HC rules need another look

November 6, 2010 — by Kelly Liu and Michelle Shu

Homecoming week is a time that many students anticipate, talk about and, most of all, love. However, what was supposed to be a fun, relaxing week this year also served to bring up the issue of cheating. In particular, other classes complained when the freshman quad decorations appeared to benefit too much from parents' help.

Homecoming week is a time that many students anticipate, talk about and, most of all, love. However, what was supposed to be a fun, relaxing week this year also served to bring up the issue of cheating. In particular, other classes complained when the freshman quad decorations appeared to benefit too much from parents’ help.

Whether or not this is true, it turned out the freshmen had done nothing wrong because there are no written rules for Homecoming. The incident clearly displayed the need for such written rules.

This year’s freshmen were rumored to be disqualified because of parental involvement in decorations and the usage of a manufactured product, the Chutes and Ladders playground set, without altering it, but such rumors were false. Assistant principal Karen Hyde had actually asked the parents of freshmen to supervise their decorating process.

The administration said all classes had some form of parental involvement. For example, one senior boy’s father supervised the power tools for the seniors’ woodwork and many sophomore parents transported decorations. Even with these forms of parental involvement, the line of where to limit parental assistance is fuzzy.

The current seniors were disqualified during their sophomore year for using fake grass to make a soccer field, which led to the belief that manufactured products could not be used. Freshmen received approval from Hyde when setting up the playground, and she had said that everything was legal but the unaltered decorations would not be included for judging.

Many older students were outraged when they heard that freshmen were not disqualified even after breaking the rules they believed were established. This was especially apparent for the sophomore class, who placed last in decorations, while the freshman class placed third.

The freshman class still placed last place overall, but the sophomores were upset at losing in decorations. The bottom line is that everyone should receive the same exact rules to ensure that everyone perceives the competition as being fair.

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