The Senior Grass, covered in snow, has become the topic of a debate about its utility to the school
The first time I was on the Fieldston campus, I was told that the grass in the lower part of the quad was for seniors only. The understanding had always been that students in lower grades are not allowed on the grass and would be punished by seniors for stepping on it. At that moment, I felt that there was something deeply wrong about the “senior grass.”
After being at Fieldston for two and a half years, my feelings have only become stronger because of what I’ve seen and heard at school. Recently, Jim Cullen hosted a roundtable on this issue. In the Form V-VI session that I attended, the room to me seemed largely populated by seniors. One person, who asked to remain anonymous said, “the grass is a tradition at Fieldston that honors the hard work that the seniors do during their last year.” It seemed like some of those who were pro senior grass couldn’t fathom why someone else wouldn’t be in support of the senior grass. The conversation seemed to be geared more toward discrediting those who do not like the grass rather than trying to understand contradictory viewpoints. Personally, I think that the policy, behavior and culture around the senior grass should be abolished and that everyone who comes to Fieldston, students, teachers, and visitors should be able to walk on the grass at any time.
Every year, the senior grass is inherited by the seniors simply because it is their last year at Fieldston. Undeserved privilege is talked about at Fieldston, but the school allows for this exclusionary culture to continue. How can we call ourselves an “ethical institution” when we allow exclusion to happen within the school? I have noticed that upperclassmen in our school are usually seen as better than grades that are below them, especially Middle School students because of age differences. The senior grass feeds into the hierarchy that already invades our school. I’m not implying that there’s a big divide between the two groups for most of the year. However, this divide is made clear by the behavior surrounding the senior grass.
Certain seniors might feel like they can push around a Middle School student because of this policy. It has been my observation that seniors believe they deserve the privilege of being the only members of the community to be allowed on the senior grass.
“I don’t understand the argument that the seniors (myself included) somehow ‘earned’ the senior grass through merely attending Fieldston,” Ocean Gao (VI) said. “There are underclassmen who have been here for longer than some of the seniors. Moreover, isn’t it already a privilege to have attended Fieldston for many years? Why is that privilege rewarded with even more privilege?”
When privilege is rewarded with more privilege, it will come to be expected.
In a school where we are trying to provide a space to push future leaders of the world to be better people, it baffles me that Fieldston allows the “senior grass” to convey a sense of dominance and entitlement to things they’ve done nothing to deserve. It is my hope that by writing this op-ed, I can help Fieldston to take a serious look at itself and think about what the senior grass policy is promoting.
