This year,EdinaHigh Schoolhas focused on “going green,” but is the goal really to save the environment or to save the district money by pushing printing costs on students?
Having students print at home is “not going green,” according to junior Amanda Moghaddas. “Nobody prints on both sides of a piece of paper at home.”
Another student, sophomore Conor Hussey, noticed the supposed eco-friendly initiative the school is taking, “Teachers hand out fewer papers than they usually do and there is more class work online.” Hussey continued, “For some classes I have to [print at home] and it kind of bothers me. I feel like the school is trying to rip me off.”
Though students may be questioning the District’s reasoning behind “going green,” teachers and other district officials seem to have good intentions with the policy. “I don’t think the school is using their efforts to “go green” as an excuse to put the cost of printing on students. A school-wide effort to conserve more and reduce waste is a good thing. I’m encouraging students to read texts online, take notes online, and submit papers electronically so we both practice our digital literacy skills and save paper,” said English teacher Rachel Hatten.
Though some students may not agree, “going green is the right thing to do,” said Edina Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Rick Dressen.
For students, printing at home is an extreme hassle and not eco-friendly. Our parents often complain about the massive consumption of paper and the expensive cost of ink. In addition, students are rarely able to print on both sides of the page, using more paper, which clearly destroys more trees.
While we cannot directly change the fact that teachers are not printing things out for us, we can voice our opinions and show that from a student’s perspective,EdinaHigh Schoolis not “going green.”