The water only campus rule, contrary to popular belief that it is a policy, has been around for quite a while. But, it has not been truly enforced until now. This unspoken rule has caused awkward situations for students, such as eating an apple in the hallway then asked to dispose of it or an accidental water spill on the carpet and soon facing insignificant consequence. Not only that, teachers are not under the scrutiny and subjection of this rule, simply because they are “more responsible”.

The given concept is that the water only campus rule should not exist at all. Many students are capable of disposing their trash and know the difference between what is correct and what is wrong.

A reason why the water-only campus rule should be removed is that it is not even a policy discussed by the school board. This is only a rule that the school put, and even then it is unnecessarily imposed just on the student body. Students are expected to act as adults, but they are not being treated as such. A fact that we are not being treated as adults is that there have been cases where the teacher is allowed to eat food in the classroom, all the while saying to a student that there cannot ever exist food.

In the workplace, all adults know the how to dispose properly. One employee might not want to follow the policy of correctly using food and beverage and will get fired. It is the same with students. All students should not be punished by the actions of a few. If the enforcement of this one regulation that isn’t even a policy and is not applied to teachers, then it should not apply for students at all.

Having a water-only campus rule is causing frustration for students. Implying the rule on students only, when students are not correctly informed, not even mentioned anywhere (i.e. the school website, student handbook, etc.), and its unfairness toward the student body is precisely the reason why this rule must be gone. There is one solution and that is to not have the rule exist because it is not a policy and it is clear to all in the school, staff and students alike, that there already is a balance between cleanliness and pride. The rule cannot punish all students for fear of something someone might do and for the actions of a few.

The water-only campus regulation is not a policy discussed by the school board and it cannot exist if it punishes the student body by the results of a few people who desired to not have common courtesy. Many students are capable of understanding and know how to correctly use and dispose of food and trash; and they know the differences of the results of their decisions.