I'm back.

Continuing complain-about-your-high-school week. Also concluding it.

The other day, I was kicked out of where I eat, during lunch, at school. 

This wouldn't be a problem. Except that we did absolutely nothing wrong. Me and three other people. 

We were just sitting there, eating. I don't even think we were talking. But this administrator-y (I don't actually know what he does or what his title is) dude comes up the stairs and tells us that we can't eat up by our locker anymore. Why? Because a teacher complained that we (along with the others nearby us) were too loud. Mr. Sir said he didn't know if it was us, but we all had to move now. And if he caught any of us eating up there again, we'd be eating in the office. 

Now, this just pisses me off. Partially because it reinforces my theory that school is a dystopia. And just in case you didn't know, that's not what a school is supposed to be like. 

Secondly, the  poor usage of "someone else ruined the experience for you." I can assure you that my group of people were not the ones being loud. We often actually don't talk. And we aren't sitting anywhere near any classrooms. So while the theory used is good in some situations, this one has no effect. The "someone else ruined the experience for you" discipline is beneficial when other students can influence others to not act some way. They will say to themselves, "hey, I won't be able to play with blocks if that prick Johnny doesn't stop throwing them! I better tell him to stop!" But we aren't in elementary school. And there are four different lunch shifts, so I don't have the chance to interact with 3/4 of the students who ate in the hallway. Therefore, I can simply only see it as a person of higher authority being lazy, and thus abusing his power. He treats us like children, and thus has lost my respect. 

I get that yes, he does have authority. But really? That's the way you choose to use it? I really don't mean to cause trouble. I just don't like eating in the cafeteria or the band hall (where many others eat) because it's loud and nothing good ever comes from those places. I've almost been "in" two fights in the cafeteria. Meaning two fights happened veryveryvery close to me. That's not really an experience I enjoy. 

So what's my solution for this? I don't really have one that will satisfy both sides. But when is everyone completely happy anyway? 

I would suggest that they relax the law. Designate where students can eat during the lunches. If math went to lunch, it's fine if you eat by the math rooms, since no class is in session there. Yes, that will mean that someone will have to patrol the hallways during lunch. Boo hoo. I'm sorry that I don't feel any sympathy if someone has to walk around a bit more. You signed up to work with high schoolers, did you expect it to be easy? (As if walking and telling kids to move and keep it down is difficult.) Keep your side of the deal, and us kids will keep quiet. I won't invite tons of friends up to eat with me. There are maybe seven or eight of us during my lunch shift who eat in the hallway. We like it that way. We'll keep the numbers to a minimum and keep quiet and you let us eat up there. No one loses. 

Of course, the administration hardly listens to the student body as it is, never mind my blog. So I'm essentially just ranting, sorry if you got this far. But just in case you grow up to become a teacher, remember, we kids aren't out to make your life miserable if you aren't out to make ours miserable.

Welcome.

I'm just going to warn you. This is complain-about-your-high-school week. So bear with me.

Another forewarning. These are all coming from experiences I've encountered this past week.

It started one day this week as I sat in my band class. I wasn't feeling well, and I decided to go home to get drugs, since you know, it's apparently illegal for schools to give out ibuprofen. Nevertheless, I ran home. grabbed my drugs, downed them like I was an addict, and hopped back in my car. Keep in mind that it's the middle of first hour and I need to get back to class.

I return to school, pull into the parking lot, and drive around a bit. Yes. I drove around. Because it's not like I had a class to get to. Wait.

So sure, there weren't spots in the lot I have a pass to. I then had a few options.

1. I can make up a parking spot. But last time I did that, I got a pass during class saying that if I didn't move my car, it would get towed. And I got a ticket. So that's not an option.
2. I could park in another lot. But again, I would get a ticket. And that's not really something I'm interested in.
3. I could park in the visitor lot. Then again though, there would still be a risk of getting a ticket, although it would be less likely. Unfortunately, there aren't any spots open because there's like ten of them.
4. I could park on a nearby street. But there's no parking on any nearby streets and any relatively close ones are full. If I parked any further away, I'd be late to my next class, which I happen to be taking a final in. So that's not an option.
5. So my last and only option is to speed home and have my mother drive me back. So that's the option I chose.

After all that, I was just a bit pissed.

I get it, maybe I shouldn't have left. But I pretty much was dying.

I don't think I'm asking much. I mean, there are lots of possible solutions, but I understand that a high school has lots of limitations including economic limitations.

I think all students would agree that a parking ramp would be pretty sweet. But yeah. We're poor. So that's not a logical option.

The school could build a new/additional parking lot. But again problems. And since our school is in a residential neighborhood, we don't really have the space.

So here you go. My golden idea. Get ready. Here it is. Maybe, just maybe, the school should only give out as many parking passes as there are spots in the lot. WHAAAT. GURL U CRAZY. But yeah, seriously. If someone doesn't get a pass,sucks! They'll just have to find an alternate way to school our place to park. But if you give me a pass to park somewhere, I'll expect that a spot for me is going to be available. Otherwise, what am I supposed to do? Wait until a spot opens up? Then I'll be late to class and in even more trouble. 

Once might say, "our planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." But what if a student simply had an appointment? Should they be punished for going to the doctor or getting their teeth checked? 

In conclusion, I would suggest to my fantastic school's administration to maybe take another look at the system they have place.

On "Crime is Pride"

Think: all men make mistakes

But a good man yields when he

Knows his course is wrong,

And repairs the evil: The only

Crime is pride.

For class today, we are supposed to "Take some time to think about the implications of the quotation," from Sophocles' Antigone.

So. Let's analyze.

I'll start with the first line. "All men make mistakes." I hope that there's nothing to argue about here. It's clearly true. I've done wrong. I've seen you do wrong. "I don't regret anything!" you shout. Right. Like when you were three and you bit your cousin? No, nothing wrong with that. If you take a good, honest look at your life, you'll see that you have made quite a few mistakes.

The next phrase goes on to say that "a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong." That's always a great place to start. To be considered halfway decent, you should be able to recognize when you are doing something wrong. Once you get to a certain level of development, your conscience starts to tell you, "hey, buddy, this isn't right, what you're doing right now." From there, you get to choose whether or not you want to listen to that voice in your head or not. Sophocles states that a good man would be one who chooses to stop doing what he perceives as wrong.

Sophocles addresses this choice that must be made in the next two lines, saying "... and [a good man] repairs the evil; The only Crime is pride."

Being a good person not only means recognizing that you are doing wrong or stopping doing what you believe is wrong, but also fixing whatever wrong you have done. That could mean that if you hurt someone, you do your very best to mend and heal that hurt. That could mean apologizing and doing your best to right whatever bad situation you have created, whether it was purposeful or not.

The last line is the line that I find most effective. "The only crime is pride." This phrase means to point out a major flaw that exists in all humans. Pride. It's the reason that so often, relationships are never healed. If you are prideful, you are apt to not forgive and forget. Prideful people don't like to admit that they were wrong, or even sway and say they might have been partially to blame. Most of all, if you are prideful, you won't give up and just let others be "right," whether they are or not.

I think Sophocles knew exactly what he was talking about when he wrote these lines. Sure, all men make mistakes. But that doesn't mean that we are all bad. However, what sets you apart, is being able to recognize your wrongdoings, mend them, and not repeat them. It's as George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." As previously stated, I love the last sentence. "The only crime is pride." The only reason we don't admit we're wrong is due to our pride. We are often too prideful to let another be right and us be wrong. 

Sophocles had it exactly right in Antigone. Humans are flawed. The good ones, however, are the ones who recognize this and decide to do something about it.