In the last 2-3 weeks I am sure all students have faced a universal problem. For most students, asking to go to the bathroom is so commonplace that they may not even think twice about doing so.    It is one of the guaranteed freedoms, rights, and moments of freedom that students do not often encounter in their daily school schedules. Teachers have been instructed to substantially decrease the number of students in bathrooms due to vandalism occurring in the bathrooms.
The vandalism or “devious licks”, stemming from a TikTok trend, has further limited students in a school that has already restricted them in so many ways due to Covid precautions.
As a student that has been told “No, you cannot go to the bathroom.” I feel that the school is going about this completely wrong. Collective punishment will not resolve the vandalism or any other similar issue that will arise. The school will only begin to see social unrest among the students and ultimately be faced with a bigger problem than they began with.
One could argue that the amount of vandalism has gone down significantly, which is true but, “devious licks” did not stop because of collective punishment. So the administration, before you pat yourselves on the backs, understand this: trends, by nature, are not permanent. They will fade especially if they are in the hands of impressionable teenagers. These kids do not aim to cause harm to the school. The issue is underlying; they want social validation.
While it is unfortunate and disappointing, kids nowadays see more value in followers and likes than the physical state of their academic institutions. With this in mind, the school needs to focus on targeting the kids who are actually vandalizing. A harsh punishment on a select few will be much more impactful than a light force on the masses.
A trend like this will come along again and it is inevitable. Before that happens, this school needs to restore the small freedom that is going to the bathroom without questioning, google forms, or strict time limits and concentrate on discovering trends and stopping them at the root before they become prevalent in the school.