Part 1 in the 3 part series "The Halls of Woodruff"

     "That bitch is straight trippin’! She be disrespectin’. Do she know who she be throwin’ outta class!? Fuck this shit!" *punches wall which leads to Mrs. Wetterow yelling at him*

     Welcome to the hourly scene in the Dean’s office. One of pure disgust where the absolute trash of Woodruff festers in one big pile. The sad thing is that these people get to leave the Dean’s office at the end of each hour, without getting punished, only to be sent back down next hour by a different teacher. The dean’s are getting overworked; the security guards are getting called to collect unrulely students at ever alarming rates and teachers are teaching less and less as the students fight them more and more. Simply put, Woodruff is completely out of control, and it’s the student’s fault.

     Where are the days where the worst thing a student did was violating the dress code and the student promptly fixed it, no questions asked? Instead, we have an environment where students who do violate the dress code don’t get punished because there are worse atrocities to deal with. Where did it all go wrong? I was in a classroom not too long ago where the teacher asked nicely for a student to put away homework and take the class notes, which were on the board. The student’s reply? "Why don’t I back hand you first? Just turn around and teach bitch." He mustered under his breath unbeknownst to the teacher. I’m sure this doesn’t surprise many people. That’s a sad fact in itself. Does the fact that this certain student is going to one of the most prestigious engineering schools in the country surprise anyone? Thought it might. So when did the physical threatening of teachers become second nature? This lack of control is found in every grade, race group and intelligence level at Woodruff. I wonder what would happen if that student had that same reaction to his boss who told him to get back to work. This attitude doesn’t work in the real world, so why should it work in school? It isn’t right and needs to be stopped. Sadly, the students wont stop and the teachers are doing pretty much everything in their power while being politically correct. The dean’s are so overworked that stress induced medical conditions have occurred. The same thing happens with the teachers as well. Maybe it’s time to go vigilante style and start making citizen’s arrest on behalf of the school.

     Let’s take a second and look at that student in the Dean’s office. Ever think that "bitch", as you so vividly called her, threw you out of class because you’re a piece of disrespectful scum that isn’t worthy of Woodruff’s great caliber of teaching? That maybe the Peoria County Jail is the right place for you? Doesn’t matter, you’ll most likely be headed there soon enough anyway. If more of this trash was taken out of Woodruff and thrown in the dumpster of which is called Peoria’s streets, then maybe the level of excellence may once again get out of the gutter and see the light of day. It pisses me off to no end that this great school gets such a bad rep because of a small percentage of the population wishes to cause big problems. Sadly, the percentage is rising and because of it, more of the good students are fleeing for Dunlap or IB of Richwoods.

     All this disrespect causes another problems as well, tyrant teachers. Certain teachers have become dictators of the classroom, snapping on students who ask constructive questions (and ask them respectfully) and end up sending them out when the student says anything else. This causes a lot of problems. It backs up an already overflowing Dean’s office, wastes classroom time so the teacher can fill out the referral, makes that student less likely to ask constructive questions in the future and causes them to be behind because the teacher won’t teach them what they missed. Not only that but it causes other students to be shy about questions and it’s mostly upper echelon students who’re getting punished by these tyrant teachers. This is energy and time that shouldn’t be wasted on the generally good students, but instead more efficiently used on the horrid students who stink up our school. The good students are being pushed away from learning, by the teachers they truly respect, and are one of the only groups who do respect those teachers. This results in teachers having even less control because their once angel students become problematic. This time it falls on the teacher. Luckily for woodruff students, there are only a few tyrant teachers around.

     Luckily, this can stilled be turned around. I will say that now that Mrs. Dunn is in the principal’s office and Mr. Atkins and Ms. Ganschow are in the Dean’s office, the school has some hope for righting the sinking ship. Under Dr. Hannah, the school was headed for hell because he was too gun shy to kick anyone out. Being a principal doesn’t mean being chummy to all the students, it means doing what it takes to keep the school up and running. That’s something Ms. Dunn has successfully done, which is impressive considering the number of guns and bombs she has to deal with on a daily basis. There’s still work her and the deans can do though.

     So how does this monstrous mess get solved? Easily, by students shutting up, respecting teachers, following the rules, stop complaining about having to do a little work and not trippin’ when they do get punished for their wrong doings. That’s another thing, school is about education and education alone. You’re there to work and learn and if you don’t like it, then leave. We don’t care, we won’t stop you, please, just leave. Yes, the solution may seem simplistic but it works. Another great plan would be to get rid of the troublemakers and quit giving them chances. After 12 chances, I don’t think anyone is going to change. If students can’t learn the simple difference between right and wrong, then they’re not going to learn anything in school. Instead of raising the age that students have to be in school from 16 to 17, let more students leave because they don’t want to be there and we don’t want them there, so why should they be kept there? They shouldn’t, so kick them out. If everyone just followed those easy steps then school wouldn’t be such a drag on students and teachers. But since when have students ever listened? On top of this, we need another dean so the overflow can be controlled. Once the overflow gets handled, the school should start cracking down on every offense, impose harsher punishments and suspend or expel more students. Once the administration becomes more like a police force and less like social workers, then the school can truly be straightened out. The students have slowly but surely degraded this great place of learning and it’s time for the administration to suck it up and fight back. Even if they’re outnumbered 10 to 1. Once the administration starts fighting back, then some of the students will join the fight and help as well. This newspaper is evidence alone that students want a change. So administration, get out the riot gear and do something, its time to turn this place upside down.