The student body is getting close to the first semester of 2026 coming to a close. As students continue on their path through Eaton High School, each day teaches them a life lesson of some sort. Some days this might be something out of the realm of high school, but each day brings a new challenge to these students. As middle schoolers,these students are told by teachers how much is going to change when they arrive at the high school, and how they have prepared them to flourish into adults, although many students don’t believe this to be the case.
In students’ time at Eaton High School many things are learned about the school itself, some bad, and some good. When entering high school students believe the change from middle school to high school will be a huge adjustment and be a completely different experience from middle school. Although there are many changes that occur going from middle school to high school there is one thing that some teachers continue to uphold, and this is treating soon to be adults as if they are children.
Understandably, in a school there has to be sets of rules and boundaries that students must follow. The real question is, to what extent does treating students like children actually prepare them for life later on? Starting out as a freshman, we get the ideals of wanting to be more strict on the students, given that they have room to grow and mature but this rhetoric that we need to be looked down upon by adults is unbelievable. When the time comes that a student becomes an upperclassmen the expectations should change, and this is something as a school our school culture lacks. Seniors and juniors have the seniority to receive some respect from the adults in the building. They have worked hard to get to where they are and are coming up on starting a path on their own. This being said, if teachers want students to act as adults, they need to be treated as adults.
Senior Addison Hodson said, “I feel like seniors should be treated with more seniority because we are adults or becoming adults and if we aren’t treated like them there is no incentive for senior students to want to mature. We are about to go out into the real world where we need to be mature and be more experienced in adult-like experiences.”
The hypocrisy among some teachers is really hard to comprehend as a student. We have been told since we were freshman that we are in high school and need to act like adults, but, when are we going to be treated as an adult? The teachers can point fingers at the immaturity levels of students but have teachers ever thought if they gave us that grace how things might change? Depriving students from the opportunity to learn what it is like to be an adult is creating unrealistic expectations when reaching the real world. People carry their phones at work without using them excessively, yet teachers assume the same wouldn’t be true for students and therefore take our phones away.The student that cares about their academics and truly cares about their success will make it a priority to get their work done with their phone accessible. Consequently, the same student that doesn’t care about their academics isn’t going to get their work done when a teacher takes away their belongings. Therefore, why would teachers punish the students that will still get their work done with an electronic device by taking their personal property away from them?
Addison Hodson said, “One thing that could really change this is the phone parking policy. This is an example of treating students like children and not respecting their personal property. Though these are distractions to some students, they aren’t to most and it is on the student if they don’t pay attention in class or not.”
When students transition to the real world they are going to be given the privilege to have their phones on them. In the real world they will be able to use them as resources and be able to make the wise decision on their own when the appropriate time is to use them. With this being said in high school teachers should be lenient and allow us to grow into adults.
Hypocrisy is something the student body sees to be a recurring scenario with some of the teachers at EHS and it is really disappointing. When we are held to a standard and the teachers are not expected to follow the same expectations it brings frustration among the students. We question why we would want to follow rules when teachers can have completely different expectations as a staff. If teachers want the students of the school to act as an adult the teachers need to begin giving the respect to students they deserve, realizing that the more they pick and choose when we are adults and when we are children the more students will continue to critique their ways.
Junior Katie St.Jean said, “It’s ironic teachers set students to adult standards and ask us to act like adults but yet treat us childishly, they expect maturity, independence, and accountability but on the other hand set restrictions and rules that don’t align with adult treatment.
When we reflect on this topic we understand a school has to be set up with rules and regulations to function. With this being said, as students of this school, we ask for transparency from the teachers that inflict this sense of hypocrisy. Understanding that teachers are required to enforce and obtain certain rules set in place, but can do so with choosing to treat students as adults 100% of the time rather than when they seem it to be fitting.
