Peoria student's protest over not being able to leave campus for lunch (wedding, high school)

[sheena]

Originally Posted by AZ_singlemother

I think this is the most rediculous protest I have seen. I never was able to leave campus during lunch when I was in school - life was fine going to a school cafe. I hope parents are not supporting this. Students leaving for lunch means more traffic and accidents. That's my opinion.


http://www.azcentral.com/community/peoria/articles/0517campus0518-ON.html (broken link)

I agree totally, this is ridiculous. These kids need to stay put on campus.

[Boatdrinks]

I think it was last year that 3 or 4 high school students were killed in a terrible car accident in Chandler during lunch. They were speeding down the road on their way back to school, I think....I may have some of that info wrong, but the general point is that they were killed at lunch. A big debate started afterwards about locking down the school for lunch. I don't know if they ever did.

My thinking is that these kids are just that - "kids" - they don't NEED to leave school for lunch, nor do they have the right to leave just b/c they're old enough to drive. Seriously - have yall seen the lunch options they have in school now?!? It's crazy! They've got Pizza Hut and Taco Bell and Jamba Juice right there in the cafeteria! There's no good reason for for them to leave school, there's too much trouble they can get into, and it shouldn't be allowed. I know they can get into just as much trouble after school or before school, and they can even skip school - if they want to find trouble, they'll find it. But why the heck should they be given even more opportunities to get into trouble or, God forbid, get into a car accident? It just doesn't make any sense to me at all.

[Lisa_from_Debary]

Frankly I wish they would change the age you can get a drivers license to be 18...

I often wonder what parents are thinking when they buy their 16 year old kids an expensive sports car...they are asking for trouble on so many levels.

[AZ_singlemother]

Originally Posted by Lisa_from_Debary

Frankly I wish they would change the age you can get a drivers license to be 18...

I often wonder what parents are thinking when they buy their 16 year old kids an expensive sports car...they are asking for trouble on so many levels.

Thank you. My brother and I personally did not get our licenses until after the age of 18. European countries do not allow licenses until after 18.

[Cyanna]

Originally Posted by AZ_singlemother

Thank you. My brother and I personally did not get our licenses until after the age of 18. European countries do not allow licenses until after 18.

The UK allows one to have a driver's license at the age of 17, unless someone is 16 years old and receives the higher rate of disability. This means that the 16 year old is receiving the highest allowed amounts of disability payment due to a severe physical disability. Makes no sense to me as I would think that someone with that bad of a disability might not be very safe behind the wheel! They are talking about raising the age limit to between 18 and 21 years old due to the high rate of accidents now being caused by teen drivers. Even worse, kids in this country graduate from school at age 16, meaning they are running loose on the streets even sooner than American kids

I didn't get my first driver's license until I was 23 years old and already a wife and mother. I was too afraid of driving at a younger age!

Making kids abide by school rules serves a greater purpose. It teaches them that in life they will ALWAYS have to follow someone else's rules, like it or not, and that these rules are in place for a reason. Children who are unable or unwilling to follow rules when they are young will often grow up to be adults who find it hard to accept the authority of an employer, law enforcement or the other rules and laws that help a society to function in a more civilized manner. Most psychopaths, sociopaths and anti-social personalities are people who did not wish to follow rules. If the American government starts to bow down to the demands of children under the guise of "human rights" you will find yourself with the same out-of-control situation we have here in the UK and many other European nations...children who flaunt all the rules and laws of society because they CAN without paying the price for their actions.

[Skittles28127]

I honestly don't think it should be the schools business whether or not the kids leave for lunch or not. Leave it to the parents...whether they care or not it's not any of your guys' business to worry about other peoples children...no matter how caring the gesture may be.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by AZ_singlemother

I think this is the most rediculous protest I have seen. I never was able to leave campus during lunch when I was in school - life was fine going to a school cafe. I hope parents are not supporting this. Students leaving for lunch means more traffic and accidents. That's my opinion.


1,200 walk out to protest Peoria lunch policy (broken link)

So just because you couldn't leave, either, it makes it right...?!

One thing I'm very grateful for is the fact I didn't grow up in this country... I know people get used to just about anything (jail included) and I'd agree the way of life has changed a lot and it's always been different here to begin with... but I'd go nuts if I had to live like kids live here. No wonder shrinks can't complain of lack of business.

I was in 1st grade when my family moved to a different neighborhood, but I chose to remain in the same school. Since the end of 1st grade I rode the city buses alone. After school and during breaks, we kids were going to the movies, pastry shops, libraries, parks, etc. OK, life has changed... but to have your kids on a GPS or locked in school (schools do look like prisons, which is most likely intentional, but that's another topic)... Don't you trust your children at all? Don't you believe in yourselves that you're raising them right? Society is a major negative influence, no doubt about that, but if you've done your parenting job properly, you shouldn't worry about it so much. True, I don't have kids, so that's just my 2 cents and I already know my view is not popular. Have to say one of the main reasons not to have children was having to raise them under these circumstances. Yes, life has changed in other countries as well, but not (yet...) to such extremes. Somehow everything that starts out as a seemingly good idea turns into extremes here.

[ArizonaBear]

This I will say:

Since an 18 YO male has to register for Selective Service (draft registration); he (along with 18+ females) has the right to leave school during breaks, etc. as far as I am concerned.

Age 17 on down I can understand keeping them on the school grounds for liability reasons if nothing else.

Although; in my own case, there would have been no legal way to keep me on campus 3 months prior to my 18th birthday---------I had already graduated from 12th grade (June 1975, turned age 18 the following Sept).

[JeepGirl118]

I fully support the kids leaving for lunch - I was able to leave campus for lunch and open study halls and I did not cause any accidents. My son has a permission form signed and notarized at school for him to go off-campus. We trust our son (because he has *earned* it) - he is a great kid - quite responsible. He comes home most of the time with his friends to raid the fridge - which is a plus.

This has not caused traffic or accidents here in Fountain Hills from what I have seen and heard.

[Greatday]

Short lunch periods - leaving campus in a car spells "rushing" which equates to heightened chances for accidents - which, unfortunately, have happened - not only in Arizona but other Western states as well.

Reluctantly, I support the decision of the district