I'm almost done with my high school career, just one month to go. This year I realized looking back at high school how silly I was for buying into high school problems and giving myself a hard time over stupid things like high school drama. I feel bad for those kids who have yet to come to the realization that popularity really means nothing and the people that you hang out with should be the ones who you find most interesting and enjoy being around the most. Through finding this out I have realized one of the terrible truths of the high school social contruct: that, for the most part, being smart and being "cool" are mutually exclusive.
I love to joke around and have fun as much as the next person, but I've come to value people that I can actually have an intelligent conversation with. Funny thing is, until this year that was never something that concerned me. In fact, people who speak with diverse vocabulary were often ridiculed the first few years of high school. Kids who put in the most time on homework were the "nerds." Kids with high intelligence levels would play dumb in order to seem cool and bad grades were rewarded with laughter and high fives. Good music and lyrics were turned away and the cool kids listened to radio music and popular hip-hop. Reading was almost completely shunned as an activity.
As a senior, I have noticed many other seniors maturing and coming out of these tendencies. Sadly, as a P.E. leader I have noticed most freshman entering these same tendencies with the unathletic kids (especially boys) and the kids who embrace their knowledge seeming to be the outcasts. This is an inconveniant truth and it needs to change.
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