The present, mature group of NIU students will have to pay for their immature predecessors.

Past students who used the Recreation Center for a fun game of basketball, volleyball or raquetball seem to have forgotten who would be playing the same games once they were through. Keeping this in mind, they dribbled, spiked and bounced equipment beyond a safe level of play.

So now, the current young adults attending NIU will have to pay for the damaged equipment left behind by the children of yesterday. Paying for damaged equipment is not a new policy at the rec center, but increased damage fees are.

Jodie English, Student Association recreation committee adviser, was forced to boost the prices this year to pay for past damage.

College is a transition period for students to become a part of the working world. However, students should not come to NIU to become adults.

NIU students, all university students, should be through the stage of high school antics when throwing balls farther or bouncing them higher was a test of being cool.

Even if this thought is lost on some students, common courtesy is one thought that shouldn’t be. Ever since Mom and Dad told us not to throw lima beans at our brothers and sisters, we have had a general idea of what courtesy means.

Students should not have to pay for something they had no part in. Nobody likes to pay for somebody else’s mistakes; it’s time to think of someone else for a change.