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People Break Down The Dumbest Rules Their School Ever Enforced

pink bicycle parked beside brown concrete wall with "no bicycles please" sign
pink bicycle parked beside brown concrete wall
Ian Barsby on Unsplash

All of us more than likely broke at least one rule while in school.

There were, of course, the class clowns and bullies who made an effort to break school rules, just for the sake of it.

But then there were those whose absolute worst nightmare was getting in trouble, who still found themselves breaking one or more rules.

However, they more than likely broke these rules without even realizing it, as many schools have a long list or rules that students, and more than likely several teachers, might not even have been aware of.

For aside from the obvious rules, no running in the hall, no cheating, some school administrators might have gone above and beyond to ensure discipline in their schools.

Thus instituting rules ranging from understandable to utterly ludicrous.


Redditor SoLe123456 was curious to hear the all time silliest rules enforced at people's schools, leading them to ask:
"What's the dumbest rule your school ever enforced?"

Dress Code!

"Not being allowed to wear hoodies/jackets or sweaters that lacked the official school logo."

"I was a high school teacher for several years, both buildings I worked in were FREEZING, and having admin pull students out of my classroom during a 50 minute period & giving them detention instead of letting them LEARN is cruel and completely unnessesary, in my opinion."- Master_Catch_9089

Logic Prevails!

"My school had 3 staircases along a very long corridor."

"We were banned from using the middle staircase because it got overcrowded."

"The ban was lifted once they realized it only made the other two staircases just as crowded."- bignastty·

Show Everyone How Happy You Are!

"At my kids' elementary school students had to smile while walking in the hall."- HitchhikingCats

Awkward Smile GIFGiphy

Coordinated Defiance

"If you throw snowballs, you get a one day suspension."

"The first long weekend after a snowfall everyone would throw snowballs to get an additional day added to the long weekend."- MrFake_Name

Sound In Theory, Lethal In Practice...

"You had to wear your ID around your neck on a rope thing."

"Then the chokings started."- the-zoidberg

Forbidden Sweets

"Candy canes were outlawed because you could sharpen them to a point and use them as a shiv."

"I went to school in rural Washington."

"We definitely weren’t somewhere that shankings were to be expected."- MisterComrade

Santa Claus Christmas GIF by Emo DíazGiphy

Flaws With Bureaucracy...

"I got Saturday school for missing a day of classes when I was 16."

"Seems reasonable, except I missed to go complete my US citizenship and officially become a citizen alongside my mom, it took us 12 years to go through the legal process, btw."

"Whole other issue."

"I had a note from my mother as well as a signed official Federal form they give you to explain to school/employers why you were absent."

"Apparently the only acceptable absence excuse was illness."

"I got punished for becoming a citizen."- Lumpy_Constellation

Silence Is Golden

"Elementary school principal banned talking at lunch."

"If you were caught talking or even signing to someone, you had to go sit by yourself on a folding chair with no table."

"There was once my mom came to eat lunch with my older sister and I."

"The principal was like 'Oh you should go eat out in the hallway with your daughters' and she was like 'nah, I'm gonna sit here with my daughter and her friends and talk to them and enjoy their presence'."

"Usually if a parent came for lunch the student could invite one friend to join, unless you had siblings."

"Then it was too many people so you couldn't invite a friend."

"Anyway, one of my older sister's friends whispered to my mom that she was going to move so she wouldn't get in trouble for talking."

"THIS WAS A NINE YEAR OLD."- passatcar

no talking total physical response GIF by ALO7.comGiphy

So Much For Standing Up For Yourself...

"That if you say/do anything back to your bully it becomes a mutual conflict and isn't bullying."

"So if they start calling you slurs and making you feel bad every day and you call them stupid once or twice the school probably won't help."

"Also dress code required school branded hoodies.'

"They were 50 dollars."

"If you wore a non school hoodie you got in school suspension."- wowthatfood

Many would say "the rules are not meant to be broken".

However, one should stop and reflect when certain rules were implemented, and what exactly they were intended to prevent.

As these rules might actually be impossible for many to follow.

Then too, one can't help but wonder if people might be better off breaking these outdated rules?

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