Haley Bates

Wilson
HELA 10
23 Feb 2015

School officials or police officers

Education is an essential privilege children around the world are blessed with. A great
education is an important aspect of a childs life. Schools are responsible for carrying out the role
of providing children with the fundamentals they need to learn, guide and aid them in their
learning process, and to help children feel comfortable and pleased in a safe environment. Over
the generations, schools power has increased, which has triggered their main duties to twist and
turn from what they should be. Schools across the country compete against one another for the
best image, wealth, and academics. Their main goals have changed from helping the student
learn, to improving the schools reputation. The schools are using the power they are provided
with for their own good, not for the wellbeing of their students. This overwhelming power
influences schools to invade students privacy, establish absurd dress code rules, and change the
style of teaching within the classroom.
Invasion of Privacy is a huge issue between schools and their students. Schools around
the country do not seem to know their limits when it comes to students and their privacy. In this
day and age, technology plays a huge impact on students and teachers lives. This has led to
schools taking part in online activity and on social media. Some schools set rules dealing with

cellphones and electronics in the classroom setting. It is probable for teachers to catch students in
class with their cellular devices and take them away during class. Although the phone is in the
hands of the teacher and no longer the student, a teacher is not allowed to browse through a
students phone without their personal consent. By doing so, the teacher or school official is
taking away the students 4th amendment right. Possession of a students phone does not allow a
teacher to snoop on the phone, which is an invasion of privacy and strictly not their business or
duty to do so. In the past few years, schools have begun observing students Twitters,
Facebooks, etc and punishing students for things they consider being wrong or
inappropriate. This is an example of when a school does not know its boundaries. Students
have the freedom of speech and press guaranteed to them since the day they were born, and a
school does not have the right to take that away. Snooping and punishing kids for things not done
on school grounds or having anything to do with school is an invasion of privacy and is
ridiculous. Ethnic Alarms article Facebook Wars: Parental Abdication, School Abuse of Power
on schools manipulating their power, asks When did schools suddenly acquire disciplinary
control over what students do when they arent in school? This helps shape the idea that if a
student gets in trouble outside of school for something, the student will most likely get in trouble
in school as well. Schools are not guaranteed this right and are using their power to make it clear
they can do whatever they want. Schools have no justification for suspending students for
something that happened off of school grounds, punishing students over a simple tweet, or photo
non-school related is far out of schools authority.
Not only have schools punished students for out of school situations, but some schools
have developed tracking devices for students. Jeremy Quattlebaum shares in his article Student
Tracking Ids, the school describes the concept of tracking IDs as a benefit for the school and for

the students. This allows us to quickly identify any students reported absent and make it easy
to find them. Schools overstep their boundaries once again with technology. Tracking devices
are not acceptable off of the school grounds; it is not their business where students are when they
are not in school. This can conduct childrens chances of being stalked and can cause many
serious problems in and out of school. Personal documentation of students health records, social
status, household income, and gender are also mandatory documents enforced by the schools,
allowing students to obtain the education they need. Schools seem to conclude it is their duty to
know everything about their students and limit their freedoms, when in reality all they are doing
is using their power for no good by invading the lives of their students to the extreme.
Dress codes are a heavy debated topic around the country since schools have enforced
strict rules on what students can and cannot wear. Dress codes in schools help build up the
schools reputation, but also eliminate the idea of students being happy and comfortable with
what they are wearing. Dress codes imposed by the schools take away the individualism of each
student. Shoulders in many schools are considered distracting to other students. This is one of
the many crazy rules schools have made in the past years. Students are restricted from wearing
certain shorts because of the length and cannot wear tank tops if bra straps are showing. Schools
do not realize if it is 80 degrees outside that is the acceptable clothing to wear. If stomachs,
shoulders, or bra straps are distracting other peers, a school should not punish the individual
wearing it; because it is not their fault their shoulders are disrupting other students. Schools
cannot tell students, girls especially, to go change if their back is showing, how is that hurting
anyone or distracting? In the figure seen in the article 21 Real Ways Schools abused their
Students, illustrates and describes a situation dealing with clothing at a High school in Utah.
Administration at the school digitally altered several female scholars school pictures, so it

appeared that the girls dressed how what the school appeared to be modest. The school not
only violated the girls but they violate their rights and they do not have the privilege to do so.
Students may show too much skin at times, but making them change into gym clothes because
their shorts do not go down to their knees is absolutely ludicrous. In the article Schools strict
Dress Code nets 200 detentions and a Rebellion Andrea Hay includes information on a strict
dress which led to an insane outcome. She identifies a school in New York that initiated a strict
dress code that led to 200 detentions in one week. Kids were forced to change in to school spiritwear if their clothing appeared to be inappropriate or distracting. Although many view Dress
Codes in a negative way, some could say it protects students against clothing that is threatening
towards other students. Enforcing a dress code is a way to promote school pride and spirit by
forcing kids to wear school spirit-wear or uniforms. Also, dress codes can help girls or boys
cover up body parts that are not appropriate to be seen at school. Overall, dress codes set by
schools overstep their boundaries and make ridiculous rules that mortify students, and take away
their right to express themselves.
Schools do not only abuse their power, they abuse their students with the power
they are given. A classroom experience is nothing like it used to be. Society today has improved
education from what it used to be with the help of new science, new technology, and ways of
life. This helps influence the way students are treated by their school and teachers. The two main
types of abuse children receive in school by their teachers are isolation and rejection. Abuse by
schools creates serious longterm emotional issues such as depression, lowers self-esteem, and
lowers social efficiency. Isolation is the form of abuse in which the teacher singles out a student
in the classroom, limiting the students freedom within their personal environment. Degrading
and isolating students is a popular tactic used to gain control order in the classroom. This allows

the students peers to label them in certain ways all due to a teachers way of helping a student
grow. Rejection is also used by teachers on students for their well-being but in reality only
causes depression and makes the student feel worse about themselves. Abuse in the classroom
influences abuse out of it as well. Rejection is downgrading a persons worth or value and as
making that person believe they are inferior. According to Dr. Michael Sosteric in his essay
Emotional Abuse of Our Children he implies, A teacher says it is for your own good and that
it will teach life skills, but for you it is an emotional horror show. Because of the power schools
are given, teachers do not get punished for their styles of teaching they may define helpful, but
are types of emotional abuse. With the power schools are given, they use this privilege do to
whatever they shall please with no penalties.
Throughout the decades schools have gained more and more power due to the craving of
high quality education by people across the world. This power sets no limit and schools have
taken every bite out of it. Invading students privacy, enforcing harsh dress codes, and imposing
new abusive techniques within the classroom are the effects of the schools radical behavior over
the last couple years. Schools main goals are no longer for the students but for the school itself.
Reputation is key" seems to be the new motto for schools around the country today. Abusing a
power given and trusted by the hands of people should not be played with; however, too much
power can turn something from good to bad in the blink of an eye. Schools around the country
have begun to fall under this trap.

Works Cited:
"Facebook Wars: Parental Abdication, School Abuse of Power." Ethics Alarms. 20 Jan. 2011.
Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/01/20/facebook-wars-parentalabdication-school-abuse-of-power/>.
Hay, Andrea. "School's Strict Dress Code Nets 200 Detentions and a Rebellion." New York Post.
14 Sept. 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://nypost.com/2014/09/14/schools-new-strictdress-code-leads-to-200-detentions/>.
Quattlebaum, Jeremy. "Speak Outs - Student Tracking IDs: An Invasion of Privacy or Security
Measure?" Annenberg Classroom. 14 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/speakout/student-tracking-ids-an-invasion-ofprivacy-or-security-measure>.
Sosteric, Dr. Michael. "The Emotional Abuse of Our Children: Teachers, Schools, and the
Sanctioned Violence of Our Modern Institutions." The Socjournal. 2 Mar. 2012. Tues. 24
Feb. 2015. <http://www.sociology.org/the-emotional-abuse-of-our-children-teachersschools-and-the-sanctioned-violence-of-our-modern-institutions/>.
"The 21 Most Insane Ways Real Schools Abused Their Students." Cracked.com. 10 Sept. 2014.
Web. 24 Feb. 2015. <http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1056_the-21-most-insaneways-real-schools-abused-their-students/>.