Not Saved By The Bell

The bell rung and I felt relieved that I could finally leave the boring class I had been in for the last hour. As I packed up and planned the route to my next destination, the teacher yelled, “The bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do!” The teacher then forced the class to stop packing and sit in silence while she expressed her seniority over us. When the teacher did release us, I had to sprint around campus to do things I needed to do in the small amount of time the school gives us, especially after some of it had be taken by the inconsiderate teacher with an invalid statement.

The bell is the signal for students to come to class and begin learning, as well as for the students to pack up and be dismissed. As students, we live our whole lives by these bells. By this time in the year, most students already have a plan to get to each of their destinations in a timely manner. However, when teachers decide to not respect the schedule mandated by the school, everything gets thrown into disarray.

Being late at CVHS isn’t a thing that is highly respected by staff or peers and there are even consequences to being tardy. So when some of passing period, break, or lunch is taken by an inconsiderate teacher, it makes tardies more likely to happen because we only have so much time to do necessary things. If you choose to skip some of these necessary things, which include eating, going to the restroom, and using your locker, then you will come to class unprepared to learn. If you ask permission to do some of these things during your next class, you will often get a speech about how you should handle personal stuff on your own time. You may even have to suffer in your next classes because of that one inconsiderate teacher with the invalid idea that “The bell doesn’t dismiss you, I do.”

I feel like this issue of teachers unfairly “extending” their class time affects my everyday life now. I’ve learned to just be prepared for these inconsiderate teachers so that I don’t have to suffer any consequences for their lack of respect and judgment of time.

As students, most of us are on time to class because we respect the bell, our teachers, and our educations. We just want teachers to give us the same respect that we give and dismiss us when we are supposed to be dismissed. After all the CVHS Student Planner states, “[CVHS] is dedicated to being a place of mutual respect.”