So, here's a little blip about me real quick, for those of you who don't know too much: I live in the Land of Love, I'm now a senior in high school, newly 17, and ready to graduate and get out of Colorado. I adore my little red Volvo more than my family, my friends are absolutely insane and yet, they somehow keep me sane. Irony, no? In the last two years, I'll admit I wasn't the best example of Our Model Teenager for Society; I messed up my school (details on demand if you REALLY wish it so) got into some trouble, and, as a result, have been to several different high schools in the last year or so. Even so, I think, for the most part, I've come out of it all just fine. First and foremost, I'm a bibliophile. In plain English - I'm one of the biggest bookworms you'll ever meet. I'm also a No-I-Won't-Show-You Writer and a part-time painter. Le Suffering Artiste. I smoke, I swear, hike, party. I like to speed...a lot. And occasionally run that hidden stop sign under a leaf-laden branch. I can debate against anything and philosophize about everything. At 5, 2, I tend to consider being called 'short' the highest insult...even if it is true. Haha. I can't cook for shit, but I have fun trying...though I wouldn't suggest my last batch of cookies I made for my cousins.
So now, you're probably thinking alright Ton of Words, Speed Demon-Stop Sign Runner, Miss Messed-Up-Me-Secret-Recipe, when is the blog really going to start?
Right now:
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Notes on Redefinition (Ferguson High)
So, first real blog...you'll have 2 be patient with me people; I usually don't share my opinions via blog.
Anyway...
I have a theory - one that was somewhat proven due to my sarcastic disposition: 99.9% of humans tend to look at the negative Drownin'-Not-Dancin'-In-the-Rain side of things. My theory has also been proven at my school these first two weeks. The Thompson R2 J School District/School Board has made some changes around the area, focusing mainly on my own Harold Ferguson Alternative High School. School's population: 145 approx. That's it. To us Fergusonians, that's a lot of kids, since we usually have only 115 or so. That's the first change, though not necessarily due to our dear school board. The biggest deal(s): block schedule, those bullshitty school phrases they post in colorful cardboard on the walls, Terri the Tyrantically Terrible Counselor, our unfortunately uptight teachers, and the school board people dropping by once a week. More to come later.
It's only my 2nd quarter at Ferguson, but even I am affected by these changes; last quarter, FHS was EVERYTHING I'd been looking for in a high school. No joke. I suppose I was, in fact, smitten with the chillax-ified laid-back atmosphere of the tiny school and how the teachers truly did take each kid in as an individual - our learning styles included. The fact that I had only hour long classes and that every teacher went on 1st name basis was the greatest thing since sliced bread. The kids were all friendly. The nursery workers nicer than any normal nurse-like group. The babies all adorable and their teen moms accepted by all, unlike at normal schools. Leadership was a reprieve before my dreaded math (which even I could somewhat appreciate here due to Chris's ex-hippy dedication to teaching Sin, Cos, Tan before rallying it up to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way). Diane (Mamma D) was THE SHIT awesome even though I've yet to have her for a class; she was the first teacher to make me feel truly, honestly, sincerely, genuinely welcome when I handed in my FHS application and all. Condom Mint Jar all the way!!! Bill was a Harley-Riding, Eddie Izzard-Watching, Semi-Nuts Badass who can still make me smile on my worst day. Anyway, the school was topping Our Sliced Wonderbread, quite literally. I got all A's and B's for the 1st time since 2nd grade.
What happened?
Fear? Boredom? The Need to Mix Things Up? The School Board Smoked Too Much Crack and Fried Their Brains, Thus They Felt the Need to Ruin a PERFECTLY GOOD SCHOOL? Take your pick. Personally, I prefer my last option along with this: “The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown.” - Albert Einstein. Quite frankly, I consider the Board the 'least learned people'. People who don't go to FHS, nor know someone who attends, seem to think it's just the fucked-up druggie court-ordered kids who 'will not got far in this world'. How do I know this? Because I was so judgmentally stereotypical as a freshman that I thought this as well. I've also been told this since my attendance at FHS began last March. The school board is the highest group that seems to believe this, if this belief is any vague justification to their actions of changing FHS. People are afraid of the unknown - Ferguson being some of the most unknown, lowly-regarded (and wrongly so) territory. The other schools? Oh, nooooo. THOSE schools are the ones that EXCEL, PRODUCE, and, in my obviously opinionated opinions, PROHIBIT INDIVIDUALITY. Take my old hunting ground for example: Loveland High School, Home of the Indians, the Amp, and football maniacs who happen to be built like refridgerators to us people under 5, 5. LHS's biggest, most well-known asset? Sports. Everyone I talk to knows LHS as THE SCHOOL that dominates in football, volleyball, basketball, etc. The Indians take down their opponents with dribbles, punts, and spikes sharper than their mascot's tomahawks and clubs. LHS 'excels' in it all while FHS is considered the 'baaaaaaaaad school'. Oh holy shit! You end up here, you're screwed for life. Not so. Or at least, not before the Board reeled us in, hook, line, n' sinker. They're some of the many who know FHS is unusually unique because we are, in fact, an ALTERNATIVE school, god forbid. The teachers actually care about their students, the work is different for each kid depending on what we already understand and what we still need to learn.
THAT to the delightfully demeaning Board, is 2 UN-KEWL 4 YEW!!!! Not acceptable, this unique-ness that helps kids rather than makes them want to drop out.
The unknown.
In their eyes, the unknown must be converted. They have done so to the best of their ability thus far. And, the result, unfortunately, has brought on an armageddon between students and officials at the Board, students and their classes, and, in some cases, students and the teachers. Never in my life have I understood what true betrayal was. I had only literary references in history to compare with; the Kenyans and the Christians, Jesus and Judas, Caesar and Brutus.
The school board wants us to conform to match the others, to supposedly excel in ridiculous things like click-y groups, the 'ideal students' when, in fact, those are just 2 of the reason we left our old schools. Conformity is NOT the answer. In REAL LIFE, who won the state championship wrestling match will not matter. Who was El Capitano of the football team will be forgotten. The head cheerleader will be no more than an overblown airhead tanorexic snot. In REAL LIFE, we make mistakes and have to ask for help. We need people who will do everything in their power to help us understand, learn, grow stronger in areas we lack strength.
Turning us into just another Loveland High or Mountain View or Thompson Valley is going to corrupt that which Ferguson was once so well known for. It's football, it's the Prom Queen and King, it is FAKE!!! And for that, trying to turn us into the equivalent of Barbie-and-Ken-Fake-Football-Fantasy-Heroes, I say to the school board: No. We will NOT give into your conformity, we will not accept this temporary loss. We will, somehow, find a way to return to the way things once were because THAT is the REAL FERGUSON!
Anyway...
I have a theory - one that was somewhat proven due to my sarcastic disposition: 99.9% of humans tend to look at the negative Drownin'-Not-Dancin'-In-the-Rain side of things. My theory has also been proven at my school these first two weeks. The Thompson R2 J School District/School Board has made some changes around the area, focusing mainly on my own Harold Ferguson Alternative High School. School's population: 145 approx. That's it. To us Fergusonians, that's a lot of kids, since we usually have only 115 or so. That's the first change, though not necessarily due to our dear school board. The biggest deal(s): block schedule, those bullshitty school phrases they post in colorful cardboard on the walls, Terri the Tyrantically Terrible Counselor, our unfortunately uptight teachers, and the school board people dropping by once a week. More to come later.
It's only my 2nd quarter at Ferguson, but even I am affected by these changes; last quarter, FHS was EVERYTHING I'd been looking for in a high school. No joke. I suppose I was, in fact, smitten with the chillax-ified laid-back atmosphere of the tiny school and how the teachers truly did take each kid in as an individual - our learning styles included. The fact that I had only hour long classes and that every teacher went on 1st name basis was the greatest thing since sliced bread. The kids were all friendly. The nursery workers nicer than any normal nurse-like group. The babies all adorable and their teen moms accepted by all, unlike at normal schools. Leadership was a reprieve before my dreaded math (which even I could somewhat appreciate here due to Chris's ex-hippy dedication to teaching Sin, Cos, Tan before rallying it up to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way). Diane (Mamma D) was THE SHIT awesome even though I've yet to have her for a class; she was the first teacher to make me feel truly, honestly, sincerely, genuinely welcome when I handed in my FHS application and all. Condom Mint Jar all the way!!! Bill was a Harley-Riding, Eddie Izzard-Watching, Semi-Nuts Badass who can still make me smile on my worst day. Anyway, the school was topping Our Sliced Wonderbread, quite literally. I got all A's and B's for the 1st time since 2nd grade.
What happened?
Fear? Boredom? The Need to Mix Things Up? The School Board Smoked Too Much Crack and Fried Their Brains, Thus They Felt the Need to Ruin a PERFECTLY GOOD SCHOOL? Take your pick. Personally, I prefer my last option along with this: “The difference between what the most and the least learned people know is inexpressibly trivial in relation to that which is unknown.” - Albert Einstein. Quite frankly, I consider the Board the 'least learned people'. People who don't go to FHS, nor know someone who attends, seem to think it's just the fucked-up druggie court-ordered kids who 'will not got far in this world'. How do I know this? Because I was so judgmentally stereotypical as a freshman that I thought this as well. I've also been told this since my attendance at FHS began last March. The school board is the highest group that seems to believe this, if this belief is any vague justification to their actions of changing FHS. People are afraid of the unknown - Ferguson being some of the most unknown, lowly-regarded (and wrongly so) territory. The other schools? Oh, nooooo. THOSE schools are the ones that EXCEL, PRODUCE, and, in my obviously opinionated opinions, PROHIBIT INDIVIDUALITY. Take my old hunting ground for example: Loveland High School, Home of the Indians, the Amp, and football maniacs who happen to be built like refridgerators to us people under 5, 5. LHS's biggest, most well-known asset? Sports. Everyone I talk to knows LHS as THE SCHOOL that dominates in football, volleyball, basketball, etc. The Indians take down their opponents with dribbles, punts, and spikes sharper than their mascot's tomahawks and clubs. LHS 'excels' in it all while FHS is considered the 'baaaaaaaaad school'. Oh holy shit! You end up here, you're screwed for life. Not so. Or at least, not before the Board reeled us in, hook, line, n' sinker. They're some of the many who know FHS is unusually unique because we are, in fact, an ALTERNATIVE school, god forbid. The teachers actually care about their students, the work is different for each kid depending on what we already understand and what we still need to learn.
THAT to the delightfully demeaning Board, is 2 UN-KEWL 4 YEW!!!! Not acceptable, this unique-ness that helps kids rather than makes them want to drop out.
The unknown.
In their eyes, the unknown must be converted. They have done so to the best of their ability thus far. And, the result, unfortunately, has brought on an armageddon between students and officials at the Board, students and their classes, and, in some cases, students and the teachers. Never in my life have I understood what true betrayal was. I had only literary references in history to compare with; the Kenyans and the Christians, Jesus and Judas, Caesar and Brutus.
The school board wants us to conform to match the others, to supposedly excel in ridiculous things like click-y groups, the 'ideal students' when, in fact, those are just 2 of the reason we left our old schools. Conformity is NOT the answer. In REAL LIFE, who won the state championship wrestling match will not matter. Who was El Capitano of the football team will be forgotten. The head cheerleader will be no more than an overblown airhead tanorexic snot. In REAL LIFE, we make mistakes and have to ask for help. We need people who will do everything in their power to help us understand, learn, grow stronger in areas we lack strength.
Turning us into just another Loveland High or Mountain View or Thompson Valley is going to corrupt that which Ferguson was once so well known for. It's football, it's the Prom Queen and King, it is FAKE!!! And for that, trying to turn us into the equivalent of Barbie-and-Ken-Fake-Football-Fantasy-Heroes, I say to the school board: No. We will NOT give into your conformity, we will not accept this temporary loss. We will, somehow, find a way to return to the way things once were because THAT is the REAL FERGUSON!
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