By: HiLite Staff

This year, Carmel has begun to enforce new and often unappreciated security rules. The halls are more crowded, students are stuck in the building and are more highly regulated; but, it is important that students maturely and responsibly consider the importance of these new regulations.

The possible downsides of unmonitored movement in and outside of the school, such as student abduction or harmful outside presence outweigh the recently restricted freedoms. The school is simply taking precautions rather than being forced to react to tragic situations. As Principal John Williams said, “If there’s one in 1,000 chance that (an intruder) comes in, we need to try to prevent that one chance.”

This is not to say that there are not problems with the new rules. Hallway crowding can become unbearable and for many students losing the ability to take a break during the day to go outside and see the sunlight is a privilege that they will be sorry to lose.

Just eight years ago, Columbine High School was struck by a great tragedy. If it’s a choice to be safe or have the freedom to go outside during passing period, the decision becomes clear.

On Sept. 11, six years ago, the United States was viciously attacked. One of the reactions our nation had to the tragedy was increased airport security. Through all the moaning and groaning over the new measures, Americans were grateful to know they were being taken care of and protected. This is what Carmel is doing in reaction to tragedies that have occurred elsewhere, and to prevent such a thing from happening here.

Recently Virginia Tech was struck by a loss that cannot be forgotten or overlooked, and assuredly those students would have rather lost a few freedoms than to have had such a horrible event occur on their campus.

In spite of the new rules, Carmel still enjoys more freedoms than many other schools. There are no metal detectors, no random drug tests (although we do have the drug dogs), and SRT is still very lenient compared to most public schools.

Despite the controversy over the rules, we urge students to obey them. Even if it seems the new measures are unnecessary, the importance of preventing tragedy cannot by denied.

Carmel students are being given an opportunity to be thankful for what is provided for them and to not sweat the small stuff. Be grateful that school safety is important enough to those in charge, to create and enforce many times misunderstood and disliked rules.