Littering
Every period after lunch, I, along with the rest of the student body, have had to deal with the utter filth festering in our hallways after every lunch period. Crumpled-up chip bags, a rainbow of half-consumed pop cans, crumbs, crusts, candy bar wrappers, even a whole apple was tossed away. And when I look into the trashcans, I see only a few people have remembered to use them. Although I am normally a particularly optimistic individual, I could tell our state of cleanliness was spiraling out of control.
I have a locker in the 11th grade hallway, quite possibly the filthiest of all the hallways. But then again, it has been notorious for all kinds of vandalism, including an incident with a permanent marker and a now-removed bench. When I have to walk through the hallway, the garbage seems to pile up upon itself. Needless to say, I was appalled. If senior students are to act like this, I thought grimly, then perhaps the school ought to sell the hallway to Goulbourn Sanitation, and at least make a profit off of it.
I’ve personally found our school littering to be utterly absurd. Garbage and recycling outlets are in all classrooms, and they have been dispersed generously throughout the hallways. Our school is something of a home away from home for most, being a hub for all kinds of interesting people to mingle (and learn, but mostly mingle). And yet, we don’t have the common decency to keep the areas we all share free of filth. The least we could do is keep these hallways appealing to the eyes.
And who cleans up this filth every day? Janitors, for one, but Community Living students also have a major role in keeping our school clean. Whether it is cleaning windows, running the recycling on Thursdays, or, most importantly, cleaning the hallways after every lunch period, these polite and industrious students and employees are there, taking care of our messes. Most of these students are affected by various mental disabilities, and are not allowed the same privileges we average and gifted students tend to overlook. I’ve found that this subordination, inflicted entirely by Bell students, to be not just disrespectful, but insulting.
Mr. Valliere disagreed with my thoughts about the negatives of the school littering, instead relishing its positive influence on his students. His students, along with the janitorial staff, are responsible for most of the maintenance of the school.
As a reporter and journalist, of course, I shouldn’t have just my own opinions published in a matter that affects us all (don’t beat me up yet, I’m getting there). I wanted answers to the questions swimming through my head. Our saga starts at Community Living, where I found Mr. Edward Valliere, and his students being sent off to clean the hallways. My Drama class was cancelled, so I decided to get his opinion.
His opinions were vastly different from what I expected. He saw cleaning the hallways “an important life skill that could be applied in the future”. The students were acquiring skills applicable in the future, skills that were vital to their success as adults. The littering problem, to him at least, was innocent enough.
“Students will drop their trash on the floor and not into the can,” said Mr. Valleiere. “They’re kids, they will do that. The only thing we can do is take what good we can from it, and I think this arrangement works well for the kids. They enjoying cleaning the school, and the school retains a clean atmosphere.”
This discussion gave me quite a bit to think about, but I wanted to talk to some of the community living students. With some help from good friends Erica and Storm, along with support from volunteers in community living, I hooked up with Anna Sukey and Tracy Tueman, two community living students.
They weren’t at all bothered by any growing littering problem there was, and they worked diligently to keep our school clean. I asked them if their learning was taking a blow from the cleaning. They both said yes. Tracy told me she could be reading (her favourite activity) if there was less garbage to clean up during the period after lunch.
On a completely separate note, I also learned Anna likes Scooby Doo, likes playing basketball, and shops at Winners. Not too different from the rest of us, it seems.
Later, I ran around the hallways, getting some short, sweet opinions on any littering problem there was. Some were pretty thorough, others were pretty blunt. The same message was presented in most of them, though. Nicky Thomson (Grade 12) thought it was “disgusting”. Katy Mcclean (Grade 11) gave me some sound advice.
“Put it in the garbage,” she replied with a grin.
“I don’t see why people don’t clean up their own mess,” said Matthew Beckett, a Grade 12 senior. “If they took a few seconds to clean up, we’d all be happier.”
Brandon Hartman of 12th Grade wasn’t made any more comfortable with trash admist. “It’s a bit unsettling finding trash left where we sit,” he replied. Garrett Noonan of Grade 10, sitting next to Brandon was quick to disagree. “School littering isn’t all that abrasive,” he replied. Robert Desjardins of Grade 11 had a unique opinion. “I think it’s okay,” he said, shrugging. “It means people are eating their lunches.”
So, as I soon discovered, there are multiple viewpoints as to any littering problem the school has. It can be agreed on, though, we could be better off without it. I hope people see to it to properly dispose of their waste. Deposit your bags, wrappers, and the like into the cans, and the bottles and cans into the blue outlets.
It might sound corny, but a little effort can go a long way in preserving our sanity and our environment. Winter’s here. We’ll be spending a lot more time in the halls.