From the Evidence Bank of Student Anonymous, On What We Really Think

Place: Study Hall
Time: 3rd Period
Infraction: "Responding in a rude or impertinent manner."

So close to escaping that study hall, just a few more steps before you're out the door...

"Where are you going? I haven't signed your pass yet."

A small obstacle. You hadn't expected to be stopped.  You stand still and turn around. Writing out a pass was a waste of time, and frankly, a waste of paper. It's not like you'd ever been stopped in the halls before. You've done this loads of times.

"I don't need one," you say. "I'm just going down the hallway."

Frankly, this was all a chore. You'd never been stopped in the halls before, pass or no pass.

"No, you need to have a pass."

Well, if you needed a pass, you would ask for one, wouldn't you? Who was it this rule applied to? Students, correct? You would think that after a year or two you would know what rules to bend and break, and this was one of them.

"No, I don't. It's not like they actually check passes."

On one hand, you do really want to leave. On the other hand, you're fed up with this nonsense and want to give someone a piece of your mind. The other students seem to have their attention fixed on you...Dare you go on?

"Just come get it signed."

You relent, filling in the little boxes with ink that could have been better used elsewhere. The crime isn't worth the punishment. You've already lost two minutes. No need to lose a Saturday morning as well. Everyone returns to what they were doing before you caused a small commotion. Nothing to see here.

Another teacher walks in.

"Can you believe this?" asks Teacher 1. " Have you ever heard this before? I don't need a pass."

You exit quickly, and if that conversation continued, you'll never know.

(And for the icing on the cake, you actually do end up in that same study hall again, leaving without a pass...)

Place: Insert Subject of Choice Here
Time: Whenever
Crime: 10/10 Violatoin

"Miss, may I go to the bathroom?"

A fellow student has his hand raised, asking the tried and true question sure to ruffle feathers with teachers everywhere.

"Wait a few minutes, 10/10 rule."

He fills out his pass, waits for the appointed time to come, then leaves.

But this bothers you a bit. You've talked with your friends, you've come to a consensus. The 10/10 rule makes no sense.

You can only leave during the first and last 10 minutes of a period? For what purpose? To keep students out of the halls? If anything, you'd be more suspicious if someone tried to leave in the middle of the period, like 10/10 wants them to. That's when the class actually does any work. No one's still getting their things together, and the homework's been checked. No one's itching to leave, either.

And another thing too. If 10/10 was looked at mathematically, there is a period of 20 minutes where student's aren't allowed out of the room at all. Twenty four, actually, because let's face it, no one actually has time to go to the bathroom during passing and still make it to class on time. And of course, you're not allowed to leave during the constraints of 10/10 because you're teacher's giving a lesson.

So why...?

You sigh, brush it off, and add it to the ever growing list of things that don't make sense.

'And they wonder why we challenge their authority,' you think. You're still smarting from that study hall, and from all the other rules that just don't add up.

Place: The hallways, most likely.
Time: When you should be in class
Crime: "Class Cut"

You're not one to skip class. You go where you're supposed to go when you're supposed to be there, and everyone's happy, right? Wrong.

On the topic of class cuts and tardiness you have a whole separate list in the works...

Some teachers just don't care. Everyone is "always" there.

Others don't care for tardies. You've never actually gotten one, and if you walk in when everyone is still getting settled down, even three or four minutes after the bell, you know almost for certain that you weren't missed.

But your biggest peeve is (unsurprisingly) study halls. There are so many different attitudes from all the teachers in the school that you can't begin to comprehend what is fact and what is fiction.

"I don't care what you do, just don't get caught with your cell phone out if the principal walks in."

"You'd better pretend to work if you have nothing else to do."

"You're late."

"Go to guidance and see if you can get a class this period. This is just a waste of time, on your part."

(And between one telling you you'll be counted tardy and most of the rest telling you that it's unimportant, you're ready to pull your hair out, because it seems these rules are made up at the teacher's own discretion. And if the students try to do that? Detention. ISS. OSS, in some cases.)

What is this?

'We have our duties, and you have yours,' you think. 'We're young and impressionable. How can we hold up our end of the bargain, if you won't hold up yours?'

Place: Lunch
Time: Anywhere between 4th to 7th Period
Crime: None, Just Daydreaming

You finally have some down time with your friends. You discuss the usual nonsense for a bit, then start your rant on your day's struggle.

For a little bit, it's all complaining, but then things take a more unexpected turn, and you wonder what it's like to defy authority. You entertain those fantasies of talking back without consequence, of meaning what you say and not taking it back for anyone.

And what are you gonna do about it? Give me a detention? You will never crush the rebellion. I am just one of many, and this is not the end. We will not let it end.

Come on. Come at me. Give it your best shot. Ask us why we just won't listen, and then you listen to us. Don't just hear it. Understand it too.

It's quite nice, in your head. But your brazen lunchtime fantasies die off as the motions of eating take over, and you calm down to think of other things.

Place: Bus
Time: After hours
Crime: None, Just Thinking

With each subtle infraction of the rules, you wonder if next time, you'll actually get in trouble. Not that anyone actually follows what's written down.

You recall, vaguely, some quote you'd read about rules. That if rules made sense, they wouldn't be rules. That they exist only to keep someone in power. You know that some rules really do keep you safe, but when you've heard stories of the others told, "Because I said so," you can't help but wonder if that person was true.