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Warning Bells

Updated: Mar 6

McKinley Owczarski, Jan 29th, 2024


Shoes clacking throughout the hallways and students sprawled throughout the halls, on their way to class. A loud chatter fills the air and laughter can be heard from all around. Suddenly, a loud doorbell-sounding ding cuts through the scenery, and students all rush to class. The moment the clang of the bell calls out, the hallways are empty and quiet again. Nobody can be seen. Or at least that's what the idea is. Everyone heard the newly implemented warning bell, and it seems everywhere I go, I hear someone complaining about it. But what do the students think? I interviewed multiple students from each grade anonymously and surprisingly their answers were all similar. 


Starting, Freshman, out of everyone the majority of those asked seemed to care the least out of all the grades. Those who we interviewed their responses echoed the same words “I don't even notice it.” said one impartial student, as well as another saying “I don't really have an opinion on it.” said another. Despite this, one sophomore broke it down for me. “I think the intended concept about the warning bell is good because it’s intended to reduce tardiness. However, I don’t think it will be effective in the long run because students already ignore the warning bell because they know it’s not the “real” bell.” Said one student. On the contrary, another sophomore quotes “I think the new warning bell is relevant because it gives another reminder to go to class and I do think it’s necessary for some of us who have longer routes to classes to know how much time we have left.” At the end of all Grade 10 interviews, all the sophomores could agree that, “regardless, I think the warning bell is necessary because just by implementing it, the school is already demonstrating to the students that tardies are taken seriously and so is the success of the students.”


Moving on to upperclassmen many juniors found reason in it, but said it did not help them specifically. “I personally support the new warning bell. I believe it is helpful for students to be able to get to class more on time, and can help result in less tardiness. As a student, I don’t find it specifically effective to me, because I have never been late to class. However I think for other students this can be very helpful to warn those they need to make their way to class." Comparably another junior repeated, “Although the noise is annoying, I can see how it's helpful to underclassmen who might not be able to just have a sense of time left, as we do with past years of experience.” 


Finally, very similar to the juniors the senior classmen interviewed, parroted the same two things. It's helpful sometimes and for some people, but annoying. “I think that the warning bell isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just something we have to get used to but it’s definitely useful. I like the bell because you can’t always see the clocks like in the bathroom.”


Overall students described the piercing noise as similar to a doorbell, elevator bell, airport, and a siren, and the majority of students interviewed could agree that it was annoying to hear. Suggestions to change the bell have been made such as “I think that to make it a bit less annoying they could lower the sound a bit, it's just super loud.” Administrators could not be reached for comment in time to get a quote, but students have a voice and if the student body feels the way that these students do as well, the noise could be changed to something at least a little less jarring. All of our voices are just as loud as the bell. 

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