What was the most pointless rule in your school ?

"Child! What is the need to wear these fancy articles to school? Please take those clips off and keep them in your bag. Ask your parents to buy you a proper pair of white socks. Tell your matron to make a plait from tomorrow. You can't come in with a pony tail. This won't work in a convent school,”

You know it already that you’re in an institute run by nunnery or friary or for that matter, by a particular religious community, headed by a superior. I spent 10 beautiful schooling years in an all-girls convent school and no matter which religion you belong to, “Our Father in Heaven” will be the prayer you would always recite. Now I carry it as a badge of honour to be part of the alumni. It’s fashionable these days to mock one’s convent-school upbringing. Joyless nuns. Knee-length tunics. A need to declare oneself out of the world of middle-class morals and obsessions. Of course, the rules were heavy-handed and a little too many.

But let me tell you about one of my strongest memories of school. There was an increase in my tuition fees as new construction was taking place in my school back in those days. We were most excited about the fact that we were going to have an elevator.

Doing 5 flights of stairs every day as a senior was tiring, especially from the fact that the canteen resides on the first floor. Other facilities (library, soccer field, and sports complex) were even too far yet we had to walk there as fast as we could during our activities so we could save time. The elevator was definitely going to make it easier for the students to run some errands.

But, guess what?

Students were not allowed to use it. Only the teachers, the maintenance staff, and the administrators were allowed. The school authorities would tell us that we should just take the stairs since it’s beneficial to our health and to cut the costs for the electricity since our school had a reputation of being eco-friendly.

 A big note was posted beside the lift that said, “ONLY FOR STAFF”.

If we were caught using the elevator, they could have our IDs taken and be suspended. Children with special pass or permission were the ones allowed to use the lift. The irony was staff did not bother to maintain their own health and were more concerned about the children. Cool kids would brag about riding the elevator and not getting caught. Since being cool was very important for me in those days and show off to my friends, I decided to use the elevator without permission. In my head, I was petrified but did not dare to put it on my face as I had to prove my coolness to friends. My friends guarded the area of the elevator so that they could hint me the perfect time to put the plan of using lift illegally to action.

As I got a positive hint I took a step in elevator, I had taken a huge risk which could get me a suspension letter but somewhere I knew I would make it out, without anybody’s notice. Using the elevator to reach two floors above the ground felt like I was there to time travel. Few minutes had felt like hours to me.

The elevator was finally at a halt and one of the most frightful moments for me in school. As the door opened I peeked and to my surprise, I was not under any red alert and returned to my friends with cool tag along. Even though I was safe but as I’ve grown up I realized, Rules are guidelines for actions and for the evaluation of actions in terms of good and bad, or right and wrong, and therefore a part of moral or values education in school. Rules helped me shape as a person, the quality of the school matters on how the rules and regulations are properly followed.

Many only look on the negative side of these rules and regulations. However, if we are only looking at the beauty of their purpose for us, we would learn to appreciate their effects for the whole population in general. Thus, these rules are essential for without these, would you become a person who you wanted to be? Even though as a student I did not realize the importance of rules. Rules are guidelines for actions and for the evaluation of actions in terms of good and bad, or right and wrong, and therefore a part of moral or values education in school. But not getting on a school elevator must’ve been for safety is what I realize today as a grown up. Rules are intended to protect you.

Specific rules, such as "Don't go into the boiler room" or "No students allowed on campus after dark" are written to protect against dangers.

When you follow the rules at school, you demonstrate an awareness of the rules and show you believe your personal safety is important. Taking risks with your personal safety on the school campus can have dangerous consequences for you personally but also creates a liability for school administration. Safety rules are not arbitrarily written. Just as a hot stove is hands-off for a child, making sure you follow campus safety rules can keep you from getting burned by potentially dangerous settings.

Therefore; even if school rules may seem pointless to many children, abiding by the rules are not difficult. In future, the kids obeying rules will be the ones to develop a better society. Obeying the rules can make the world a better and peaceful place.