Harrison Abber
Every student at Nobles has read The Guide cover to cover—it truly is one of the great literary works of our time. As co-authors describe in the epigraph of the 2024–-2025 edition, “[It’s] more than just a collection of guidelines. The Guide is also a reflection of our school culture, firmly rooted in the principles of honesty, respect for self, and respect for others.” The Guide defines what it means to be a part of the Nobles community, but the Nobles community is ever-changing. What did this “reflection of our school culture” look like 10 years ago?
The first thing that might stand out to students when flipping through the 2015-2016 edition of The Guide is the stringency of its behavioral policies. In 2015, there was a strictly regulated “academic atmosphere,” which was upheld through the prohibition of conduct such as “playing music or videos with volume on, playing games, general horseplay, [and] sleeping in public.” Nowadays, it is a common occurrence to stumble across a Nobles student playing games, sleeping in public, generally horseplaying, or engaging in other such forms of tomfoolery. How far we have strayed! It is clear that the strict academic atmosphere of Nobles is no more.
In addition to these behavioral rules, there was also a dress code that prohibited articles of clothing such as “slippers” and “sweatshirts that do not have a full zip.” Quite importantly, sweatshirts with “full zip” were presumably allowed under this code, which begs the question of why Nobles would make such a distinction. Perhaps, like the sumptuary laws of feudal Japan, these arbitrary rules served no practical purpose beyond instilling subservience in the populace.
While some regulations have become more lax in the last 10 years, Nobles has also cracked down on other practices. In the current Nobles guide, there are three separate sections about drug use—entitled “Alcohol and Other Substance Use,” “Alcohol and Other Drugs,” and “Nobles Position Statement on Supplements.” Clearly, one section was not getting the message through.
In contrast, the 2015–-2016 guide has two separate sections about “alcohol and other drug use” and “tobacco.” One can only speculate as to why these subjects were allotted two separate sections. Perhaps Nobles did not yet realize that tobacco is a drug.
The latter section reads as follows: “Nobles became a tobacco-free campus in September 1994. Use of tobacco products is prohibited everywhere on our grounds and in our buildings except for faculty and staff residences.” Apparently, at the time, Nobles students could go to faculty and staff residences if they wanted a smoke break. What was the administration thinking? It’s a good thing that Nobles eventually came to their senses and that there are absolutely no nicotine products present on campus anymore.
As evidenced by the “Organizations and Committees” section of the 2015–-2016 guide, there has also been a notable shift in the passions and interests of students over the last decade. In addition to the core Nobles organizations (Chess Club, Environmental Action Club, Dawg Pound, etc.), there was also a Teddy Bear Club and a Middle School Heart Club in 2015. The Nobleman is unsure about what Heart Club might have discussed in their meetings.
There also existed two separate book clubs: the Alexandria Book Club—which presumably read classics housed in the Library of Alexandria, such as On Sphere-Making by Archimedes and Aegyptiaca by Manetho—and the Golden Lion Book Club, which presumably read books involving lions that are golden. Such books include The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and The Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson.The Nobles community has evolved significantly over the past decade. The Guide does not just preserve the past but will continue to scrupulously document the changes of the future.