This is History

This year I am taking honors English rather than AP for a few reasons, primarily it was too much work for me and I wanted to sleep this year but also I hate revising things (as I am sure you'll see in some of my posts). At the beginning of the year we began rather slow but I was appreciating the relaxed approach instead of the "DO YOU SEE THIS?!" style that I had become used to in the previous year. I had assumed that the pace would pick up and I would be at a reasonable rate within a week or two- wrong! I did not realize that I had in fact signed up for remedial English! Today we took a true/false quiz on the Vietnam War because we began reading "The Things They Carried" (one of my favorite books); the first question asked if the V.W. took place in the 1800's. Really? The whole test was a joke, but really? The 1800's? I was relieved to hear a unanimous "False" when we went over the quiz but there were definately some surprising answers to some of the later questions. When asked if the U.S. became involved to stop the spread of communism I was so sad to hear a mix of "trues" and "falses".

That quiz was not the only thing that happened today. Apparently there was a fight at the end of the day. Contrary to what many people believe my school does not have many fights but when we do they are intense. I was not there when it happened but it was the talk of the town for a little while. One of my teachers said that she had never seen anything like it. Now, most people would be horrified to hear that high school students solve their problems through violence instead of a more peaceful approach like talking but when it comes down to it, what's more entertaining, a fist fight or a verbal assault? Personally when I hear "fight" I go the opposite direction but I guess I am in the minority in this case. About 98% of my last class was more interested in where the fight would be going after school so they could get a good view. To make matters worse a friend of mine was walking down the hallway when she passed a few of the girls in the fight talking with one of the security guards. They were talking about the fight, not ways to prevent future problems but gossiping about it! If the security guard is being paid to protect, to the best of their abilities the students and faculty at school, I would hope that they would intervene when a situation like this arises. I am wrong here too.

Continuing with the security guard scheme a few days ago while walking down the hallway I was pushed out of the way. This is a very common situation but this time it was by a security guard. The guards at my school are actually friends with the students- apparently to the point where it is acceptable to surprise one of the girls and it is also appropriate for said girl to scream and hug this guard. I am not especially open with my feelings but as I told my friends about it they all agreed that it was really weird.

Now this next scenario did not happen recently, it happened sophomore year but it is one of my favorites and it includes me personally. As I was walking to my geometry class I was faced with a large group of students standing directly in my way, as I begin navigating the crowd I bump into a girl. After quickly excusing myself I continue walking and before I knew it the girl pushes me so hard I almost fall over. I played soccer for 11.5 consecutive years and if you can get me to fall down you are really strong. Anyway, after I regain my balance I turn around just in time for her to scream in my face, "Bitch you are not excused!" I honestly didn't know what to say or do other than laugh and walk away and in retrospect that was not the best thing to do. A while later I told a girl in my German class what had happened and she asked what I did, when I told her that I walked away she told me I needed to stand up for myself. I have never been a fighter and I most certainly am not one now- I only use butter knifes because I am scared of everything else, I still have my mother cut food that requires sharper utensils. After she told me I needed to be stronger I asked what she would do and she said that she would have pushed her back and said, "Bitch I said excuse me! What do you want a damn parade or something?!" at this point I didn't know what to do other than laugh hysterically. I would never do something like that, but this is my life in public school.