The Dirty Bathrooms
The bathroom signs outside the 500 bungalow bathrooms.
June 7, 2023
How have your bathroom experiences been here at school? Since the start of last school year, there has been a discussion about how the bathrooms have been here at school. Going into both the boys and girls bathrooms at Millikan, you will find vandalism on the walls, dispensers ripped off the walls, the ground being dirty and wet, and toilets clogged up with not just toilet paper, but with other items that are not meant to be disposed of in toilets.
However with the addition to all of the uncleanliness in the bathrooms, there have also been a handful of students who go into the bathrooms, both boys and girls, just to smoke things like weed and vape pens. Usually multiple people at a time would be in the bathrooms to smoke or vape.
The bathrooms here are unsanitary, unsafe, and bad environments.
So the question is, should the school staff step up and do a better job in keeping the bathrooms clean, or are the students at fault for not taking care of the bathrooms?
I see this as the students being at fault.
The way students treat and act in the bathrooms is not correct by any means. The staff shouldn’t be taking care of stuff like vandalism in the bathrooms. I definitely think that students have the responsibility to treat the bathrooms here a lot better.
The school’s Planet Supervisor, Theourn Lorn says, “The cleanliness factor may be part of my job but there is only so much that janitors here and myself can do.”
However, there are people who may think otherwise. A student who would like to remain anonymous says, “I believe that when it comes to the cleanliness, the students aren’t really at fault. A simple way that the staff can step up to keep the bathrooms clean is if there are always trash cans in the bathrooms that are not overfilled.”
“I really don’t see the cleanliness in the bathrooms getting better. The only way that the bathrooms can get better is if the students here would take care of the bathrooms the right way,” says Lorn.
What do you think about the bathrooms here at Millikan? Do you think the bathrooms here should be more taken care of? If so, does it lie under the students or the janitors? Or do you think there is nothing wrong with the bathrooms here at Millikan.
Gavan H. • Jan 25, 2024 at 11:56 am
Drew Hannon has written a piece about the quality of the restrooms here at the school campus. not only did they talk to school staff on their job toward this concern but also spoke about it from a first-hand perspective which made it personal to all. the end where they provided questions to broaden our thinking got to me and left me questioning my original ideologies on whose job it is and what I can do to help this cause.
Mateo • Jan 25, 2024 at 10:44 am
Great story!
Brandon Janney • Oct 24, 2023 at 10:13 am
On June 7, 2023, Drew Hannon wrote a very insightful piece named “The Dirty Bathrooms” Hannon infused a strong claim within the article and supported it with persuasive details and pieces of reasoning that persuaded me. It presents a solid topic and thoroughly informs the reader, while also making a relatable connection with them. The bathrooms here at Millikan are indeed a failing area within our school and I full heartedly agree with the unwarranted behavior of the students. In their article, issues such as vandalism, broken equipment, misuse of equipment and smoking are problems that we as students need to straighten out. However, I believe that what Hannon could’ve done better was establish a sturdier foundation exploring the viewpoints of how janitors themselves see it and how more students see it. It would not only provide further context on the issue but also provide a semblance of alert and awareness to the issue at hand. The janitors, in the end, are the people who have to pick up the pieces of what chaos ensues in our public restrooms. By including their perspective and their issues/difficulties they go through keeping our bathrooms clean, more and more people can be given the opportunity to understand. Adding on, students on campus need to be held accountable. Hannon dives into the concurrent concerns skillfully, listing out the offenses clearly. My only consideration is that a call to action be implemented at the end instead of an open minded and unstable conclusion to an evident problem. I understand the desire to spread awareness and gain the perspectives of others, but the more important and impactful course of action is fixing a problem we know already exists. In final consideration, “The Dirty Bathrooms” is a well written piece that accomplishes the job of raising awareness of concerns of both the students and staff here at Millikan, which in the end will present us with a future better for both groups of people.