Senior Privileges

Every high school senior is given certain "privileges" that the underclassmen are not. There have been complaints about whether or not seniors should be entitled to these privileges or not. The answer to this complaint is, yes, seniors are very entitled to their privileges. The expectations for students have increased considerably over the years, making reaching senior year less common for students than it used to be. Any student that has been able to withstand the stress of high school for 4 (or in some cases more) years is more than entitled to a few privileges. The privileges themselves are not anything huge in the first place. The seniors are dismissed a few minutes before the underclassmen before their lunch and at the end of the day. They are also given up to 4 "college days." These are excused days given to the student, so that they may go and visit different campuses of colleges they are interested in. And even this privilege has a catch. In order for the day to be an excused absence, the student is required to bring information back from the college that they visited as proof that they actually used the "college day" appropriately. Basically, the privileges go on like those just mentioned. Seniors are also submitted to constant scrutiny and pressure to perform above and beyond, in order to help prepare them for "the real world." Another important fact to consider is that seniors are not just freely handed these privileges, but in fact, earn them and are required to meet certain criteria in order maintain them. The students are required to keep a certain grade point average and discipline record once the year has begun. The complaints about the "senior privileges" come almost entirely from the underclassmen. The underclassmen need to understand that they are called "underclassmen" for a reason, and in the event that they reach their senior year they will be given the exact same privileges as their

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