I am currently sitting in a financial math class watching a video about student loans and how costly school can be. It got me to thinking, why on top of all these fees we also have to pay 15 dollars every time a teacher catches us on our phones no matter what the situation is; unless you're doing school work, of course. I feel as though this is not only unfair but it is also profiting off of any student who might not even have the money to afford to get their phone back, that their parents already pay the bill for. I was told if you can’t afford your phone back, they keep it until you can. I can understand that a classroom is not a place for texting or games or whatever social media platform, but I also feel as though this is far beyond unfair to the students here, no matter their obedience or personal life situation.

This is not the only rule I take issue with; the dress code is another, however I will mainly focus on how this school has dealt with teenagers and their phones. It is one thing to take a phone that has been a problem for a certain student often, causing them to avoid school work and ignore their teachers. It is an entirely different thing to not only take that phone, but keep it until they can pay fifteen dollars to get it back. I'm not sure of the statistics of this school and how well off different students are; I will however say most of the kids I've made friends with come from low income families who can barely afford the phone itself let alone the fee that comes with using it. I can also speak for myself and say, personally, I don’t have fifteen dollars and it’s honestly a miracle I still have cellular service at all.

I’m not sure who’s idea this was, who approved it or even who I’m going to give this petition to. What I do know is that I refuse to be compliant with a law that is simply unjust and is quite frankly being abused. If a teacher feels the need to take a student's phone, that should be their decision and when they do give it to the office, it should be cost free to get it back. I know the head administrators want to push initiative, this does not have to mean taking money out of their own students pockets. This is a public school for Christ’s sake, if these kids had that type of money then they would have gone to a private one.

In conclusion, I believe that every one of the students at this school would not hesitate to get rid of this fee if given the chance, so that's exactly what I’m going to do. I am going to give these students the chance to make a change in this institution because I know some have felt too threatened to stand up for themselves and their rightful property.