The tradition of senior ditch day dates back many generations.  It goes back to the 1930’s. This day has even been around since before your parents were in school. If you are one of the few people that doesn’t know what senior ditch day is, it’s a day where most seniors don’t go to school simply because they don’t want to. Most of the time, during senior ditch day, the senior class goes to different places to hangout. In the past years, the school district has not been very fond of the idea of seniors having a ditch day. This year however, the school sent an email to students and their parents about senior ditch day saying that school is not involved in it. The school has made it clear that they don’t want to be involved in senior ditch day, and that they don’t want it to happen. So should the school allow the seniors to participate in senior ditch day without punishment?

“I think it’s going to happen anyways,” said senior Nather Barker. “But if they don’t let it happen, what’s the point, because they are just giving everybody detentions and tardies for no reason.” 

At the end of the day, Barker is right.  No matter how many detentions or punishments the school gives to students for senior ditch day, they are going to keep doing it every year, as they have been doing it for years. The seniors believe that senior ditch day is one their rights, since it’s been going on for so long.

Every year at Eaglecrest, the senior class goes against the rules and has a senior ditch day,  just like every school around us also does. But, the senior’s at Eaglecrest do senior ditch day a lot different than other schools. At Eaglecrest a couple of years ago, the students made it so that the seniors have two ditch days, one for the first semester, and one for the second semester. One of the debates in the school is if two ditch days are too much. 

“I don’t think having two senior ditch days is too much,” said senior Lauren Woods. “Senior year is a time to relax more and take a break, and most seniors already know what they are doing after high school.”

Most seniors are going to say two days isn’t too much.  By the time a high schooler gets to senior year, they want to go to college or proceed in whatever they may desire doing with the rest of their life.  Many of them already feel like adults, even if some of them aren’t yet.

A fair amount of seniors want to have two senior ditch days, but believe that having two is asking for too much.

“I mean it’s cool that we are having two senior ditch days,” said Barker. “I think that we have to ask them to allow one senior ditch day. We can’t expect them to be okay with two, it’s asking for too much.”

You can’t talk about senior ditch day unless you also talk to the teachers that have to deal with all of the missing kids in their classes. 

“I think it’s really dumb because there is no such thing as two senior ditch days,” said head coach of the track team and PE teacher Coach Cartheart. 

Additionally, plenty of teachers already don’t agree with one senior ditch day because they think that the seniors should not be skipping school at all.  Missing school for no real reason could be perceived as a waste of a teacher’s time. 

“I think two ditch days is a little too much,” said teacher Kealy Reed. “Senior ditch day is meant to be a day at the end of year and it’s supposed to be a fun day before school ends. I think it takes away from the fun if there are two days.”

The idea of senior ditch day has changed over the years. It used to be something that the seniors did to celebrate almost being done with high school, but it was also a way to rebel against the school. I think that recently, the idea of senior ditch day is just an excuse to go to school for no real reason. A lot of seniors wonder if the teachers that don’t want the seniors to do senior ditch day did senior ditch day themselves.

“I did participate in senior ditch day when I went to high school,” said Reed.

Even the teachers are guilty of participating in senior ditch day when they were seniors. Overall, many would argue that senior ditch day should still be a thing because we have had it for so long.  It’s just a harmless activity for the seniors.