The Rules of School: What’s the Point?

Picture this. You are a woman and traveling alone. In an airport, the crowds consume you and overwhelm you with the sound of people talking and the scent of rubber and cleaning products. Finally, you escape the throngs of people onto the sidewalk and wave for a taxi. A man walks up to you wearing jeans, a leather jacket, and sunglasses. His manner is uneasy, and it makes you feel tense. "Are you traveling with anyone?" He asks. "Yeah, actually, my husband is getting our car. He's just over there." You said, pointing to a random car in the line. The man looks defeated and walks away. 

What would have happened if you hadn't lied?

Rules. Rules are a moral code that most people follow. But are there some rules that are undefined? One example is lying. Telling a little white lie won't hurt anyone; does that make it okay?

Currently, in our Grade 7 Social Studies classes at Zurich International School (ZIS), we are focusing on right versus wrong, mainly how people identify which is which. We have learned about two of many options: a deontologist approach or a utilitarian approach. The utilitarian method is essentially "the greatest good for the greatest number", which means that a utilitarian would most likely decide to do what would benefit the largest number of people. An example is the white lie. If a utilitarian was asked, "Do you like my new haircut?" but they didn't, they would still say "yes" because it benefits the person they are talking to. And what's the harm if you boost their confidence at the expense of one little lie?

A deontologist approach can be a bit more difficult to establish. Sometimes they use the categorical imperative to differentiate right from wrong. Established by Immanuel Kant, the categorical imperative is a series of "commands or moral laws all persons must follow, regardless of their desires or circumstances." Kant's ideas are complicated, but his universalizability principle is a basic way to think about them. "In lay terms, this simply means that if you do an action, then everyone else should also be able to do it [for the action to be morally acceptable]." Let's consider the white lie again. White lies are in a gray area of morally acceptable rules that deontologists follow. Using the universalizability principle, what would be the outcome if everybody told white lies? 

This led me to question, what about the rules at ZIS? We are merging campuses with the upper school, which means our code of conduct is also joining with theirs. So what changes are going to be made to the handbook? I talked to Ms Keys, our Assistant Principal, to help me answer this. She told me, "Mainly things will stay the same…[but], we [will have] a slightly different schedule for next year." So, even though there won't be any major changes to the rulebook, I wondered why we have so many rules. Ms Keys gave me her answer to this question, and she said, "[Our rules] come from our character standards [and] what we say is important to us as a community… [they're] to do with how we treat each other in terms of being respectful, and inclusive of everybody. To me, that's what is most important."

"[Our rules] come from our character standards [and] what we say is important to us as a community…

-Ms Keys

Learning about the main reasons why rules are important in our school, I wondered: are the rules at ZIS fair? Are they morally acceptable? One that stood out to me is the “no hats” rule. This rule has many different gray areas, including religion. For example, if a Muslim student were to come to our school and was allowed to wear a head covering because it is part of her religion, wouldn't she feel like an outsider as the only person wearing a hat? Even teachers cannot wear hats. Going back to the universalizability principle, why would it be so bad if everyone in school wore hats? Why do we ban hats? If the goal is to respect and include everyone, does this rule achieve our goal?

Aside from the goal of inclusion and respect, would it help if people knew why some rules existed? Like no hats, it might be easier for people to follow it if they knew why the rules exist. At the moment, it is just a part of the dress code and another way to get in trouble. But, if students and faculty knew why we have it in the first place, it might be easier for them to follow if they understand it.