Dear Editors:

Reading the recent Oracle article, “AP exam attendance rules cause unrest,” got me even more annoyed with the administration than I already was.

First of all, our student body is already treated like children, making sure that we don’t skip any classes by e-mailing and calling home to our daddies and mommies. If a kid wants to get an “F,” then go ahead and let him do it. Why should the administration care if he fails?

I’m a rising senior, turning 18 in October, and I’m having my hand held all the way to graduation to make sure I go to every class. We have a camera system set up to make sure I don’t leave the premises. When I’m in college, do you think they’re going to care if I show up? No, they won’t, so why doesn’t WS get with the program and help us have the independence and mature on our own before we hit the college atmosphere?

As if being watched by the administration wasn’t enough, what I read next in The Oracle was even more disturbing. WS has issued a new policy that only permits one absence after the AP testing, which has to be “excused.” So, not only are kids who took COLLEGE LEVEL courses not allowed to take the day off after the exams, but any days after the exams, also. Kids who are going above and beyond aren’t only not getting a reward for the ridiculous amounts of work they receive, but even stricter rules on making sure they don’t get any downtime whatsoever after the challenging and stressful AP test. These kids are taking COLLEGE LEVEL courses, so how ’bout we treat them like college students?

I think a good solution to this problem is for the administration to lighten up a little bit. I could go on for days, pointing out stupid decisions on purchases for the school, and neglect to other areas. I mean, $4,000 for a new bell system that everyone hates?

But the issue is that those in charge seem more like wardens, and are only making my high school experience worse with newer and stricter rules every year. What next after this? Will students get automatic “F’s” if they don’t attend a class for one day?

A day off after one of the most stressful tests of one’s life up to that point is 10 times more valuable than a stupid PART card (don’t get me started). This rule is literally punishing the students who are going above and beyond; the students who are going to make a name for themselves and who WS will proudly claim as “notable alumni.” Newsflash—kids won’t want to say they went to this school.

Overall, I think this rule is just wasting space in our rulebooks. The kids who are going to skip are going to skip, and you won’t be able to stop them. The majority are seniors—what is the administration going to do, not let them walk at graduation? Please, the administration continually disappoints the student body each and every day. Creating a worse morale is all these rules do to kids, and it demotivates them to do what is asked.

Hopefully, many students in the incoming freshman class make the right decision and attend other schools than WS next year.

Brad D. Uhlman