I don’t mean to be selfish.

Because we students at Mayfield High School have a dedicated and special principal in Mr. Jeff Legan, we have been graced with updated common areas, utilization of Wi-Fi, and now electronic charging stations.

While all of these things are nice, there is one thing currently in place at the high school that desperately needs to be addressed: the pass system.

At every level of the education system, teachers will always be asked the dreaded questions: May I go to the bathroom? Can I go to my locker?

For as long as I have been a student at Mayfield High School, staff members have responded to these questions by pulling out a handy booklet of an unspecified amount of little pink slips. These pink slips were then filled out with destination, time, and a signature, and then the student was on their merry little way.

One flaw with this system is the fact that when most staff members sign a pass, they proceed to scribble something that allegedly resembles a signature. Because of this, the concept of forging a pass is inevitable and pretty easy to accomplish.

Another flaw is the fact that no one checks for passes. When walking in the hallway, one will pass at least one staff member, regardless of where they are coming from and regardless of where they are going to.

In most cases, a friendly “Hello!” is cast in each other’s direction, followed by the continued advancement through the school by both.

Because of this, confusion runs rampant through MHS.

A few weeks ago, I had taken a test in class. After the test, I asked the teacher if I could go to the bathroom. He told me to go ahead and did not give me a pass, as is commonality in the high school.

Alas, for the first time in my school career, I came the closest I ever came to getting a detention because I didn’t have a bathroom pass as I was stopped mere feet from the doorway of the boy’s bathroom.

This is a joke.

What we have now does not work. It hasn’t worked. It will not suddenly just to decide to work.

Personally, I think we should just abandon passes all together. Every year, thousands of these slips are filled out and then simply discarded—for maybe only five minutes of usage each.

I look at it like this: we are high school students. Our high school years are probably the most critical time in our life. Those students who understand the importance of their education will not neglect the rule.

You may be thinking to yourself, what about the other students?

I understand that yes, this is a school. The Mayfield Schools website reads “Every student. Every day” under its header. All kids are important.

However, I feel as if a student wants to skip a class one day, they should be able to do so. The students who actually care about the future will be in their classroom every day, front and center and ready to learn.

I don’t anticipate a change happening soon. Honestly, I don’t anticipate any change happening—not because the system now allegedly works, but the fact that their really doesn’t seem like a better, realistic option.

If I know one thing, its this: thank you to that one teacher who stopped me in the hallway to confirm that the pass system needs work.