Mount Vernon High School is correct in not providing open campus to freshmen and sophomores because the school can be liable for any accidents that happen on school grounds, grades will decline from being late to class or just being absent, and if you have too many tardies, you can get dropped from classes that you need to take to graduate.

Schools should still not offer an open campus for privileges for ninth and 10th graders because the school can be held liable for us during the day. If a younger student leaves the campus and gets hurt or gets into trouble, the school can still be held liable because we’re supposed to be supervised by them, and they’re supposed to keep us on campus. Both the students and the school can be protected. This only applies if they are on school grounds, like the parking lot, not if it happens at Casey’s, since the parent gave permission to leave. All in all, it keeps more legal trouble away from the school and the student.

However, allowing ninth and 10th graders to have open campus privileges can also cause more attendance problems. They can leave the school during the time we are allowed to leave during lunch or a free period and not return on time. We can also leave and never return. Freshmen and sophomores are still in the stage where they are learning responsibility and time management skills. They are more likely to misuse the privilege and cause more problems because they will be tardy and miss class, which can affect our grades and learning. Keeping freshmen and sophomores on the school campus is a way of ensuring that they attend classes on the right track in terms of academics.

While some students will suffer academic struggle because they didn’t return to class because of the open campus privileges, they may miss some of the most important lessons, instructions, discussions, and assignments that will help them understand their subject better. We are still young and are trying to understand high school culture, but some of us may not be able to make good decisions for ourselves since we are still young. When we are all provided with open campus privileges, some of the school’s freshmen and sophomores may prefer to engage in some of their social activities rather than going back to their classes, which may lead to their inability to understand their subject matter well in the future since they might be trying to catch up with their schoolwork, leading to lower grades since their understanding of the subject matter may be lowered.