Open Campus at Central Should Be Considered, Could Have Strong Benefits

Central proudly boasts the title of “The Downtown High School,” surrounded by the bustling old market which is home to over 30 restaurants and cafés among a few convenience stores. We live in the era of fast food instant-gratification, and with central’s location within the Central Business District, why aren’t students allowed to exit the school building for lunch?

The age-old argument against open campus lunches is that it encourages and increases truancy and skipping amongst students. Besides the fact that not going to lunch is an entirely different realm than not going to an academic class, taking away the negative connotation that comes with ‘skipping’ lunch can also take away the need to rebel. The consequences for skipping an academic class would remain the same with a phone call home and administrative action taken eventually, so the argument that it makes it easier for students to skip afternoon classes is lacking. The truth is on the contrary, letting kids leave for a short forty-five minutes gives a much-needed break from a monotonous school day and allows them to come back into the building refreshed.

More modern arguments against open campus usually center on the safety of students who are driving to and from school during lunch hours, as they may be in a rush to get back to class on time and teen drivers are considered at-risk from the beginning. However, given that Central is located in such a central location, walking to food establishments is easier, faster, and more convenient for students. Within just a few blocks of the school, there are multiple cafes, a giant food court, a few fast food establishments, and just a few blocks down, a plethora of other restaurants residing in the old market. While some students may opt to drive somewhere, again, many places are within close proximity to Central. The safety of students should always be a concern and if there were to be a spike in car accidents, open campus policies would have to be reevaluated. There is nothing to suggest that this would be a viable argument at Central due to the location.

Implementing open campus policies would not be mutually beneficial to the students and the school district without a grade, behavior, or attendance based incentive. Being able to leave the school building should be treated as a privilege instead of a given right. In the interest of fairness, a system based on attendance would make most sense in this case, since it is an attendance issue. If someone has a certain amount of unexcused absences within a set time period, their privileges of open campus would be revoked until they are able to correct their attendance. Open campus should not be withheld to those students who have had habits of skipping classes in the past, as they should have the opportunity to correct their behavior to earn open campus privileges.

It has been proven in psychology for years that people are willing to change their behavior in order to earn positive reinforcement. If done correctly, implementing a conditional open campus program could either stabilize or improve overall attendance. The self-proclaimed downtown high school should allow students who are willing to have no unexcused absences to leave during designated lunch hours.