Exposition Essay #1: Students should be allowed to set their own rules

It is a widely-argued topic regarding the students' rights to set their own rules in schools. Admittedly, some students (if not most) bear a mindset that the school rules should be set by the students themselves, for a wide variety of reasons, some of which include "students know best under what type of environment they function best", and so on. If you are a student, perhaps you share the same sentiments as these. Whatever the case, students have little chances of being allowed to set their preferred rules in the near future, but I do believe that students should be allowed to set their own rules themselves.

In this essay, I strive to show you that students should be allowed to set their own rules even though they might never have the chance to set their own rules. A certain university class in South Korea underwent a special lesson. Curious about the effects of letting students take over the helm, the teacher allowed them to draft out a few rules they feel should replace the university rules, while the teacher herself drew up a list of rules she felt the university should consider. In the end, the teacher compared both lists and noticed similarities in the rules, and drew a conclusion that because they fashioned the rules themselves, they are more likely to respect them. It "is surprising how fair students will be if they are given the helm". (http://bogglesworldesl.com/lessons/2002janfeb.htm). Does this mean that students should be allowed to set their own rules in school?
Before students can intelligently observe differences among rules in various classrooms, families, and countries, they must first be able to identify and reflect upon rules that are familiar to them. Although most students should be able to identify some of the school rules and rules in their families, they may not have been asked before to think about why groups create and follow rules. Most students understand that the rule to "not hit others" helps keep people safe. They may not have considered before that many different kinds of groups have this same rule, all over the world, because keeping people safe is a way of maintaining social order. Students are not ready to talk about the term "social order," but they are ready to think about why rules are important in groups. "Benchmarks for Science Literacy" Page 154 gives an opinion that "The emphasis in the first years of schooling should be on helping children to become aware of the range of society's implicit rules. Students can begin by finding out what the rules are in different classrooms and families, observing how children respond to the rules, and recording their findings in drawings and notes. Discussions can focus on how the rules and behaviors resemble or differ from those in their own classroom or family. Such observations should introduce students to the idea of cultural diversity (though of course no such term should be used at this stage), and this impression should be strongly reinforced by the stories they read." This possibly suggest that schools should expose the first-years to the school rules, allow them to fully understand them, and this can perhaps help them respect the rules better. However, building on this evidence from "Benchmarks for Science Literacy", one possible way is to create a classroom environment in which students really integrate the rules is to begin the school year with students fully participating in developing the classroom rules. When students help write the rules, and take part in the process of deciding upon the rules and consequences, they are more apt to feel a sense of belonging and ownership. Students who are empowered in this way begin to self-regulate and develop a sense of pride in the environment they are helping to shape. They are "citizens" in their "classroom society" and are building the foundation for learning how to live in a diverse and democratic society. This adds up to a few questions we should ask the students:

- Why do we need rules?

- How do rules help keep us safe?

- Do all people need rules?

- What would happen if everyone had the same rules?

- What would happen if everyone had different rules?

- Who should decide what the rules should be?

If everyone can unanimously agree on the same answer for all the above questions, it is time students should be allowed to set their own rules. Why? This is an important concept for students to think about because they are building a foundation now for learning about how rules help maintain social order. Students must first understand how they and their immediate neighbor play a part in rule making before they can understand this on a larger scale. They must realise the fact that it is virtually impossible for ALL students in a certain school to unanimously agree on a certain set of rules, resulting in differing sentiments and opinions. Thus, if students are allowed to take over the helm, should we allow all the students to get together and draw up the complete set of rules? Since this is virtually impossible as it defeats the whole purpose, does that mean students are never destined to set their own rules?
Allow me to elaborate on the above point. The 17th century British Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, in his famous book "The Leviathan" depicts for us a very ugly aspect of men living without rules. Men, in that situation, are capable of being very violent in their dealings with each other. It is in order and rules to preserve his own life that man agrees to follow rules and regulations and get out of this state of nature. To Hobbes, the only state that can guarantee men's safety is one where men unconditionally obey authority (rules). We need nor totally agree with Hobbes, but we have to accept that in any large gathering of people, there are bound to be some at least who have the tendency to question the rules. Hobbes has correctly observed one aspect of human nature, that which is the tendency to differ. Men are bound, some time or another, to disagree with his fellowmen. Another 17th century philosopher named John Locke observed that though differences should be permitted within limits, rules and regulations should at some stage be used to enforce peace and cooperation among dissenting groups of people. Though Locke pictured men as naturally given to orderly living, still he insisted that there must be an impartial authority to guarantee the presence that order prevails, as individual differences might so assert themselves as to cause a chaotic situation. We must now question the identity of the "impartial authority". Yes, some might argue that this refers to the staff of a school in the context of this essay, but we must also see that if students set their own rules, there will be lesser discontent as it is common sense for the student population to outnumber the staff population in most schools. But is this really possible?
In the United States alone, statistics show that in 2005–06, 86 percent of public schools reported one or more serious violent incidents,7 violent incidents,8 thefts of items valued at $10 or greater, or other crimes had occurred at their school, amounting to an estimated 2.2 million crimes. This figure translates into a rate of 46 crimes per 1,000 students enrolled in 2005–06. (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crimeindicators/crimeindicators2007/) Forty-eight percent of public schools reported taking at least one serious disciplinary action against a student—including suspensions lasting 5 days or more, removals with no services (i.e., expulsions), and transfers to specialized schools—for specific offenses during the 2005–06 school year. Of those serious disciplinary actions, 74 percent were suspensions for 5 days or more, 5 percent were expulsions, and 20 percent were transfers to specialized schools.
The largest percentage of schools that reported taking a disciplinary action in 2005–06 did so in response to a physical attack or fight: 32 percent of schools reported taking a serious disciplinary action for physical attacks or fights. The vast majority of students ages 12–18 reported that their school had a student code of conduct (95 percent) and a requirement that visitors sign in (93 percent) in 2005 . Metal detectors were the least commonly observed security measure, with 11 percent of students reporting their use at their school. This clearly show the lack of respect for the rules set in colleges in the United States, and it is amounting to a serious breach in school safety for the students. Does this show that students should be allowed to set their own rules? Not likely. A possible measure the US schools will take is to step up security and create more rules to ensure stricter code of conduct, and this will lead to greater discontent among students, causing more violence, and this is perpetuated in a vicious cycle. In view of this, one is compelled to think that students will never be able to set their own rules, yet there is always the possibility that students should be allowed to set their own rules since this must be stopped as soon as possible to prevent the violence from getting worse - it might have happened because the students are unhappy about the rules in the first place, and if they really are, then the rules should be set by them.

In conclusion, I reiterate that students should be allowed to set their own rules even though they might never have the chance to set their own rules. As backed up by the abovementioned evidences, it will never hurt to allow students to set their own rules as it might help curb the violence, or at a minor scale like in Singapore, lessen the students' unhappiness at some, if not all, the rules. This will help make the schools a happier place to study in. Plus, we will never know till we try.