Read this article about 22 most ridiculous rules people’s school had and I thought my school had rules that were pretty interesting too. The rules often become topic of ridicule during high school reunions now because I (as a pretty stern school prefect) always enforced them to my fellow schoolmates who hated me to bits for telling them…
Please don’t crowd.
The school never stopped looking busy, especially during recess because everyone kept walking around. The moment any group, big or small, stopped along the walkway or even the assembly area, they’d be asked to keep moving so that they do not block the way.
Please don’t hug the pole.
Yup. Don’t hug the poles in school because they were dirty. We just didn’t want you to dirty yourself or your school uniforms. Why were you hugging the poles anyway?…though I did too just because.
Please don’t lean against the wall.
Same reasoning as the pole. Walls were dirty. Especially when the paints were just super powdery, you usually end up with white patches of powder when you lean against the wall. So, don’t lean.
Please don’t harm the plants.
That’s the exact phrase I used in school. It covered plucking the leaves, smacking the leaves, harassing the plant, etc. Just don’t harm the plants because if everyone did, the plants in school would all be botak (bald in Malay).
Please don’t run.
No running around on the walkway. Just walk like decent girls, though that’s the last truth in school. Oops.
Please don’t scream.
Yeah. Don’t scream or call out for your friends loudly along the walkway. Too noisy. Too distracting. Too un-girly. LOL.
Please don’t walk on the road.
Referring to the tarred road within the school compound, roads were for cars, not for students. This rule was there to keep students safe from cars.
Please buckle up.
I really wondered if girls in other schools (all-girls and co-ed) left their pinafores unbuckled/unzipped in school. I don’t think this rule was ridiculous. I think it’s ridiculous that we even needed this rule. No?
Please pick up the rubbish.
Here’s the thing about this rule. If there’s no one around, a prefect was expected to pick up any rubbish found in her path, like a dutiful citizen of the school. But if there’s any student around, the prefect was not allowed to pick up the rubbish and instead had to get the student to do the deed. Reason? Prefects should not be seen as a rubbish collector in front of the students.
No heart to heart talk on the bulletin board.
I doubt many students knew this because this was barely mentioned to the students. But every prefect would remember this because we had to memorize this for internal briefing every morning. Here’s one excuse for us to be going through all bulletin boards in classes when we were bored. I’ve never encountered any heart to heart talk on bulletin boards though.
I thought there may be more funny rules but I can’t recall them at this instance. I used to memorize 15-20 unique rules and recite them on daily basis as part of my duty as a prefect. Excuse me girls, please remind me. Thank you. Haha. That’s the prefect’s template and 3 magic words.
Anyway, someone once told me that my alma mater had so many rules that some people knew the school for its rules. I’ve heard it only once from one person so I don’t think it’s true. But I do hope that these rules were uniquely ours so that they’d continue to be part of the unique memories we had of our high school, MGS Klang.
P/s I did not create any of the rules. They were inherited from the generations of prefects before me.
