A school policy we have here at OHS is being prohibited of bringing Sharpies or any kind of permanent markers. This policy in my opinion is really absurd. This policy is implied because permanent markers are used to vandalize objects of school property and since it is a permanent marker, we believe it will be on the objects forever. However, as a big fan of Sharpie markers, I've discovered that Sharpies are not actually permanent. You can remove it with rubbing alcohol. I believe that this policy of permanent markers or Sharpie markers should be taken out because if we go to such a great school, we are taught not to vandalize school property and if we do, we deserve discipline of erasing the vandalized object with rubbing alcohol. Sharpies are used for expressing things. The slogan for Sharpie Markers is "Uncap What's Inside". Meaning that when you uncap a Sharpie Marker, you are unleashing color. I'm the type of person that does not like dull, boring, colorless objects around me and I prefer an array of bright colorful things. I bought a whole pack of Sharpie markers before Freshmen year because I wanted to express myself when I started high school but with OHS's strict policy of prohibiting of permanent markers, I was very disappointed and I had to keep my colorful markers at home. Even with this rule, many people still break it and they still bring Sharpies to school. In the end of Freshmen year, when everyone was signing yearbooks, I realized we should allow permanent markers to write on yearbooks. Yearbooks are the books we have of memories in high school and with friends writing in our yearbooks, pens and pencils are so difficult to write with and to me it looks very messy with the pens smudging. It just doesn't look very professional or neat and it bothers me very much. So for this policy, I believe it should be taken away because it is a very absurd policy to follow and to keep.
You need to think a little harder about why that policy really exists. The vandalism part of it is a front but it is also valid (it will not come out of porous surfaces). The real problem is that the fumes the pens exhaust is toxic and kills brain cells.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get rid of toxic products in schools, many things have been done. Non-toxic ink was developed to rid textbooks of the harmful fumes. Elmer's created school glue (white glue) to replace the standard rubber cement. Expo discovered a formula for non-toxic dry erase makers when the toxic ones where beginning to be banned. And thanks to Crayola, we have non-toxic crayons. People got together a long time ago and decided that schools should not be a place where kids use things that destroy their brains.
Most importantly, huffing is a major problem. Some kids find they like the smell of Sharpies and start taking big sniffs without any idea of what they are doing. And then there are the kids that know it will get them high and don't care about how much damage it does.
The no-permanent-markers policy only cites the vandalism issue because some schools want to avoid telling kids that if you sniff this, you will have the best time of your life. Maybe they should inform kids about the dangers, but they commonly do not.