The Paw Print
Golf CartsAn Unnecessary Luxury?Thursday, April 17, 2008 By Suzanne Lopez
April 17th, 2008 As you walk through the hallways, you always see some administrator in a golf cart riding around or just sitting idly. It’s a well known fact that administrators use this form of transportation to get around campus throughout the day, but is it fair? Although it must be nice for them, student and teachers both have to walk around school to get everywhere. In the coming school year, school funds are going to decrease (because of property taxes) and many teachers and classes (electives mainly) will be dismissed or cut. This is a major problem because it discourages young adults from following careers in education that are needed for our future youth to succeed. If the golf carts were sold and no new carts added to the mix, thousands of dollars could be given back to the school. New golf carts run from $4,700 to $15,000 while used ones run between $2,500 and $5,000. The average cost for a new golf cart is around $7,000. The cost for batteries runs up to $200 and gas powered carts use the ever-so-expensive fuel. While the cost is nothing to a pro golfer such as Tiger Woods, schools who have low funds have no money to spare for this luxury. The school grounds are not that big, placing the necessity for a motorized vehicle to carry administrators across the grounds very low. Granted, I do believe that having one or two golf carts would be beneficial for the deputies’ use and for extreme situations or emergencies, but the administrators don’t have to sit in one and trail our behinds in an attempt to get us to leave the grounds after school lets out. Also, there is a multitude of pregnant teachers, as well as some students, that would benefit from a lift from their car to their class. Golf carts fly past pregnant teachers holding piles of papers instead of picking them up like courteous people. The head honcho of the school, the principal, is hardly ever seen riding around in a golf cart. She hoofs it like the rest of us. The administrators should follow the principal and start to hoof it too because golf carts are a lawsuit waiting to happen. With how closely the golf carts follow students and the complete disregard for the students as they try to squeeze through the crowded hallway or front overhand, someone is eventually going to get hurt. Golf carts are a motorized vehicle and must therefore follow the rules of the road, one of the most important being that pedestrians have the right away over any motorized vehicle: car, bike, and even a golf cart. Most administrators in the driver’s seat seem to think that they have the right of way and that we are wrong for walking on school property. All in all, golf carts are unnecessary on the school grounds and provide more problems than solutions. The school should just sell them and be done with it. |