Opinion: should high school students have a curfew?

By: Dori Jenkins

Many states and cities within the United States have considered giving students that are in high school a curfew of 9 p.m. on the weeknights and 11 p.m. on the weekends. Many people believe that this will help students do better with their school work. I personally think that this law would not work out well for many reasons. High school students are very busy with their lives and they are turning into adults. They should be able to manage their own time properly and learn how to live in the real world, because it’s not everyday you get home by 9 p.m. This law does not help prepare students for adulthood and, in my opinion, giving high school students a curfew is pointless. A Seckman High School freshman, Sydney Penrod, agrees, saying, “I feel that it is important for kids my age to start making their own decisions in life and time management is an important task to learn as a young adult.”

My first argument would be that most students who are in high school have jobs and after school activities that they must partake in. You cannot possibly stay after school until your sport is let out and then go to work and make it home before 9 p.m. It is nearly impossible to do if you actually want to make good money at your job. In the economy that we live in, where money is very tight for a lot of families, they may need the extra money that their high school child makes in order to survive. A Seckman High School senior, Cole Jenkins, says, “I know that me, personally, it is important that I have a job so that I can start paying for things on my own, and I don’t have to ask my parents all the time for money.” At the same time, you are still in high school and I believe that it is important to be able to participate in the after school activities that you want to. This law would be unfair to the students actually doing this. 

My second argument is that most students are not causing many issues at 9 o’clock at night. Most students are either working or at a sporting event, or sometimes even in bed at that time. If students are out part 9 p.m. causing problems and doing things they are not supposed to, chances are they are not going to follow this law anyway. While it's true that curfews in other cities have sometimes successfully reduced crime, many feel they are unnecessarily restrictive and discriminatory against teenagers. They also do not address what may be the root cause of teen crime, which is a general lack of things to do. In my personal opinion, most students do not party or cause enough trouble during the week for this law to be necessary. David Alpert says in the Greater Washington, “When I was 16 and 17, I was often at a friend's house until later than that. Teenagers don't want to be cooped up in the house all the time and tend to go to sleep late. We're not talking about 8-year-olds here.” 

My third argument is that it should be up to their parents to make that decision. If a parent wants to allow their child to be out late that night, then it should be allowed. However, if their child causes trouble and disruption, then they should be punished. This law should not get to decide when students should be home you cannot always blame the kid for wanting to go somewhere if their parents allow it. All in all, a parent makes almost every other decision in their child’s life; why not let them decide how late the child can be out?

I do not believe that students should be forced to be home at any certain time. High school students are young adults and should be responsible enough for their own lives. Many of them work and have important needs to take care of and sometimes you might have to be out late in order to get that done. This law, I believe, would not stop the kids that already get into trouble. This law is unnecessary for our society today. Do you honestly think it would really help our students in the long run?