School Rules: How They Help Us (1953)

This is the film I chose: School Rules: How They Help Us

This film might not be the most interesting film but I chose this because this film ties in with the topic of my essay a lot. This short film talks about school rules and discuss the point that rules are important in maintaining the society. I felt very uncomfortable when the president of the school stressed that no exceptions can be granted. He almost sounds like a dictator to me. Although he was talking about how rules will help make our lives more pleasant and smoother, and keep a "fair game" for everyone, I personally think what we need in this society is not "fairness" but "justice." However, towards the ending of the film, the president touched on the idea that rules can be changed when it fail to meet the need, and I totally agree with this.

These are just some first thoughts I got from the film. As for how this will help students of our modern information infrastructure, I think what we can learn from this film is to think more critically about the rules we have in society. National laws, state laws, school rules, rules made by our parents, and the "silent" rules in our society. I believe we all have been told in our lives to "follow the rules." But have we ever question why is there such rules? Of course there are certain amount of rules that need to be enforce to keep our society safe and smooth, but how far should we take the rules? In a such information oriented society that we live in today, things got more difficult to control then ever. For example, downloading music without paying is one thing that is out of control. People have tried to arrest those who upload and download, and close down downloading websites, but there is just not an end to this. However, if the government were to carry out higher degrees of control, other problems appear. People feeling their rights being violated, and sometimes doubting the government enforcing such controls for political means. For example, the prohibition on Facebook and YouTube in China. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that the rules are not as justified as however claimed.

I think it is important for us to always be critical about the rules and controls enforce on us, obvious ones and especially hidden ones. Living in an information oriented world, we often think we are free because of the intense flowing of information. However, control is more silent but stronger when we believe we are free. We should always question - rules: how they control us.