In my experience at TAMS, the vast majority of students have access to either a hotspot or Ethernet allowing them to easily bypass the WiFi cutoff, however I had neither. I felt that it was unfair that TAMS couldn’t make this rule apply to everyone. I quickly found that not having it set me apart from my peers who could easily work past the cutoff. Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t devastating to me academically in any way, but on the occasion that I had a long paper or really difficult calculus homework or a big test coming up, I would find myself wishing I could work a little bit later. I mean we all wish there were more hours in the day sometimes. Over winter break, I begged my dad to purchase a WiFi hotspot and told him how everyone at school had had one. My dad being the type of person that will provide anything for his kids to succeed, added 50mb of hotspot to my phone plan. It wasn’t much, and could really only be used in emergencies, but I was grateful to have it as a safety net should I need it.

I think a misconception is that most students would abuse not having a WiFi cutoff, to which I would argue that I, like many other people I know, value their sleep. TAMS students are responsible, and our parents wouldn’t send us to the academy if they thought otherwise. I mean I’m almost 18 and am highly capable of keeping a regular sleep schedule the majority of the time. I seriously doubt that a few all-nighters in the year will be that big of a hindrance to my health and well-being.

While TAMS is amazing in many ways, nothing is perfect. For this reason, it is important to recognize the program’s shortcomings or at the very least be skeptical and start meaningful dialogue in order to improve and make it the best experience for all students. Now while the issue of WiFi cutoff is trivial to some students, it can potentially be harmful to others. Not only does it put some students at a disadvantage, but the WiFi cutoff has proven largely ineffective in accomplishing what it was put in place to do. For these reasons, I think we should reconsider its part in the program. Either that, or make it equal for everyone.