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The Dumbest Rules People Have Ever Seen Enforced In School

A seemingly frustrated woman stands in front of a brick wall, covers her face in book

Rules. Rules. Rules.

I get that we have to have rules and order.

Without all rules, we have anarchy and chaos.

But it feels like some schools just go overboard.

I mean, a principal is the head administrator, not a warden.

Especially when there are so many do's and donts that make absolutely so sense.


Redditor DekuSkrub18 wanted to hear about all of the rules that left people dumbfounded when we were students, so they asked:

"What were the dumbest rules put in place at your school?"

I can't recall a ton of silly rules at my school.

That was back in the 1800s though. Things have changed.

Stand Up

No Way Wtf GIF by HarlemGiphy

"Students weren't allowed to sit on the floor in the hallways because it promoted sex."

Arius_de_Galdri

Oh!

"Something would happen: like a dropped tray or a book loudly hitting a table, and the whole cafeteria would yell Oh! The administrators hated it and would try and get us to stop. One week it happened a couple of times in a day."

"The assistant principal stood on a chair and loudly declared that if it happened again, they were going to turn off the vending machines. Of course, everyone yelled Oh! immediately. He angrily walked over and ripped the cords for the vending machines out of the wall… only to be met with a chorus of more Ohs!. It was hilarious but also incredibly stupid."

andronicus_14

Rewards

"At my primary school at the end of the year, there was a beach day for all students who had no detentions. Fine, I guess a reward for good behavior."

"But when you also have a policy of putting anyone who fights in detention regardless of who started the fight it becomes a bit unfair. You get picked on by a bully and you both get detention."

Mythical_Atlacatl

Funneled

"One-way system. You had to go around the entire school to go to your class that was directly next to your previous class. Also, the one-way system funneled all the students into one corridor, when if they could just go the fastest route they could avoid getting in each other's way. They used to say that the school was built in the 70s for much fewer students so the hallways were too small to let students walk where they want."

"So their solution was to funnel all the students down a single hallway. It didn't make sense to me."

REDDIT

Affiliations

"Our school tried banning 'gang affiliated' clothing. I can tell you right now the closest thing we got to 'gangs' in my school was one kid who listened to too much 50 Cent and Eminem, and another who actually grew up in Detroit but was about as clean-cut as they come."

"But oh no, my camo-patterned fall jacket? That I got at OLD NAVY? I must be in a gang. That lasted all of a month until about 1/3 of the school had been sent home for 'dress code' violations multiple times. It was utterly arbitrary and nobody cared except for a handful of the administration."

subtxtcan

Cheers

Cinco De Mayo Drinking GIF by WDRGiphy

"The song 'Tequila' was banned because parents said it promoted underage drinking."

LordBaranof

But it's such a great song!

Hairy Situations

Long Hair GIF by Hollie KitchensGiphy

"In our school, girls weren't allowed to wear their hair down. If any girl forgot to tie her hair, she was reprimanded. This really irritated the teachers."

Goddess_Gwendolyn

That's Exiled!

"It was always dumb when they would outlaw whatever the new cool harmless fad was. I remember when they outlawed snap bracelets, wacky cards and garbage pail kids, magic cards, etc. I think tomagatchies too."

wpascarelli

"We had both Pokémon cards and marbles outlawed because of people doing unfair trades. It was a bit of a thrill playing a secret game of marbles at the far end of the oval on lunch break once they were banned."

Special_Objective245

"It would disrupt the class. I was in school when Tamagotchis, yo-yos, Pokemon cards, and Yugioh cards were all a thing. I remember how it could be distracting or how kids would get into fights over them."

ibn1989

Skip Away

"If you are X minutes late, you must do the detention during your lunch break for the same amount of time."

"For example, if you came 5 mins late, you have to spend 5 mins doing detention during your lunch break."

"There was no detention if we don't show up to class. Basically, if you're late to class it's better to skip the class."

Goatmanthealien

Terrible

"No jeans."

skarlettohara

"My secondary school (U.K.) had a no jeans policy, our uniform was back trousers white shirt. I wore black jeans to school for the last 4 years. Would get pulled up about it from time to time. I’d just say 'Ah yep, won’t happen again' then continue wearing black jeans. Our school was utterly terrible."

minigmgoit

Water Sounds

noise GIFGiphy

"We couldn't have metal water bottles because they might make loud noises if they fell."

Automatic_You4321

Color Lines

"That you couldn't dye your hair at all, even if you chose a natural color. They were so rigid that we kept our hair the color we started school off with that when one particular girl came back after the Summer holidays with brunette hair and revealed that the brunette hair was in fact her natural color, they made her bleach her hair back to blonde!"

Creative_Recover

Who thought any of these idea were valid?

Focus on more education please.