Con: Should 18-Year-Olds Sign
Themselves Out?
Senior year comes with many perks: the Senior Lawn, knowing
the school inside-out, and the “royalty” title. It also comes
with the beloved senioritis, classified on Urban Dictionary as
“noun. A crippling disease that strikes high school seniors.
Symptoms include: laziness, a lack of studying, repeated
absences, and a generally dismissive attitude. The only known
cure is a phenomenon known as graduation.” Senioritis takes
reign on many students, and as the day creeps on it is
tempting to want to sign out of school and ditch.
At Miramonte, when students turn 18, if they have parental
permission, they can sign themselves out. This is not only
detrimental to the students education and safety, but they
also miss out on the last moments of high school they will
never get back.
According to Vice Principal Jan Carlson, when a student signs
themselves out of school after they are 18, there is no
guarantee of where they are going. “If mom calls and wants to
know where her child is, I can’t tell her where they are like
I could if the parent had called them out for an appointment,”
Carlson said. This presents a safety issue to students.
If a student signs out and doesn’t tell their parents where
they are and/or lies, in cases of emergency it could be
seriously dangerous. “Trust between the parent and child is
the most important thing,” Carlson said.
Although it is second semester and student motivation may be
lower than usual, teachers motivation is not; there is still
curriculum to teach. Classes like Gov/Econ have switched at
the semester, and to graduate, a student needs to pass this
class. Credits are needed, and skipping school whenever the
student wants can not only damage their grades, it can put
them behind on all their piling schoolwork. Miramonte prides
itself with excellent scores and students with high
motivation. Setting an example to the underclassmen, as well
as each other, is important. As tempting as leaving campus may
sound, there is partnerwork and lectures that cannot be made
up resulting in lost knowledge.
Teachers at Miramonte dedicate their time and energy working,
coming up with new lessons, and grading our work. Teachers
give their time, students should mirror that.
As sentimental as it sounds, there are only three months left
in the school year. The last three months of our high school
careers. Though the prospect of the future is exciting, many
students recount their senior year as special; “I find myself
thinking back to senior year and just wanting to graduate, but
I honestly had so much fun! Knowing everyone in your classes
is something you will almost never get again, and I miss
that,” Miramonte alum and University of Puget Sound freshman
Ariel Ziegler said. “[I’ve] been reflecting on how amazing it
was and how quickly it went by.” Similarly to Ziegler,
according to Carlson, a common thread from alum visiting is
“why was I in such a rush to leave?” The education presented
at Miramonte is top notch and the small classes, great
teachers, and common community is fleeting. Students should
only leave school if they have an appointment to go to or are
sick, for these are our lasting moments, and missing them now
will come around later as a regret.