Getting from one class to another has always been a difficult proposition, especially with the addition of 350 more students than last year. But the annoyance of navigating a wall of bodies is being compounded by the blaring of music.

To start the school year, certain groups and individuals roamed the school with their speakers on full blast. They found it to be soothing to them and their peers, but not all of us are into Drake, Fetty Wap, or that one kid’s new mixtape that he swears is ‘fire’. Now, that doesn’t mean I want to hear different genres of music being played around our school campus (because I certainly do not),  but I do believe we should respect each other by leaving our speakers at home where they belong.

It’s typical for us teenagers to express ourselves – the way we dress, the type of car we drive, who we decide to hang out with – which makes people aware of what type of person you are. The type of music you listen to also determines the way you’re perceived. And it’s completely fine, but what isn’t is forcing your music upon others by playing it out loud. People have the option to know who they’d like to hang out with during lunch, but they don’t have control over another student’s speakers.

Teachers such as Mickie Mosley and Howard Cooney have had previous troubles with students who play their music out loud. Cooney said, “ It’s equivalent to people driving down the street at night while you’re trying to sleep and you can feel the music in your room. It’s a noise pollution, it’s just the wrong setting for music being played. They don’t even play my type of music (Dinosaur Rock).” Mosley said, “ It’s a disruption. It’s loud and I think they’re imposing their music on others.”  

Although this annoyance seems to be a problem, it actually rises another issue. Is playing your music at school even allowed? This has actually been a board policy for quite some time, and now the admin team publicly announced that speakers are not allowed on campus.

But if students find it too difficult to go a whopping six hours without listening to music, there are some alternatives. For instance, they can use their own headphones. Then, they can enjoy their music without the constant nagging of other students to turn it off. The usage of headphones would also keep the teachers and staff members satisfied. Instead of thinking, “Those darn kids with their trap music again!”, they would think, “Wow, they can actually be quiet!” Which one would think makes a student happy since this generation seems to deeply care about what others think of them. By the way, now with Mr.Garcia supplying every student with their own chromebook, headphones are now encouraged to be brought by teachers so students are able to use them in class- just putting that out there.

Our campus is a learning environment, with our motto: ‘Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible.’ Playing music throughout the halls doesn’t seem to be respectful. I’m not saying the students who do this are bad or ill-mannered, all I’m trying to say is that we should put an end to this, because no benefit seems to come out of it.