The Importance of a Senior's Annual Ditching Ritual

In the midst of a senior’s final semester—in-between stressful college decisions and the gleeful senior week—resides Senior Ditch Day. Due to the day normally occurring after prom, this year’s surprisingly-late prom has pushed it back to finals week—left to dry. The day has existed as a popular tradition ever since the antics of Ferris Bueller, becoming synonymous with organized rebellion and representing the desire to resolve the imbalance of a student’s social-life and school-life. In this sense, Senior Ditch Day is essential towards a student’s self-expression and independence, and therefore should be allowed—and even encouraged—by Samo faculty.However, it is important to first recognize the problem of Senior Ditch Day, the fundamental negativity unintentionally created by the event. Economically, Senior Ditch Day is very detrimental to public schools whose funding depends on student attendance. According to the SMMUSD official website, each student that does not attend school on a particular day costs the school district $45. Assuming every senior, approximately 750 Samo students, ditch, SMMUSD can lose $33,750 in one day alone. Over an eight year span, that costs the school district over a quarter of a million dollars. This tremendous loss of money could be easily avoided if Senior Ditch Day did not exist. In reality, though, not all of the 750 seniors ditch, meaning the dramatically-high quarter-million dollar loss over the eight years would actually be less.But the positives that come from Senior Ditch Day significantly outweigh the negatives. Many students at Samo and elsewhere struggle with the social-life/ school-life imbalance. Frequently, students sacrifice large chunks of their already limited free-time to stay up-to-date with all their work. Having this one day to collectively take initiative and ditch symbolizes having a more equal balance between a student’s social and school life, and the senior class simultaneously can strengthen friendships as their high school days come to a close.If school administrators crack down on the day, it will only escalate the issue students are fighting against. Senior Ditch Day, although seemingly meaningless to the common spectator, was founded to fight for a student’s aforementioned independence. With this liberty taken away or subdued via heavy punishment, there would be one less way for a student to advocate for themselves and their opinions on the school system, and subsequently would lead to more outrage about the issue of the work/school imbalance.Lastly, just let the seniors have fun! Already being near the end of their second semester, they are essentially done with high school anyways. Senior Ditch Day can be their final, modest way of peaceful protesting, while simultaneously being a fun time for the students involved.