Ready or Not, Here We Come? Announced Hall Sweeps Don't Work

By Bianca Williams

During the first ten minutes of fourth period, Mr. Crayton made an announcement over the loud speaker. "Teachers please step into the hallway to assist students to their class... because we are about to have a hall sweep." But why is he announcing that there will be a hall sweep?

Students in the hall during 4th period.(George Telzrow)

The main purpose of a hall sweep is to stop students from walking the halls during class. If hall sweeps happen consistently, students will think twice before skipping class. To be an effective deterrent, hall sweeps should catch hall walkers off-guard and result in punishment. Hall sweeps should be a way for the administration to have some type of control over students. Announcing the hall sweeps defeats the purpose of having them at all. Instead, administrators are giving students a reason to not take them seriously and to do whatever they please.

As a result, students are running this school. Too often, students say when they're going to walk the halls, what classes they'll attend, and tell the teachers what they are and aren't going to do in class. The tragic part about it is that the teachers are accepting this type of behavior. Why are the administrators tolerating this type of nonsense from students? If they want students to respect them, then they should show students that they are serious and follow through with their actions. Instead of announcing when the hall sweeps are about to occur, the administrators should show students the seriousness of hall sweeps and make examples of those who are disobeying them.
Bianca Williams

By George Telzrow |  January 10, 2007; 1:58 PM ET Editorials
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