Should Seniors Always Have Seniority? 

It is no secret that seniors in high school are given more privileges than the classes below them. They are given more scholarship opportunities and are on the top of the hierarchy when it comes to course selection and student activities.

However, it should be considered that a senior is a student like every other kid in the building, and therefore should be treated equally to other grades in certain circumstances. 

Granted, I’m not claiming that there should be less opportunities for seniors, as they are about to move into the next stage of their life. But, if we treated the four grade levels more equally, then it’s a simple way that could allow the student body to feel more united rather than separated by labels such as ‘upperclassmen’ and ‘underclassmen’. 

Opportunities for students can come in various forms, such as choosing classes.

 If you were to ask anyone which year of high school they found the most difficult, the majority of the answers would probably be their junior year. Why might this be? It’s because they spend their day in classrooms of a subject they hardly had a choice to sign up for.

If juniors have more variety and an equal chance to get the classes they wish for, they would be able to spend time focusing on classes they find valuable in the midst of a difficult year.

One could argue that seniors should continue to be at the top of the hierarchy for the classes they wish to take, as the time runs thin for the classes they require for graduation. 

However, if juniors and seniors had an equal ranking in the first place, then seniors could take their required classes sooner in their high school career.

More specifically, seniors mostly need to complete their electives. So, if more electives were open to more grades, then this counterargument wouldn’t exist.

Most of the scholarship opportunities offered in school are meant for seniors only. Not to say there aren’t scholarships for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, but there is a very slim amount. 

This can cause issues for students that plan to go to college. Some students have issues with affording college tuition, so if more scholarships were offered by the school for the younger students, then they could apply for more throughout their high school career and save the money they earned.

The circumstances listed above have the ability to impact a student’s future. While it’s important to focus on the impactful circumstances, there are also everyday seniority scenarios that need to be addressed.

Both junior and senior students are able to drive their cars to school. At the end of the day, the senior parking section, which grants much more space than the junior section, is let out first. 

The juniors have to wait five to ten minutes for the buses and the senior lot to clear out. Whereas, on the rare occasion that juniors get to go first, the seniors only have to wait one to two minutes tops for the juniors to leave campus.

Instead of seniors leaving first everyday, a solution in order to create fairness for all student drivers would be to alternate every other week, meaning that one parking lot leaves first for one week, and the other parking lot leaves first the next week.

There are many other examples of this prioritizing seniors over others throughout the school.

Senior Gabe Ragland pointed out that he sees a lot of ageism in gym class. “When we were playing games like banana ball […] there’s often alliances and the seniors gang up on the underclassmen and that makes it not fun for the underclassmen, and the seniors are always winning.”

Another place students noted seniority is in sports. 

Junior Annelise Dicara said she believes she sees seniors being favored in sports, too. She said she thinks that in some sports the seniors automatically get on varsity. She believes that’s unfair, because talented freshmen might have to wait and “play up”.

School does not revolve around academics and sports entirely, there are also activities organized by the school in order to avoid becoming a completely stressful environment.

It’s a wonder why seniors have more school activities planned than other grades. For example, in years past there were organized lock-ins for seniors.  One could say seniors deserve more rewards for accomplishing more years of high school, but that argument is simply invalid.

Every student is different, and students in varying grades could be considered more of a harder-working student than other seniors. There are students in lower grades who accomplish a great deal in school, and should be rewarded for their motivation and academic success regardless of their age. 

Therefore, it would be considerate to either include all grades in certain activities to create an equal ground between all students, or to organize more events for separate grades. An example of this would be to reward the freshman, sophomore, or junior class with class trips for their academic success.

Ragland suggests a better way to get all students on an equal level would be to form a club with student representatives from each grade, and discuss notable issues that create divides within the student body as well as ways to solve them.

It is very important to consider in this argument that by eliminating these circumstances, we would create an environment where each student has an equal opportunity to grow as a student, or just as a person in general.