Welcome back to another school year in which the Bourgeoise own the means of production (of knowledge). It’s another year and once again we have welcomed back the parking passes – now, it looks like every year will usher in a new tax on the young and vulnerable. I say vulnerable because we as students have no way to guard ourselves from this wicked foe – we are legally required to be here. This is the price we pay.
When asked why parking passes must exist at all, the first response is always security. We need to make sure that only Horace students use the Horace parking lot! Upon further inspection, however, there are a few major flaws with this. Tickets are administered to all vehicles who don’t have a pass visible. These tickets are not administered by the state, only the school, and punishments for failing to pay are in-school penalties. Not to mention, the only place that you can pay for a parking pass if you don’t attend school is through the office. Anyone who parks in the lot that doesn’t go to Horace could go wholly unpunished. If you don’t pay a pass, admin will repeatedly email you to ensure you pay. How will they know who you are if you don’t have your pass? They have your license plate number. They know that you are a student who was supposed to park at school but choose to fine you anyways.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are security benefits to parking passes – it makes it easier to locate which cars are not supposed to be there. Registering for one with your license number makes sense, but unless you are repeatedly not using your parking pass, students should not be penalized for parking in the student parking lot.
The district has been struggling for years to find bus drivers. This year is no different, as evidenced by various buses in ditches all over town declaring the need for drivers. This unsightly lawn decor has graced our city for years. Parking passes serve to incentivize students to ride the bus, but there are some unfortunate side effects to this-
First, busses are crowded. Less bussing directly correlates to more students on each bus, leaving 2 or 3 to a seat. One student reports that their bus has been crowded for years, except for the back, where a few boys decided that sitting one person per seat would be better, leaving the rest of the bus to deal with their arrogance. This boarding process is only made more difficult by the regular change in bus drivers.
Second, the radius of bus availability has shrunk consistently. For middle and high school, buses will not serve homes within 1.5 miles of the building. In the brutal winters, walking a mile and a half puts students at risk of frostbite within minutes.
Finally, the lack of bussing has left teachers and students alike with fewer learning opportunities. Some classes that want to go on field trips have to ask students to drive themselves to various places. This district’s bus shortage has created a need for students to drive themselves, and the fewer roadblocks to that, the better their learning environment.
Though it’s tough to recognize the flaws in something that seems so minor and necessary, I think that our district and our society may be forgetting something – we are children who need to learn. Although it may not seem like 10 or 15 bucks is much, to us, that’s an extra hour of working that we can’t do during the school year (if we’re lucky). A ticket for needing to take your parents car to school because yours is in the shop. A ticket for forgetting your parents drove your car and took down your pass. The hours spent working to pay for these tickets are hours that we could have spent doing homework or going to bed earlier, so we are not so tired in the morning. This is the price we pay.
