One Friday this month, I visited a local high school. It happened to be homecoming week, and the school was celebrating its 50th year. The student leadership class was working on lunchtime activities; boys in team uniforms were playing catch with a football; and many students were wearing their class T-shirts.

There was activity all around this local high school, whose roots go back much further than the 50 years of its existence. The community sits on a major railroad route, and its lumber mill has run for nearly a century. This town has had either a factory or a train whistle blow for decades.

So, when the bell rang around 12:30 p.m., it was no surprise to watch 2,000 students empty out into the halls and then move about the campus. A few minutes later, another bell rang, and nearly all the students cleared the walks and halls to go back to their classrooms.

This is a well-executed plan of managed chaos that allows teenagers to be loose on the campus for a few unsupervised minutes. We all know that this ritual happens daily across thousands of schools in the nation. Millions of students move from class to class based on a contrived bell schedule, and they await the sound of the bell to move on.

We have trained generations of students to work and focus for periods of time, and then listen for the tone. One could argue that we brainwash our kids to mindlessly respond to that bell and move to the next class when it rings.

When I was a vice principal and counseled students who were habitually late to class, I told them, “There’s no bell in college or the workplace.” I explained to them they would have to become self-directed to be effective in college and at work.

So, here’s the question: If we as educators know that there are no bells or factory whistles in college and the workplace, why do we still rely on the school bell to manage the school day?

The answer must be simple; it must be “tradition,” like at the school I recently visited.

However, I think a reason other than “tradition” exists. I think it’s that the bell is part of the industrial model that was created when a pocket watch was a luxury, and most people did not have clocks or wristwatches. The factory boss would blow the whistle so that people would know when it was time to go to work, eat lunch or end the day.

But unless you're at a school, when was the last time you heard a whistle blow or a bell ring to inform you that it was time to work or go home? Times have changed; schools have not.

Do we want “bell-directed” or “self-directed” graduates? If you're not sure, go check your student outcomes poster at your local school -- I'm pretty sure its says “self-directed learners” or “responsible citizens.” If that’s the case, then ask your colleagues at the school why the bell is directing students.

But wait, it gets better. Turning off the school bell is the least expensive school reform because it’s free! It just takes a common agreement that you want your students to be responsible and synchronize their watches. Give it a try; you’ll enjoy the silence.