(Cody Uhls is my 17 year old son. He is finishing up his Junior year of High School at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis. He hopes to study law in college, has a beautiful girlfriend, and an absolutely stunning set of parents!)
What I’ve Learned About High School in Three Years...
Long, tiring, caffeine filled nights are not uncommon. Nights with six or more hours of sleep are not common. When teachers see times are hard, they tell you they’re sorry but they have to give you another hour of homework that night, piling onto the three hours you already have. What I’ve learned in three years of high school is it’s long, boring, and sometimes a big waste of time, but also full of the best experiences someone will ever have. High school, to some people, is the highlight of their entire life. Just not mine.
When I say high school is not the highlight of my life, I don’t mean it hasn’t been fun. It has. High school has been full of laughter and friends and emotional conversations. It has also been full of boring classes, long papers, and a ton of sleepless nights. In middle school, everyone wants to be in high school. Typically, in the first three years of high school, everyone just wants to be at the top of the food chain and be a senior. When you’re a senior, you just want to be in college. I’ve just wanted to be in college ever since I started high school. I always heard about the joys of college and the freedom you receive with your classes. Also, once you hit your junior year of high school, everyone starts asking if you know what you want to do or where you want to go to college. I always explain my plans for the future and my collegiate thoughts and plans as to what college I chose to attend and why (I am choosing to go to college in Florida and study Law, in case you were wondering).
On a softer note, I’ve learned teachers don’t get a ton of credit. It is hard to make tests and quizzes and grade all of them in a short amount of time. Kids are impatient. Some kids will come into school the day after the test and ask the teacher if he/she has graded the test yet. The answer 99% of the time will be no and they need to be patient and wait some time before the grading is actually finished. I’ve noticed how annoyed teachers get with those kids also. It's quite amusing at times. The Bible says not to judge and not to hate anyone, but it's hard not to judge impatient people; they’re annoying. Teachers get a lot thrown at them they don’t deserve. Most of them are really doing their best, but there is always one teacher who is really lazy and makes their “Teacher Assistant” do all of their grading and all of their work for them; I don’t have sympathy for those teachers. Those are the kind of teachers who give busy work and test over things nobody looked over. But overall, I have sympathy for teachers. They don’t deserve what people throw at them.
Some teachers are mean though. Some teachers have no sympathy for kids. Retakes are life-savers to students who don’t always get the best grades, but some teachers won’t give retakes no matter how much you beg. Sometimes kids are just having a bad day and they can’t think during the test. We all have “brain farts” every once in a while, but they still won’t give you sympathy. Also, no matter what, those teachers know every aspect of the subject; well, at least they think they do. We aren’t allowed to question them about anything or ask them about their teaching style because they are teachers and they are always right, of course. They treat you like you don’t know anything about the subject, but give you homework like you should already have a Master’s Degree in the subject. These are the kind of teachers that treat you like idiots but then say, “You should have learned this last year so I won’t go over it,” even though we have no idea what he/she is talking about. They are also the kind who are surprised with how poorly the class does on their tests because they don’t know how to teach.
Students are mean. Teachers have spent most of their lives and all of their time trying to teach a student something they are passionate about and all the students do is tell them how awful their class is and how much they can’t wait for the next break. English class is the worst for students. Reading classic literature for the quality reading doesn’t appeal to most kids. Students groan and complain about reading The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye, but if you spend time to actually read them, they are fantastic books. Most students wouldn’t know how good they are though because the grade is more important than the quality of the class. Students are mean to teachers. If the teacher moves them away from their friends, students throw tantrums like little kids. I don’t care whether I sit by my friends or not because I want to get the most out of the class, not out of my friends. Students don’t care about class, they care about what they are doing the upcoming weekend or what they did the previous weekend. No one cares about what J.D. Salinger means when Holden says, “What happens to the ducks during winter?” in The Catcher in the Rye.
Also, students are immature. Why do they scream in the hallways? No one cares if you haven’t seen your best friend since Friday; there’s no reason to be screaming to them and telling them how much you’ve missed them. They also scream during the passing period to their friends across the hall. I want to smack them, but I resist.
Three years may sound like a long time, but these three years have flown by. I will be a senior this fall and part of me thinks I am ready to be a senior then to move on to college. The idea of being on my own is a scary, fascinating, and heartbreaking idea. Scary because I don’t know what the future holds, fascinating because I get to start a new adventure, and heartbreaking because I have to let go of my youth. I think I am ready though. I wrote this to give whomever may read this a glimpse into the life of a teenager at school. Hopefully this was a little humorous and enjoyable. School isn’t always awful, but I took a very cynical stance on it. Maybe if you enjoy reading this I can write another about the joys of high school some time soon. But until next time, thanks.
When I say high school is not the highlight of my life, I don’t mean it hasn’t been fun. It has. High school has been full of laughter and friends and emotional conversations. It has also been full of boring classes, long papers, and a ton of sleepless nights. In middle school, everyone wants to be in high school. Typically, in the first three years of high school, everyone just wants to be at the top of the food chain and be a senior. When you’re a senior, you just want to be in college. I’ve just wanted to be in college ever since I started high school. I always heard about the joys of college and the freedom you receive with your classes. Also, once you hit your junior year of high school, everyone starts asking if you know what you want to do or where you want to go to college. I always explain my plans for the future and my collegiate thoughts and plans as to what college I chose to attend and why (I am choosing to go to college in Florida and study Law, in case you were wondering).
On a softer note, I’ve learned teachers don’t get a ton of credit. It is hard to make tests and quizzes and grade all of them in a short amount of time. Kids are impatient. Some kids will come into school the day after the test and ask the teacher if he/she has graded the test yet. The answer 99% of the time will be no and they need to be patient and wait some time before the grading is actually finished. I’ve noticed how annoyed teachers get with those kids also. It's quite amusing at times. The Bible says not to judge and not to hate anyone, but it's hard not to judge impatient people; they’re annoying. Teachers get a lot thrown at them they don’t deserve. Most of them are really doing their best, but there is always one teacher who is really lazy and makes their “Teacher Assistant” do all of their grading and all of their work for them; I don’t have sympathy for those teachers. Those are the kind of teachers who give busy work and test over things nobody looked over. But overall, I have sympathy for teachers. They don’t deserve what people throw at them.
Some teachers are mean though. Some teachers have no sympathy for kids. Retakes are life-savers to students who don’t always get the best grades, but some teachers won’t give retakes no matter how much you beg. Sometimes kids are just having a bad day and they can’t think during the test. We all have “brain farts” every once in a while, but they still won’t give you sympathy. Also, no matter what, those teachers know every aspect of the subject; well, at least they think they do. We aren’t allowed to question them about anything or ask them about their teaching style because they are teachers and they are always right, of course. They treat you like you don’t know anything about the subject, but give you homework like you should already have a Master’s Degree in the subject. These are the kind of teachers that treat you like idiots but then say, “You should have learned this last year so I won’t go over it,” even though we have no idea what he/she is talking about. They are also the kind who are surprised with how poorly the class does on their tests because they don’t know how to teach.
Students are mean. Teachers have spent most of their lives and all of their time trying to teach a student something they are passionate about and all the students do is tell them how awful their class is and how much they can’t wait for the next break. English class is the worst for students. Reading classic literature for the quality reading doesn’t appeal to most kids. Students groan and complain about reading The Great Gatsby and The Catcher in the Rye, but if you spend time to actually read them, they are fantastic books. Most students wouldn’t know how good they are though because the grade is more important than the quality of the class. Students are mean to teachers. If the teacher moves them away from their friends, students throw tantrums like little kids. I don’t care whether I sit by my friends or not because I want to get the most out of the class, not out of my friends. Students don’t care about class, they care about what they are doing the upcoming weekend or what they did the previous weekend. No one cares about what J.D. Salinger means when Holden says, “What happens to the ducks during winter?” in The Catcher in the Rye.
Also, students are immature. Why do they scream in the hallways? No one cares if you haven’t seen your best friend since Friday; there’s no reason to be screaming to them and telling them how much you’ve missed them. They also scream during the passing period to their friends across the hall. I want to smack them, but I resist.
Three years may sound like a long time, but these three years have flown by. I will be a senior this fall and part of me thinks I am ready to be a senior then to move on to college. The idea of being on my own is a scary, fascinating, and heartbreaking idea. Scary because I don’t know what the future holds, fascinating because I get to start a new adventure, and heartbreaking because I have to let go of my youth. I think I am ready though. I wrote this to give whomever may read this a glimpse into the life of a teenager at school. Hopefully this was a little humorous and enjoyable. School isn’t always awful, but I took a very cynical stance on it. Maybe if you enjoy reading this I can write another about the joys of high school some time soon. But until next time, thanks.
