As I am read this piece I was constantly reminded of the High school that
I went to here in Lethbridge. I think that I learned more about the
clicks that were in the school than anything from my courses during
school. Not only were the clicks overwhelming in the hallways, but they
were imported into my classrooms as well. Even though teachers tried not
to take sides or become friends with only certain students I am sure that
they would be surprised to know how bad they actually did the above
mentioned.

Not only are there the core subjects that we are required to take, but
there are the options and the after school activities as mentioned in the
article. The funny thing is, by the time you are in High school your
after school activities probably wont be any different than the ones that
you have come to know over the last many years. Therefore, the peers that
you have become friends with is just a given and you will probably hang
out with these peers during school hours as well (if you are in the same
school). Options however are entirely different. You have to take your
chance with these and hope that you have chosen one that the cool or the
popular people are in. If you take the wrong one you will automatically
be considered uncool (as the teacher of that option usually is as well).

My last rant about the system comes specifically from my high school.
There was a large religious population at the school that I had to deal
with. Yes they were nice people, but you never fit into the group unless
you were a part of the religion. Your other choices were to join the
people (with the bad label) on the bricks smoking or wander aimlessly
about the school trying to find something to do. The worst part about
this was that half the teachers were also a part of that religion,
therefore favored the exact students that controlled the hallways. The
extracurricular activities involved the same group and no one seemed to
mind.

What is up with only congratulating the football team anyway, yes there
are other groups supporting them if they want to or not. Never once did I
see an assembly for the band that was to travel to the states for a
competition, but every Friday the football, basketball, or some other team
was to be chanted at during the ritual gathering of the popularities.

I hated High school for the exact reasons in this article…I will never be
that teacher that I had to deal with. I want to be the teacher that will
accept that there are differences in the students and that they will have
different choices of what they think is fun. Hopefully I will be able to
incorporate that into my lessons at one point or another.