I would like to express my thoughts in response to Kurt Peters's letter, "Why teach teens about freedom when they have so little?"

I shall begin by saying that Peters has made some very valid points, and I agree With his views on many of them. I find passes to the restroom and excessive in-school suspensions unnecessary and often futile in their purposes, but we must remember that there are usually two sides to every issue.

It is true that many students have grown so accustomed to in-school suspension that this disciplinary action no longer serves as a punishment. There are also many people who will never dare to disobey a major rule for fear of the consequences. This particular punishment may not give every offender a change of heart, but it does prevent many offenses from ever occurring.

But perhaps I have missed the point entirely. At the heart of the issue lie not the punishments but their crimes. Why is it unacceptable to skip class or roam the halls without a pass? Shouldn't students be allowed to come and go as they please?

Perhaps our administrators and teachers are actually trying to look out for our well-being; after all, we must realize, despite our naïvete, that they are undoubtedly older and wiser than many of the teenagers whom they teach.

The school system is not trying to make our time in high school miserable, as so many students seem to believe. It is my opinion that the vast majority of educators went into their field because they truly have a deep concern for the rights and well-being of young people. For such caring individuals as these I am infinitely thankful.

What exactly is the utopia that self-proclaimed idealists such as Peters are hoping for? Is it a perfect world unmarred by the presence of such things as evil and oppression?

Every teenager has the innate drive to disagree with the values and rules they grow up with, but perhaps we should all try to make the best of what we have instead of complaining about the things which we lack.

In my eyes, the beauty of it all is that, as Peters himself points out, critics of the status quo will not be persecuted for their thoughts but praised for daring to share them.

Humanity shall never be satisfied; every morning I watch as so many of my peers blatantly refuse to pledge the very flag that gives them the right to protest it.