The Olympian says to sweep away tardy sweeps

The rise of panic, the quickening of footsteps, and the fast walk that turns into a light jog—your ordinary rush to narrowly avoid getting a detention. As you plop into your seat just as the bell rings and class starts, your annoyance grows when you realize there was no tardy sweep after all.

For the most part, you’re one to care about being on time. You consider the notion that you can unluckily receive a tardy sweep for being late one out of many times you were on time.  Everyone has those days…so why should you deserve a detention for being late one time?

We at The Olympian oppose the numerous tardy sweeps occurring because of the unfairness of it all and the counterproductive action students might take in response.

Tardy sweeps are all about disciplining students to teach them to be in class when the second bell rings. In other words, they’re stressing the importance of being on time. This year, there have been at least five tardy sweeps. Sixty students were given detentions the first tardy sweep and 25 were given the fourth time. They usually occur the period after lunch, but there can be ones in the morning after break.

Although we respect the fact that there is a true attempt to crack down on people who don’t come to class on time, surprise tardy sweeps aren’t as beneficial as they’re cracked up to be—they comes with many flaws.

Many students, when discovering there was a tardy sweep, simply leave campus to avoid getting a detention. Some, who are always late, probably won’t care that they get a detention.Most of us at The Olympian feel that there should be some alterations to the current consequences. For instance, teachers should give the detentions themselves. Having students walk all the way to the student union and stand in line to get a pass and detention slip takes up a lot of class time and is wasteful.

Also, we feel that teachers should be the ones enforcing the detentions. If they create a stricter environment, we believe there would be fewer tardies and more discipline, rather than a surprise tardy sweep that has kids who are usually on time running for their lives to their classes.

We at The Olympian believe students should understand the importance of punctuality and practice it, but we realize it is unfair to penalize people who are rarely late.