Students - No headsets on buses! Or iPods!

Gus Philpott
The Woodstock Advocate
November 8, 2010

“Students are not allowed to play or use any type of audio listening device on the bus and are not allowed to wear headphones.”

So states the Woodstock Community Unit School District #200 Handbook for Parents in the School Bus Safety Guidelines.

Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

You keep kids cooped up in school all day, and then you keep the lid on while they are riding home on the buses.

If a kid is quiet and in his seat, what possible reason could there be for prohibiting his listening to music (or, heaven forbid, studying a language lesson...) through earphones or earbuds? Only he can hear the sound, assuming he doesn't have it cranked up to the point of hearing loss.

Do kids listen to them, anyway? Do they just hunker down, where the driver cannot see them?

That's not the answer. The answer is to change this guideline.

It's like the 15MPH speed limit at MCC. It's stupid, so no one obeys it.