Teachers and administrators, the junior class would respectfully like to ask for privilege back. Thousands of debates have surrounded school issues before, here we have privilege. Why is there not “Tiger Privilege” for juniors anymore?  Tiger privilege allowed students to leave at 2:39 if they were a junior or senior who had a 3.0 GPA or better, no failing classes, 0 unexcused absences, and 0 major discipline reports.

Brand new this year, along with lunch and learn, the junior class is no longer allowed to leave at any time during the day even if the requirements are met. This “Tiger Privilege” has previously been available to that class and is now non-existent. It would be fair to now at least allow them to leave for half of lunch and learn.

Freshmen and sophomores always looked up to and hoped to be among the kids who would get to leave for privilege. There’s no chance for juniors to leave during the day at all now. There is no replacement, and the class of 2020 is less than thrilled about the new policy. Something that has been looked forward to for two years has just been stripped with no replacement. I’m not saying that students need incentives all the time, but leaving for lunch would create a benefitting atmosphere for all students.

Studies have shown that students are more comfortable and can work more efficiently in their own atmosphere. Going home for lunch could benefit many of the upperclassmen. It would be a chance to go home, recharge, and get things sorted out to prepare for the afternoon classes.

This way of motivating and rewarding students who are doing exactly what they need to be doing and following the rules really works. It teaches kids the right way to act and behave in a professional setting while also giving them trial responsibility that will help students as they get closer and closer to graduation.

Students will finally face the real world of much larger responsibilities such as college, careers, and finances. So I ask of you, administration, bring back Tiger Privilege for the juniors. The regular requirements would be applicable, subject to change based on the administration, loosely requiring a 3.0 GPA, good attendance, and permission from parents to leave daily during the permissible time frame. If a student is late to the next class, the opportunity can be taken away for a time period.

This doesn’t seem like a lot to ask, considering most years up until now there has been some sort of privilege for juniors to leave. It would give students something more to look forward to everyday at school.

This will not fix every problem. There will still be kids who don’t care about grades or won’t care if there is permission to leave or not because some have no problem sneaking out. But for the kids who are constantly seeking academic success, who are doing what needs to be done and what is asked, why can’t we bring back this one incentive? There are kids who ruin it for everyone else which in no way is fair because that is not representative of the majority.

This privilege would ultimately make high school more of the environment that it should be, a fun learning experience both academically and emotionally. Please stop cheating the majority of students who want to succeed and also have a small freedom to take a moment away from school and regroup.

Someone’s least restrictive environment, for the kids who don’t care about anything, becomes the students’ who do succeed most restrictive. For the sake of those students who are always at school, always on time, always getting good grades, and always applying themselves, please put in place Tiger Privilege for juniors during lunch.