Should There be an Open Campus Policy

Most schools that you watch in movies and on television have what is called open campus.  Open campus is when students are allowed to leave the school grounds during lunch.  Schools in warmer climates do this in real life too, but what about our school system in Norton, Massachusetts.  With our new cafeteria the school is allowing seniors only to eat outside at lunch.  That is probably as far as they will go with letting us have an open campus in my school.  There is always a pro and a con to every statement, but what about the possibility to giving students more freedom in school regarding lunch and the open campus policy.

            The school had decided to only allow seniors to eat outside during their lunch block.  Being an underclassman it does not seem fair to us.  I understand that there is not much space outside to eat with all of the construction, but we still should be allowed to at least have the choice.  Obviously with leaving the school grounds it can create controversy, but it will show a sign of trust and can allow the students to have a time of rest outside of school. Many schools only allow the students that are known to not provoke trouble and do well in school to be able to leave the school grounds.  This can enforce students to try and do better in and outside of school. It can also enable students to get what they can call a lunch.  All you hear about these days is that schools should allow healthy lunches and better portions.  We have the healthy aspect, but the portions of the lunches are way too small for growing teenagers and athletes.  With the open campus policy however, students will be able to go out and get whatever lunch and size of their lunch that they want.  The office can also get a state of rest with the lack of phone calls made to ask for the parents to drop off lunch or to bring money for it.  Students could just go and get what they needed to bring for the afternoon, which means lighter backpack loads and less chance of scoliosis in the growing teenage years. There are many pros to the open campus policy, but what about the cons?

            The open campus policy also shows cons just like any argument.  With the open campus policy it can provoke students to not want to return to class after leaving school.  Even during lunch at school a student feels that they are unable to return to class and do more work until the end of the day.  In other schools nationwide there are reports of car crashes due to having an open campus.  Yes car crashes happen all the time whether or not you cannot stop them from occurring, but with the open campus policy it allows more students on the road at one time and can lead to students being injured or killed.  “Can I have a double-cheeseburger and fries?” a statement that sounds harmless, but to administrators it is deadly.  The health of one student can change based on where the student might eat, such as McDonalds which is close to our school.  Yes there are other places to eat at but so little time to do so, so an average American will go for the quick and easy thing to grab and eat which is sadly fast food.  It can also lead students towards doing illegal things outside of school, and then returning to school on these substances. These cons can lead to the school being a liability and can cause students to get hurt or worse even killed.

            With these pros and cons for having the open campus policy it can show both sides of the argument.  With the pros it can encourage students to do well in school, but can also lead to the use of illegal substances such as drugs and alcohol. If my school was to allow an open campus policy it would be great, but they would need to enforce the requirements on being able to leave school grounds.    Whatever the reasons may be that we are not allowed the freedom of choosing where and what we want to eat, let us prove to you that teenagers can be responsible, cautious and, more importantly, mature adults.