The Lost Files Vol. 9: Pullman School Lunch Accounts

Outrage was the outcome of a sign posted in the Pullman High School cafeteria referring to students who were yet to pay off their lunch balance.
“Is your name on our list? If so, please remove it! Pay off your negative.” Read the notice directed towards the Pullman High School student body, seniors to freshman from left to right.
Shannon Focht, Communications Coordinator and Assistant to the Superintendent, Bob Maxwell, responded in an email with the statement posted on the website and Facebook page of Pullman Public Schools.
“We apologize for this unacceptable misstep. We immediately removed the list of names and will send a letter of apology to each family impacted.”
To be fair to everyone involved, this may have been a bit of an overstatement from the Superintendent’s office in regards to the situation which has been blown out of proportion.
Intolerable and insufferable are two primary synonyms of “unacceptable”. If you took an unbiased stance would you say the students whose names were listed on the lunch balance notice could not tolerate the pain or suffered trauma as a result.
Pullman Public Schools are going to “send a letter of apology to each family impacted” after the distressful experience.
Take a step back and think about families that have actually been impacted by traumatic, irreversible events that are beyond their scope of control. The effects of the situation at hand should not be defined as impactful and are also fairly manageable.
Apologies should not be issued out for fake outrage such as over the lunch account listing in the Pullman High School cafeteria since they only feed into the waste of energy.
When I was in high school lists such as these were common place and nothing to bat an eyelash at. After trying out for the school basketball team in junior year, I found out the team would go on without me on a sheet of paper that listed the roster for everyone to see. What could be more embarrassing for a high school kid than everyone discovering at the same time that he didn’t make the squad?
The message of the school lunch balance list is a positive one; “Pay off your negative.” This is a highly relevant note in the current times that see our country and, closer to home, university in debt. High school students, more than anyone, should not be taught to rely on their debt as such an early age, even with something as trivial as being a few dollars negative.
Mow a few lawns, babysit for a week or do your neighbor’s chores; earn a few dollars on the side to pay off your negative. You will feel better than acting as if your problems have disappeared because the list in the cafeteria did.