Opinion
Typical memories of high school include sports, proms, homecomings and parties. Some people just remember a moment. Like the day she became prom queen, or the time he made the touchdown that won the game.
I’ve been a freshman for eight weeks now, and what an interesting eight weeks it has been. I’ve battled the horrors of Clear Lake High School, instead of avoiding them like the vast majority of my classmates.
As other freshmen walk the hallways in fear, they are driven by stories of unlucky freshmen that unknowingly let a foot slip into senior “territory” and ended up taped to the flagpole, or facing the reeking depths of a trash can.
These vividly told stories are the weapons with which the upperclassmen maintain an iron grip on their precious picnic tables, located conveniently on a concrete stage in the center of the school. This area, known as “The Quad” is off limits to freshmen by dictation of the upperclassmen. Of course, they can’t actually kick freshmen out; the idea is that because they’ve been in high school the longest, they deserve the special privilege of ‘owning’ the quad.
Upperclassmen also establish a dictatorship over freshmen as soon as school begins. The first day of school, there is a rally. This rally, meant to spark enthusiasm in students, begins with a performance by the cheerleaders. Applause, whistles and screaming dominate the large auditorium.
The cheerleaders then perform for each class separately, beginning with the freshmen. The applause and cat calls quickly turns into booing. Sophomores, juniors and seniors all turn towards the freshmen and the auditorium is filled with one big “boooooo!”
This “initiation,” known to the legal system of the California government as “hazing,” is not stopped, contained, managed or in any other way controlled by the school’s administration. In fact, some might say that the administration supports these barbaric activities. Perhaps that is because the administrators themselves took part in similar traditions when they where in high school.
This booing, or initiation, is a way of making freshmen feel inferior, as if the seniors have complete control over them. With the administration doing nothing to control the chaos, it shows the new freshmen that the administrators allow this behavior to exist, and gives the impression that they, too, believe the upperclassmen should have utmost dictatorship over other students.
These first impressions are said to be a joke by the majority of students I’ve talked to. But I would think it reasonable to say that a joke is only funny if everyone is laughing.
Being a strong supporter of students' rights, I strongly disagree with many of these “traditions” at Clear Lake High School, and I have made that very clear through my defiance of acceptance. During both of the rallies I attended of the three we’ve had this year, I have removed myself from the activity in protest as soon as booing commenced. I respect those who respect me, and booing my friends and I is not respectful, therefore I made it a point to occupy senior “territory” at lunch for a full week in order to show that I do not respect anyone who does not respect me.
Because I did this I received countless threats. I also received flying objects, including squadrons of watermelon, water bottles and food containers. From others I have received death threats and countless insults and warnings, including from the administrators themselves!
Multiple times I have heard someone say, “I am going to beat the s*** out of you.” I guess it’s just an example of how unwilling we are to put a stop to this barbaric culture and accept civilized ethics.
So, the next time someone asks me, “What are you going to remember about high school?” I have a feeling my answer is not going to consist of joyous memories from football games or rallies. As of right now I highly doubt it will contain any recollections of all the great times I was told I’d have in high school. No, I think my answer will be a little different, unless we call for change.
The best solution that my supporters and I can come up with to this problem is to work with the administration to create a new policy that would require upperclassmen to respect freshmen and would require freshmen to respect any senior territory that is noted by the policy.
Other ideas include the implementation of a more positive behavioral curriculum, or programs such as Challenge Day (http://www.challengeday.org/ ), workshops intended to increase students' understanding and connections to each other. Activities that create connections between students typically result in more friendly environments and safer schools.
The administrators are paid by the taxpayers to create a safe learning environment for all students attending their school. If the administrators can’t do this alone, as has been demonstrated, maybe the broader community of Lake County should step in and give them a hand.
Chance Crail is a freshman at Clear Lake High School.
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- Written by: Chance Crail
America has a unique cultural model, almost an archetype, not found to be so dominant in other parts of the world. The mold or model here is material success, or wealth, with all its trappings. It is metaphorically called the pursuit of happiness, but it remains as the original 19th century wording intended the pursuit of property, which could, today, also be more accurately called simple greed.
This American dream, which has lately turned into a nightmare for many, usually mostly comprises a big house, a couple of cars or preferably the biggest SUVs that can be found anywhere on the planet, and the latest high-tech toys besides a television for each person living under a same roof, so family members not only do not have to speak but do not even have to see or spend time with one another, the outcome of which will later feed the need for psychotherapies and the content of popular mainstream television programs such as Dr Phil.
What is uniquely American is that, through the miracle of relatively easy credit, the trappings of success are acquired before success occurs … in most other nations, ordinary people seem to understand they have to make money before deciding how to spend it … you could call this simple logic and fundamental practicality, like planting a tree by the roots.
In America, success, like most that is directed at the gullible masses, is not portrayed as being (successful) but as having (the trappings of success); it is not about reality but appearances, like politics and advertising, and like the media … like all of what constitutes the popular culture.
And it is about having it all right here right now, which could be described as a neurotic impulse, but is most often a symptom of immaturity. So people grab all they can today and worry about paying for it tomorrow, if ever.
For most the dream is indeed materialistic, but the same frantic drive to have gratification without delays taints and defines everything, from instant coffee to instant religious salvation and all in between, from political sound bites to a thirst for instant metaphysical enlightenment, instant mastery in any field, instant weight loss, becoming ripped in four weeks, calling and finding your soul mate in seven weeks and becoming a multi-millionaire in a couple of months.
One, two, three, by the time you snap your fingers diner is served, you and your toddlers speak three foreign languages fluently, you have lost forty pounds, your net worth has increased one thousand folds, and you look and feel better than when you were nineteen years old, all without effort whatsoever.
This could be another aspect of the so-called rat race, since once you train or condition people to run everywhere, they usually cannot ever slow down, not even to eat a decent meal or read and comprehend a sentence that has more than five words.
The cruel irony, which appears to be lost on so many in the mainstream culture, is that real success generally means greater freedom, what is also called financial independence, while acquiring the trappings of success without success translates, in practical terms, as abject, odious bondage, the type that justifiably inspired revolutions in previous centuries.
Voluntary servitude is however the name of the game in today’s society. Rather than making an initial effort and then perhaps getting rewarded, people are taught they should seek the reward first, which becomes as a ball and chain that cannot ever be enjoyed, because now comes the struggle to sacrifice for it for many very long years, coupled with the constant fear of loosing it all, the stress of which produces cancers, ulcers, addictions, rampant divorces and very unhappy children.
The system obviously generates and preys on such immaturity, and not just con artists with get rich quick schemes but banks, credit card companies, commerce and of course the government which offers all sorts of incentives for so-called consumers to become ever more indebted, and which as a matter of fact long ago erected the financial and legal structures necessary for this endless exploitation of the populace. This structure tempts us to have it all now, and while it is presented as gaining status and reaching for fulfillment in glossy advertising and glorious commercials, the hidden cost is drudgery and literal serfdom.
In a consumer-driven economy, no laws will legislate intelligent, independent living, on the contrary. The more people spend money they do not have, the faster the engine runs, as it all is founded on illusions, on smoke and mirrors, like our paper money that is printed faster than monopoly money ever could, while the nation becomes bankrupt and the elite ever wealthier and more powerful. So what is the solution to such pervasive problems?
The simplest solution might be to jump off the merry-go-round, to no longer consume, or as little as practically possible. If major banks and multinational corporations have indeed embraced a globalist agenda meant to level the world into a homogenous mass of paupers and slaves, let them pay the price.
Become independent by recycling, growing, building, and bartering for your needs, and turn your back on a predatory system. Buy used whenever possible, and share and exchange information and knowledge to reclaim your power as a people, since the wannabe royalty, the elite, derives its power by dividing us, making us compete for crumbs like overcrowded rats in a laboratory cage.
If success comes, enjoy the fruits of your labor, if not, enjoy life, but whatever you do, do it on your own terms rather than because you have been conditioned to fill the bottomless pockets of an elite that manipulates you to the detriment of your health, your sanity, your happiness, your life, and of those of the ones you love.
The slogan “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell” might prove accurate after all.
Raphael Montoliu lives in Lakeport.
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