DECEMBER 10, 1971
Smoking Lounge at Maine:
A Look at Pros, Cons
The topic has often been brought up about Maine Township High Schools having student smoking areas or lounges. Of course, at West it seems as though we don't need one by the way the washrooms have been used just for that purpose. As soon as a student who smokes gets outside the school and in his car, he lights tip.
But then we forget about what happens when we are caught misusing this rule. It states that students are not permitted to smoke on campus, anywhere in the school building, or at any supervised school functions. Students found smoking area automatically suspended until a parent conference is held; each additional time the student is suspended for a minimum of three days with an unexcused absence for the time missed. It also states that no student should carry smoking material in the school, on campus, or at any supervised school functions.
A student who doesn't care about the rule and is suspended for three days not only loses out on his life and breath, but also three days of school, which most students feel isn't right.
Mr. Herman Rider, principal, commented, "I don't necessarily like the idea of suspending a student for anything, but I
In some schools there are smoking areas and lounges. According to Mr. Eldon Burk, assistant principal, "The schools that have these privileges still smoke in places where they aren't supposed to, like washrooms; and the students feel as though, why can't we smoke here, if we can there."
In still other schools they have a system where if they are caught for smoking, they are to attend a smoking clinic to learn about the effects of smoking and its dangers. This is for the first offense, however; if the student doesn't go or if it is his second offense, he will be suspended. Hinsdale has a health museum which is run by the state.
Mr. Rider also feels that if students are allowed to smoke it will increase the possibility of fires.
This is all true to some extent, but some students feel that if a student who smokes and attends Maine West is not allowed to smoke since people who are older are allowed to smoke, that this would take away a person's right to smoke at all. At the same time, people who make the rules probably smoke themselves.