Pro: Smokers' corner: here to stay
A staff editorial

   As New Trier students approach the school, they often face the uncomfortable situation of walking through a cloud of foul-smelling smoke. But uncomfortable is all that it is. Forcing students to move off the corner would be a mistake.
  In the simplest terms, there is no legal backing for forcing students to leave public land if they are not breaking any law. While buying cigarettes may be illegal for people under 18, smoking them is not. Although some students complain about second-hand smoke, such limited exposure would have virtually no detrimental effect on students’ health. The only people being endangered by the smoking are the smokers themselves.
  The larger question here is if the administration could force students off the smoker’s corner, would we want them to? With all the things that the school and, in a larger sense, the government control, would we want one more restriction telling us how to live our lives? Shouldn’t kids – at least to some extent – be allowed to learn from their own mistakes?
  Simply consider some of the recent legislation enacted in the Untied States. In December, 2005, Chicago became one of many cities with a ban on smoking indoors. In December of the following year, the Board of Health in New York ruled that restaurants in New York must eliminate all artificial trans fats by July, 2008.
  This increasing trend of the government telling Americans how to live their lives has led some to label America a “nanny state.” Whether the United States is a “nanny state” or not, a country such as Singapore – where you can be imprisoned for spitting, littering and jaywalking – should serve as a reminder to Americans about what happens when the government takes it upon itself to tell citizens how to live their lives.
  Or take, for example, the ways in which the New Trier administration attempts to regulate the lives of students. In recent months student favorites in the vending machines have been replaced with the likes of Power Bars and Apple Crisps. In another attempt to promote a healthy lifestyle for students, New Trier requires that students take at least one kinetic wellness course a year. With many students’ schedules already packed full with classes, an extra period to just relax would be greatly appreciated. But instead, New Trier thinks that they can better decide what is good for students.
  So what should students do in the morning to avoid an unpleasant breath of smoke? Close your nose or cross the street because smokers’ corner won’t and shouldn’t go anywhere.