Changing the Dialogue Surrounding Masks 

As I walk down the hallway after fifth period, a teacher points to the kid in front of me and says, “Pull up your mask,” a statement we all hear four to five times per day. The kid looks the teacher dead in the eyes, pulls his mask below his chin and continues to walk. He quickly disappears into the crowd, laughing with his friends, and the teacher hopelessly continues on with her day.

This unfortunate scenario is familiar to all Exeter High School students and staff. Since our return to school in the spring of 2021, masks have been required for everyone in the building. This mandate has been met with significant disdain from many students and their families. However, with the rising cases and the new, highly contagious Omicron variant, the proper use of face masks is more important than ever. So why are students so intent on keeping their masks below their nose, and how can we encourage everyone to pull up their masks?

As a student, the first observation I’ve made is that students’ refusal to wear masks properly seems to be stemming from a place of resentment towards authority. The coronavirus pandemic has been an extremely stressful period for many students. The way I see it, students nearly lost complete control of their lives and their education during this time. Our lives were turned upside down and it felt as if we had no say in the matter. We were told when we could and could not see our friends, the format of our education seemed solely in the hands of the adults around us, and we were filtered through different cohorts and systems every few months. The last two years have made many students feel utterly powerless in a time when we are supposed to be gaining responsibility and autonomy. It should be noted that there is no blame to be placed for these feelings. In my opinion, the school did its best to give students and their families a variety of options for their education while keeping an open dialogue. Furthermore, students understand that we are not the only ones who have suffered from the pandemic; we see our teachers and parents struggling everyday as well. However, when it comes to the issue of the masks, I believe that students’ feeling of powerlessness is where the issue lies. In a time when students are feeling so controlled by adults, one of the few places autonomy can be found is in how masks are worn. A student’s small rebellion of wearing a mask below their nose, or even their chin, gives them a taste of the control they are craving.

So if students are battling against authority with unsafe behavior, how can we discourage the behavior without furthering their resentment towards teachers and administrators? I think the best solution to the problem is to encourage open conversation about masks and the pandemic in general. Administrators, teachers, and parents should give students the ability to openly voice their concerns and qualms. More importantly, adults must make students feel heard and acknowledged. Furthermore, this conversation should not be occurring through a Google Forum or survey, but rather in person, where students can see that their grievances with masks have been recognized and maybe even related to by the adults in their lives. Students don’t necessarily need the mask situation to be changed, they just need someone to say, “You’re right. That stinks. I hate it too. I hope it ends soon,” rather than “Well that’s the rule. You have to follow it.” I believe that if we can shift administrators and teachers from being the enemy that forces us to wear masks to being the adults that are validating and relating to our negative feelings about masks, we will be much more successful in convincing students to wear them properly.

The second observation I’ve made about mask wearing is that students are losing hope about returning to normal life; and therefore, they are struggling to stay motivated about proper safety precautions. I believe that if students could see the light at the end of the tunnel or had attainable goals that they could reach for, it would help encourage them to pull their masks up. Since the beginning of the school year, it has been very unclear what the school-wide data requirements are for mask wearing. Through hallway chatter, I have heard that it’s based on the town of Exeter’s case numbers, I’ve heard that we can stop wearing masks when there are no cases in the school, and a dozen other similar rules. However, I have yet to find a person that actually knows the exact data point we need to meet for the masks to come off. Of course, with the surge caused by the Omicron variant and the holiday break, we are probably far from this goal, but giving students something to look forward to may go a long way in encouraging them to pull up their masks.

The last two years have been difficult and full of uncharted territory. As such, in order to keep our school open and safe, there are probably many more changes needed than the two I suggested above. Additionally, I recognize that these changes will not work for all students, there will still be some that will despise the idea of masks. However, from a student perspective, if small tweaks are made in these two areas, I believe that we will see significant changes that will go a long way towards keeping staff and students safe.