Cougars get caught in a sticky mess

Have you ever stuck your hand under a desk and felt the warmth and stickiness of a freshly chewed piece of gum? Gum is made up of six basic ingredients which include the gum base, flavorings, colorings, preservatives, sweeteners,and softeners (International Chewing Gum Association). With all these ingredients imagine how many bugs and germs could be attached to the gum.

Bubble popping and other chewing noises serve as a distraction to students which is detrimental to their education.

Students deposit chewed gum under desks, on seats, in the carpet, and between book pages. The reasons students do this are ones society will never understand. If a piece of gum is to lose it’s flavoring, the logical response is to stand up and dispose of it in a nearby receptacle. However, many do not have the decorum to get up and throw it away.Fitting to their generation’s reputation of pure laziness; it makes more sense to simply lodge the used glob in the nearest crevice. Once this is done, the gum is no longer it’s consumer’s problem but the responsibility of someone else.

Willing to share responsibility with the janitorial staff, an anonymous sophomore at Countryside High School recycles the gum by picking it off and chewing it.

Apart from the dust, dirt, and other microscopic organisms, it is unimaginable the trouble these six ingredients can create for facilities.

There was a total of 167 pieces of chewed gum under desks in four classes. With a total of fourteen wings, and six portables. Just imagine about 60 pieces of chewed gum in each classroom of every wing and portable.