EJHS has done a good job of recognizing the problems that are going on in the school, and it is now just a matter of figuring out what is best for each student in the school.
In conclusion, we feel as though accountability in our school is not at the level that it should be, and that we as EJHS need to find a better way to help struggling students without punishing successful ones. While efforts are currently being made to help the issue, accountability is still not where it needs to be. Is there any reason to keep trying if nothing is going to change?