Before I entered high school I had always believed that one must do an absolutely horrible crime in order to be expelled. A knife fight or a drunken rendezvous were the kinds of things that occupied my mind regarding this subject.

I could blame my middle school; it was small and thus expulsion or any other type of disciplinary action was rare. In addition, my own innocence allowed me to believe that the on-screen fighting seen in popular movies was only met by, at the most, suspension. And let me not forget my belief that drugs and alcohol were common in high school and were thus somehow accepted.

However, throughout my years in high school I have realized a lot regarding this subject. My ninth grade year I recognized how serious bullying is through a classmate’s expulsion after expressing harm towards a fellow peer. My tenth grade year I realized the significance of violence when I experienced a dangerous brawl between two seniors. I had understood why these people were expelled and completely sided with the schools in their decisions.

It wasn’t until my eleventh grade year that I did not quite agree with the disciplinary action at my high school, and truthfully believed expulsion was used as more of a strict ultimatum rather than an agreeable decision.

I go to a private independent boarding school and thus I understand that students are expected to properly follow specific guidelines or otherwise face consequences. I understand the arguments that the school is giving you an opportunity, that this is a privileged experience, and that each student has signed a contract. I believe that it is more than fair to kick someone out for drinking, drug use, violence, or cheating, especially in a school that is aiming to create a campus filled with intelligent and mature young adults.

Though as a second semester high school senior awaiting those lovely letters of college acceptance and rejection, I would like to bring one argument up for questioning.

“EXPULSION.” These words plastered upon ones college resume is, to state lightly, not a very good addition.

This is the one thing that I feel is very understated in these cases. IT’S A BIG DEAL. It’s not some simple little box you check, it’s a box that undermines everything else on your resume. Yes, I know that people deserve the consequences of their actions but what about second chances? As much as I would love to say that a college admissions team is human and does not expect people to be perfect, in today’s world perfection is common in most college applications.

I am not saying you are not able to attend college simply because you are expelled, but it makes me so upset to see a kid who could have had a chance at obtaining an Ivy League education having this ability knocked out from underneath him due to a stupid thing he did as an immature underclassmen.

I guess there are two sides in my argument. One that is screaming “it’s not fair to kick them out!” while the other side is silently agreeing to the consequence of expulsion. And I guess the only thing one can do is hope that the officials in charge of deciding the consequences are reasonable enough to consider the gravity of what they have done as well as the gravity of what expulsion will truly do to them.

My only wish is that they would take a step back and realize that most high schoolers are still kids and that sometimes a second chance can change their entire life.