[name_f]My[/name_f] side project story (The one with the [name_u]Callahan[/name_u]/Halloran character) is set in high school (cliché, I know)
I have this character who absolutely loves to dye her hair, and while I know in college people won’t really care about the color of your hair, it can be different in high school. I also know that some high schools allow students to dye their hair but not all of them.
So that got me thinking about school rules, and my question is:
Should I make the school system
a) really meh about most stuff (like letting you dye your hair, etc) but still strict about some things (bullying not tolerated, etc)
b) really bad (it’s whatever with bullying, you can skip all you classes if you want, etc)
c) really strict (no bullying, no hair dying, no fun)
or
d) weird (allows you to dye hair, but no water bottles, you can smoke but no knocking on glass, etc (aka we’re allowed to do this but not this??))
?
Also, if you want, you can tell me some really odd rules you have/had in school😂
(I apologize if this post doesn’t make sense it’s late and I just remembered to write this now)
Edit: The story: A sorta slice of life story about a friend group trying to navigate feelings and growing up, set in a small fictional town in modern times. Might add some supernatural elements to it if it fits.
2nd Edit: Took out the smoking!
(Very loosely based on me and my friend group.)
It depends on the story, what kind of genre is it? I think C with a mix of D, like they allow dyed hair if your natural hair still shows, no smoking, some bullying of course, NO Wikipedia or gum-chewing, really weird how schools don’t care about bullying or anything but are super hell-bent on the Wikipedia thing and gum-chewing things
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Thank you, I just edited it btw!
Then I’d stick with my original idea, hope it helps!
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I’d say weird, certainly. They can have some really funny rules like you can dye your hair but you have to eat the school lunch (from the cafeteria).
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One thing I noticed is that if this takes place in the US, the smoking age in most places is 18 and some places have raised the age to 21. I’ve never heard of a school that would allow smoking. [name_f]My[/name_f] university doesn’t even allow smoking on the campus and it’s not unique in that sense.
I went to a public school. We had a loose dress code but in high school, it wasn’t enforced unless it was egregiously breaking the rules. We could dye our hair, have piercings and tattoos. Obviously, bullying wasn’t tolerated, although the ways in which that was enforced depended on the administrator you spoke to. I guess it’s most similar to option A? I felt like my school was pretty normal, if not on the relaxed side. We could bring our devices, drive to school even as freshmen (if you got a parking pass in the lottery), and if you had above a C average and no absences during a full week, you could skip study hall on Fridays and go home.
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Thank you!
Just to clear stuff up: for option A, I was really basing it off of my cousin’s school, and my cousin’s school is really weird.
I won’t get too much into it other than the smoking thing; in the parking lot/outside area there’s this ‘smoking corner’ which allows the adults/parents to smoke, but if students are caught, they get punished, but not severely.
But after reading your respons, I’ll just get rid of the school smoking rule, thanks again!
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It’s about modern/present time-ish, the actual year is still ambigous, but I’m aiming for something around this time but in an ‘alternate universe’ where there’s no pandemic.
And don’t worry, every reply is helpful, so thanks!
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My middle school has actually been pretty decently managed. Overall school rules are no phones or eating in class unless permitted, no swearing, drugs, no bullying. We were allowed to dye hair (I never did but a third of the school had dyed hair). [name_f]My[/name_f] science teacher however was pretty slack unless it was bullying or we were being too crazy; most of the time he just did work on his computer. He was one of those kids-need-to-learn-from-their-own-experiences teachers. Social studies teacher was pretty similar though slightly more strict. He didn’t let us use phones in class, but he let us eat. One of my friends had a bag of fruitloops out and a whole group of us were sharing out of her bag. The teacher came over, said “What kind of cereal is that?” and some more cereal-flavor talk, then left us to eat in peace.
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