the high life
so inga is a high school drop out. i have no shame. high school was boring and i didn't like it. happily, i had parents who realized dropping out would not be the end of the world. so i left school at 16 and worked part time at an ice arena (in those days i was a competitive figure skater) and took college classes. a couple of decades and two university degrees later, and i'm doing quite well for myself.
my high school memories are hazy, considering how long ago it was and the fact that i was there for like an hour and a half. what do i remember? my first high school crush was a kid we called mr. recovery, mostly because he was just, uh, out of rehab. i ate little debbie zebras and had a coke every day at lunch (how i managed to weigh under 100 well into my 20s i'll never know). lunch from the cafeteria wasn't special or good. the principal and vice principal were allowed to paddle the bad kids. drinks and food were banned from classrooms. my freshman english teacher supposedly wrote porn under a nom de plume. no one was allowed in the halls between classes. i dated the undercover narc (that's a story for another time). teachers and administrators seemed strict. since i grew up in __________, my high school was in a well to do neighborhood.
why do i bring this up? because stella and i went back to high school last week to do some writerly-type outreach. the high school, in ________________, an affluent suburb of _________________, has only been open for 5 or 6 years. it's huge. it takes forever to get from one end to the other. we were there on behalf of our friend Lang, who is an english teacher there. we were talking with his college-prep students about writing. nice kids. insane school. i mean, if my high school was like this one, maybe i'd have stayed all four years. maybe i'd be married to a dentist or something now.
so what's up with this school, inga? you ask.
visitors can roam around the halls without worrying about getting stopped. sure, we had on badges with 'visitor' written in marker stuck to our chests, but seriously. who can't fake one of those?
the cafeteria is open ALL DAY. and students can stop by ANY time, ALL day and get a snack or coffee or a soda. and the coffee? gourmet. eight flavors to choose from. designer creamers. five kinds of sugar.
the students kind of showed up, chatted, showed us their work (happily, many kids displayed the critical thinking/writing skills they'll need when they reach college...sadly, many kids did not), chatted some more, wandered off. some with hall passes, some without. yes, yes, Lang totally reprimanded the kids without passes, but still. it was crazy. unlocked doors everywhere. more than adequate student parking. there was lots of prom talk. lots of totally expensive purses on the girls' shoulders and expensive 'worn' jeans on the boys.
dress code? ha! there were shorts, mini skirts, tank tops, t-shirts with beer logos.
the only rules? no cell phones. no tobacco. at least not anywhere but in the BMWs and SUVs in the student parking lot.
my high school memories are hazy, considering how long ago it was and the fact that i was there for like an hour and a half. what do i remember? my first high school crush was a kid we called mr. recovery, mostly because he was just, uh, out of rehab. i ate little debbie zebras and had a coke every day at lunch (how i managed to weigh under 100 well into my 20s i'll never know). lunch from the cafeteria wasn't special or good. the principal and vice principal were allowed to paddle the bad kids. drinks and food were banned from classrooms. my freshman english teacher supposedly wrote porn under a nom de plume. no one was allowed in the halls between classes. i dated the undercover narc (that's a story for another time). teachers and administrators seemed strict. since i grew up in __________, my high school was in a well to do neighborhood.
why do i bring this up? because stella and i went back to high school last week to do some writerly-type outreach. the high school, in ________________, an affluent suburb of _________________, has only been open for 5 or 6 years. it's huge. it takes forever to get from one end to the other. we were there on behalf of our friend Lang, who is an english teacher there. we were talking with his college-prep students about writing. nice kids. insane school. i mean, if my high school was like this one, maybe i'd have stayed all four years. maybe i'd be married to a dentist or something now.
so what's up with this school, inga? you ask.
visitors can roam around the halls without worrying about getting stopped. sure, we had on badges with 'visitor' written in marker stuck to our chests, but seriously. who can't fake one of those?
the cafeteria is open ALL DAY. and students can stop by ANY time, ALL day and get a snack or coffee or a soda. and the coffee? gourmet. eight flavors to choose from. designer creamers. five kinds of sugar.
the students kind of showed up, chatted, showed us their work (happily, many kids displayed the critical thinking/writing skills they'll need when they reach college...sadly, many kids did not), chatted some more, wandered off. some with hall passes, some without. yes, yes, Lang totally reprimanded the kids without passes, but still. it was crazy. unlocked doors everywhere. more than adequate student parking. there was lots of prom talk. lots of totally expensive purses on the girls' shoulders and expensive 'worn' jeans on the boys.
dress code? ha! there were shorts, mini skirts, tank tops, t-shirts with beer logos.
the only rules? no cell phones. no tobacco. at least not anywhere but in the BMWs and SUVs in the student parking lot.
posted by lynda at 3:30 PM
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