If a stranger to the area were walking by the fence flanking the athletic field on Southwest Salmon Street, he might think Lincoln was a landfill rather than a high school. It’s absolutely appalling to see the amount of garbage cluttering the grounds, halls, and trees of our school.

We are arguably getting the best education available in the city, yet the state of our building and campus seems to suggest that we don’t care about them at all.

Students drop papers on the ground while shuffling through lockers and neglect to pick them up. They toss paper cups, soda cans, and plastic bags into the bushes on their way back to school after lunch. Some even think it’s funny to dump school property in trees.

Such behavior is inexcusable. We have no right to trash our school in this manner. Lincoln students have the ability, and moreover, the responsibility to respect our campus. It is not the job of custodians to pick up after students who are just too irresponsible to take care of their own garbage.

By the time you read this, campus will look significantly better due to the campus clean-up that took place Feb. 26. But campus clean-ups a few times a year are not enough.

The administration should institute consequences for littering on school property. Students caught being negligent about their trash should be required to participate in campus clean-ups, which should be held monthly.

Maybe then, strangers walking up S.W. Salmon Street will recognize Lincoln as the first-rate school it is. -