Dear Editors:

In the March 22 edition of The Oracle, Allie Colella’s article titled, “Students dream of an open campus,” talks about the topic of letting students leave school grounds. I believe students should be allowed to leave the campus during lunch because the cafeteria food is bad. It could provide an incentive for students to achieve better grades if a minimum GPA was required for this privilege.

Everyone knows that the cafeteria food is bad and most students have no other choice but to eat it. The school has almost a monopoly over the school day lunch. Students need the ability to have a choice for what they eat. With competition, maybe the school cafeteria would be forced to make better food or lose revenues. Also, with so many new, close-by restaurants, students wouldn’t have to go far.

Also, the school could use an open campus as an incentive for kids to get better grades. For example, they could allow all kids on A-B Honor Roll to have the option of an open campus. I am convinced that this would give all students an incentive to do better in class. An argument brought up in the article is that the school doesn’t want the responsibility of students being off campus. This would be less of a potential problem if the most responsible and brightest students are being let off campus. Additionally, it is a privilege, which can be taken away. Furthermore, the student and his parents could sign a legal waiver document that would release school from the responsibility, in case of injury.

For these reasons, I believe than an open campus is a good idea if implemented properly. The way to start is to extend this privilege to students with good grades. The result should be better motivation from all students to achieve higher grades and increased pressure to improve the quality of lunches provided in the cafeteria. I would urge the administration to consider implementing this program.

Sincerely,

Sean R. McMahon