Cleanup Time
Ella Sherman
Staff Writer
While walking across campus, look around. The trash condition is getting out of hand. Plastic and lunch boxes are strewn across campus, and Milken faculty is at a loss for what to do. It is time that we, as a community, take responsibility.
Students need to realize that our school is not a landfill. There are trash cans all over the school for trash disposal. Why place trash cans across campus if they won’t be used?
The faculty have made several complaints about the trash condition. The freshmen were reprimanded for the mess made in the gym during Color Games, and were told that they could be banned from the activities.
“I am very disturbed by the garbage that is left behind by the students after lunch. I cannot understand why anyone would leave a mess behind,” Mr. Jonathan Raup, a mathematics teacher, said. “It troubles me when I hear students say people get paid to clean up after us. It is not the maintenance’s job to clean up dirty lunch messes. They empty the trash, not fill it.”
The situation is no longer just a problem with clutter, it is quickly becoming a health concern. There have been reported sightings of rats on campus. I can’t think of anything more disgusting than rats.
“I couldn’t believe when I heard there were rats. It was really weird for me to hear about something so gross in a school so beautiful,” Liana Keivenfar ’16 said.
Students should take it upon themselves to clean up their areas. Make it a game, if you want. A competition to determine which grade can keep its area the cleanest.
“Of all of the schools I have taught in, this one is one of the most beautiful but also the most messy. If every student takes it upon him or herself to pick up at least three pieces of trash, I really think that this school would be much cleaner,” an anonymous teacher said.
Students should pick up after themselves so that our campus–and our community–will be a clean, safe and healthy environment. I’m not asking each student to be like a vacuum, but little steps can go a long way. Yes, it is the custodians’ job to clean our school, but it is not their job to fight off rats.
Anonymous • May 29, 2013 at 6:25 pm
It’s simply a matter of the value system to which the majority of Milken students subscribe. I firmly believe that the problem of trash is but a fragment of the greater spoiled disposition of the majority of the student body. From my observations, students don’t feel the need to clean up for the same reasons they have little discipline or belief in hard work.
annonymous • Feb 25, 2013 at 3:15 pm
If everyone cleans up their own trash, there will be nothing more clean. I don’t know if kids just aren’t used to cleaning up their own mess, but it has to stop. People work so hard for this school, the least students can do is respect it.
Mr. Kates • Feb 7, 2013 at 5:08 pm
Thanks for the article. I like the idea of incorporating clean up into Color Wars or a similar grade competition. I have nice gloves in the Library with anti-bacterial solution in them. Please let me know if you would like to borrow gloves to help beautify our campus. BTW: I am not surprised that we have rats, as we are located in the Santa Monica Mountains with abundant wildlife. But our trash situation certainly attracts more rats to our campus.
admin • Feb 7, 2013 at 12:25 pm
Great article. I have tried to think of ways to improve this situation. It’s time to take responsibility for your own actions !