As human beings, we love to have the freedom to express ourselves. Public high school students spend on average eight hours in a building where behaviors are set. This strips them of their individuality in their most vulnerable stage of development through bell schedules, behavioral expectations and standardized testing.
According to the school system in the U.S., it is mandatory that we must attend school every day and go through a strict daily routine (Source A). According to Source B, a typical class period in high school lasts about forty to fifty minutes.
Potentially, this class could have been a mandatory course instilled by the school. These mandatory classes take away from individuality because time is wasted on an interesting class the student would have wanted to take.
In public high schools, students are expected to behave a certain way, Our individuality has no place in high school because according to Source E, “we are constantly under the watchful eye of the administration and are stripped of many of our rights”.
At my school, many of my friends have been expelled under the “Zero Tolerance” policy, where authorities don’t tolerate any illegal conduct relating to drugs, alcohol or other illegal activities. Instead of looking at each case individually, students are simply expelled due to this policy. Many students commit suicide thinking their life is over, and this policy needs to change.
In conclusion, high school students are slowly losing their individuality in the school system today. Instead of encouraging individuality, we are only aiming at the improvement of society. We are veering towards conformity and this system will not help us at all in the future.
Statement: This essay is “excellent” overall because it shows my improvement in writing an argumentative essay compared to the beginning of the year. I develop a clear point and have a strong thesis statement that sets up the rest of my essay. I also think my commentary is good, due to my experience as a high school student.