The toxicity of Union High School’s clean-up culture is becoming increasingly apparent as the year progresses. From gum left underneath classroom tables to food left splattered on the floors outside, our school environment is downright nasty. But why should it be? With our extensive funding and nice campus, we shouldn’t ruin it out of laziness. Let’s look at the facts.
This problem is gross. It has become normalized to the point where just putting your hand under a table is a huge risk, likely leading to disgust. Gum, bandaids, and everything you could possibly stick to surfaces are stuck to bathroom stalls, ceilings, chairs, and so much more. Yet this continues to happen despite the abundance of trashcans. Walking around our campus shouldn’t leave you feeling repulsed, it should leave you feeling ready to learn. Old milk from the cafeteria is splashed on the ground. Bathrooms are made practically unusable with a mess in every stall, old lunches left in the toilets, sanitary products stuck to the walls, and gum stuck to doors and hinges. Some students avoid having to use the bathrooms altogether due to their state. Who cleans up this mess? The custodians. They work well into the night, and it’s a thankless job – especially with the mess left behind, day in and day out.
There is no reason for this. To stop the loitering of our campus it is essential to take personal measures. This issue is unfair to everyone, so, how could it be fixed? For starters, pick up trash. Instead of leaving it on the ground for others to take care of, throw it away. If everyone does their part, our overall campus may be cleaned entirely. Taking measures to pick up after yourself will drastically propel the cleanliness of our school.
The average high school student spends around roughly 25,000 hours at school. The majority would prefer to learn in a clean environment to a dirty one. It’s simply appalling that students would be so thankless and ignorant about this issue. This job shouldn’t fall on the teachers and custodians who already work hard as it is. Next time you finish your lunch, need to spit out your gum, or use the bathrooms, think before you litter.
