20 Students Shared The Dumbest Rules Their Schools Ever Enforced

Says that only school can review a student’s academic achievements? Students are also reviewing schools because education is more than just about the letters on the test scores! Unfortunately, students often have to deal with really weird gatekeeping and regulations that don’t make sense at all.

Rules are made to be (not broken!) but protect others and keep things in order. But when your rules do more harm than good, perhaps, you need to review how people (flash news: students are people who deserve to be heard, too!) really feel about those rules and how well it’s performing.

1.

“Can’t be standing around in groups more than 4 ‘gang mentality.'” – Leehk1

2.

“They outlawed bracelets because there was an article in a magazine somewhere saying they advertised what sexual acts you were open for based on their color. Then someone tried to outlaw wrist watches for the same reason.” – billbaperky

3.

“Locked the only boys bathroom because someone wrote on the wall in sharpie. It wasn’t even anything rude or inappropriate either. It was just the word “hi” or something like that. Didn’t unlock the door until one boy wet himself and parents threatened to sue.” – Loseruser1201

4.

“Not really a rule, but the toilet paper holders are OUTSIDE of the stalls on a wall. So you have to calculate before taking a s**t how much you need and hope that it was enough.” – Mauzersmash0815

5.

“Banned all backpacks / bags on campus. Students were expected to somehow carry everything they needed in hand. This was especially challenging if you had a non ideal locker placement.” – nospamkhanman

6.

“We suddenly one day weren’t allowed to stand in circles during recess because, and I quote “we could be dealing drugs.” I will add that for the years prior we had been standing in circles with no problem. Next recess, we stood in a triangle, cue principal going apes**t. Next day we stood in a square, principal kept us inside for a week. And threatened us all with detentions if we did it again etc.

I believe their idea was open-ended circles so they could see what we were doing. Still stupid.” – Xwind03

7.

“I got a suspension for holding a stick. The phone call with my mom went something like this (only slightly dramatized):

School: Mrs. TheQueq, your son has been suspended.
Mom: Oh my goodness, what did he do?
S: He was holding a stick.
M: Did he hit someone with it?
S: No. He was just holding it.
M: …Did he threaten to hit someone with it?
S: No, just held it.
M: Did he refuse to put it down when you asked?
S: No, no, he was very cooperative.
M: So… what did he do wrong?
S: He held a stick.
M: And I should be upset about that?
S: Absolutely, you know we have a zero-tolerance policy.
M: Right… well, I’ll talk with him.

As you might guess, I did not get in trouble at home.” – TheQueq

8.

“No farting in class. They would say “if u need to fart then go to the toilet” but then 9 times out of 10 if u asked to go to the toilet they’d say no.” – 1___burner___1

9.

“Zero tolerance. Just means that if someone starts a fight with you, you fight back as hard as you can. You’re going to get suspended for defending yourself anyway, might as well make it worthwhile.” – AlphaTangoFoxtrt

10.

“You have to wear your tie all the way home. Some sad b**tard teachers would stand on the main road away from the school and try to hand out detentions in presumably their own time.” – ——__————

11.

“In grade school, we weren’t allowed to play on the playground equipment when it snowed. Eventually, we weren’t allowed to play with snow or even go near it – I got in trouble for sitting in the snow. This was in Minnesota where it snows half the year. Recess basically consisted of milling around the blacktop for thirty minutes.” – BW_Bird

12.

“Took all the doors off the men’s room bathroom stalls because of vandalism for 2 months.” – Comprehensive_Pin_90

13.

“My friend is an administrator at a private school in NJ and the faculty has to sign in and out of the bathroom using Google sheets. 9am, 10 minutes, M-F.” – no__ragrets__

14.

“When I was in Junior school (UK boarding school in the 80’s), we were not allowed to say OK as it was considered slang and not befitting the young ladies and gentleman that we should aspire to be. For context, Junior school covered ages 5-13.

We also had to have a comb and a handkerchief on us at all times. On top of that, we weren’t allowed to have our hands in our pockets because ‘it looks slovenly.’” – Goose-rider3000

15.

“‘Don’t damage school property’ sounds reasonable enough until you get detention for staining a chair after suddenly getting your period.” – RedheadedRobin

16.

“Playing cards at lunch was prohibited because it ‘promoted gambling.'” – DavyJonesArmoire

17.

“No slow dances at the prom.” – chabichiks

18.

“We weren’t allowed to wear thongs. I don’t know how they caught people who did tbh.” – tiredgeek02

19.

“No beads. Apparently, they thought beaded jewelry was gang-related?” – PatSmiles17

20.

“We once had a rule that we could only go to the bathroom during class. Not in the breaks. Only during class.” – Reddit