From overcrowded classrooms to often unpalatable cafeteria food, student complaints about Gunn abound. A popular grievance is that suggestions and opinions about these matters are not heard. But students often overlook the impact they can have on Gunn decision-making. The most major decisions are made by the Site Council and Facilities Planning Committee, collaborative groups that include district officials, administrators, faculty and students. At each Site Council and Facilities Planning Committee meeting, appointed student representatives are supposed to express student opinions about various campus affairs. It is thus unfair to say that students do not have an outlet through which the district can learn of their opinions.

Take, for example, the football field. Students’ complaints about the field’s potholes and uneven surface were amended through an anonymous donation for a new turf field. Perhaps a turf field was not the best solution to student athletes’ woes, but at least they have no worries of turning their ankles in unexpected holes and depressions. Reasonable student complaints are addressed by the administration to the best of their ability. All school systems have flaws, and it is impossible to please the entire student body. Addressing those complaints takes time and money, money that has often been allocated for a particular purpose and cannot legally be spent for any other reason. For example, if a measure granting money for a school’s construction fund is passed, it cannot be utilized for purchasing textbooks. When the school is simply unable to remedy various complaint-worthy aspects of the campus due to constraints out of its control, students should step back and try to be patient.

Constructive criticism and suggestions are helpful to the various school and district committees in deciding which problems should be addressed. But reiterating the same point while the school is in the process of addressing that particular problem is unnecessary. Instead, students should appreciate the positive actions that have already been taken. For example, rather than continuing to complain about shabby classrooms, students should realize that that particular problem is slowly but surely being remedied through the current reconstruction of the Industrial Arts building and the plans to replace portables with classrooms in actual buildings.

Continuous criticism of the school’s shortcomings will not accelerate the process of fixing them. Rather, it makes the student body look ungrateful. Students ought to put aside their impatience and try to take a more optimistic view of decisions made by the various school district councils.