“Not being allowed to do work at school during lunch literally makes no sense” – Soham Beharie, grade 11
“Disgusting” – Lily Yan, grade 11
“Stupid” – Rojin Mohammadi-Kangarani, grade 12
“I don’t use it so I don’t really care” – Rebecca Davey, grade 10
“To be honest, it’s not really working” – Dana Brown, grade 11
“Garbage” – Graydon Cronk, grade 10
“I understand the no phones rule, and I sort of like that, but you should be allowed to have your bags and even your computer if you’re studying and working on school work” – Maisie Hastings, grade 11
“Stupidest thing ever, some grads don’t have lockers so we have nowhere to put our bags. Sometimes we need our devices to text our parents.” – Michelle Tian, grade 12
Many students did not even know about the new rules
“Dumb” – Edward Zhang, grade 11
“It’s a rule put in place by the new head of Morven to demonstrate her authority over the students.” – Anonymous, grade 11
Starting in October 2018, new rules were put into place for Ludwig’s, Morven’s very own cafeteria. The rules prohibited any bags from the cafeteria area, with administration requesting for personal belongings to be put away in lockers before entering the cafeteria. The other major takeaway from the new rules is no electronics out during break/lunch. The purpose for this, according to teachers and administrative staff, is to encourage face-to-face interactions between students in a technology heavy world.
These changes were implemented during a school year dominated by many other controversial administrative decisions. Ad Verum interviewed various students in different grades to find out how the student body is adjusting to the new cafeteria rules. Many students asked to remain anonymous in this article.
The response from students was overwhelmingly negative. Students described the changes as “disgusting,” “stupid,” and “dumb.” Grade 12 student, Michelle Tian, expressed disappointment towards the presumed thoughtlessness of these new rules and pointed out that some grads don’t have lockers this year, thus have nowhere to leave bags and other belongings. Grade 11 student, Soham Beharie, was upset with the blanketing nature of the “no electronic devices” rule, and how it also applies to computers and schoolwork: “not being allowed to do work at school during lunch makes no sense,” she said.
Others were indifferent to the new rules: “I’ll just stop going to the cafeteria,” remarked a grade 10 student. Another grade 11 remarked that “these new rules aren’t really working anyways, so what’s the point?” Many student surveyed were not even aware that these new rules were in place.
It will be interesting to observe how these new rules will affect student life at Morven over the coming months.
By Riley Tam