A pep rally is a social gathering aimed at inspiring enthusiasm, especially one held before a sporting event at school. Although pep rallies at Greenwood High School are aimed at students to be more ardent and have more school spirit, over half a group of students interviewed feel that pep rallies are boring and only go to them to get out of class.

Another group of students simply wants to study and do homework during that time. And the remaining students are people who enjoy cheering on jocks. So why should students that actually  want to sit in class and learn be dragged into a social event that they dread? 

Students that don’t want to attend shouldn’t ruin it for those who do. Those who want to stay in class and study or just stay in class in general will more than likely be grumpy and make the crowd look pathetic due to them just sitting there and not even cheering.

If they didn’t go, the crowd would look and feel more energetic and they wouldn’t have grumpy people dragging them down. And on the bright side for those who want to stay in class, they would keep on learning and get better grades. This is just one of the many reasons why pep rallies shouldn’t be mandatory.

Out of a classroom of 17 people, 11 students say that they only go to pep rallies to get out of class and see friends but not participate in the activities. And only six people like going to the pep rallies and participating. Five of them admitted to them being a bit boring and not having enough hype throughout the crowd and that the school itself could put more effort into making them more enjoyable.

One teacher said that he wishes that the pep rallies would be more inclusive in the activities. That it was mostly “watching the cool kids do stuff.”  Thirteen people agreed while one disagrees. One student said that pep rallies are mostly people that have a place in the school, “people who have a bigger name, like basketball or football players, and the cheerleaders.” So what is the point of watching people that believe that they are entitled do “fun” things?

To conclude, students that want to stay in class and spend time of their school day learning instead of having to go to pep rallies should be able to. And students who want to attend pep rallies and cheer on their friends to get them hyped up should not have to be dragged down by students that are just grumpy.