Failing to find scatological humor funny anymore was just the preamble to my nightmare year. The New York Yankee dynasty fell along with the Twin Towers, and the times of freedom, celebration, and absentmindedness fell along with it. I experienced these nauseating loses first hand as a sophomore at my northeastern high school.
This world is brutal, and I have the year 2001 A.D. to thank for waking me up to it. Along with the rest of America, I'm sure that I aged 5 years for every year after 2001.
Walking into school every day was similar to Brooks Hatlen leaving Shawshank. I just couldn't believe what the hell happened to everything. The world went and got itself in a big damn hurry.
Every morning I thought about chiseling my name in my bedroom wall, and then hanging myself from the ceiling fan.
Security guards were everywhere. Uniforms were implemented. All of the fun stuff that raised spirits, and brought kids closer to school were unjustly axed. The party was over. Those feel good, heartfelt times were over.
I was living in a world that didn't have time for recess anymore.
Whether it was at school, home, or the workplace, I’m sure that this feeling was shared by almost every American everywhere to some extent.
High school pre-2001 showed too much promise. It was way too good to be true.
People just let the good times roll. There were plenty of fun activities and events that legitimately kept students engaged in school, and even though most of the teachers were old, they were certainly seasoned. They knew how to reach out to kids in their own weird ways. Some had well-known internet screen names while others disregarded text books in order to avoid deceptive or biased information.
These old ways were fading, and young, fresh minds at both ends of the student/teacher spectrum were dawning an entirely new age.
Post-2001 America was undoubtedly changing, and I followed suit. My gilded world continued to suffer from blows to its’ candy-coated armor.
Not only did my concept of poo go from LOL to OMG by turning into bacterial infested fecal matter, but my concept of school transformed into an old, cookie cutter, sober institution of learning.
Sharing the pain similar to that of Brooks Hatlen and Andy Dufresne, it was tough to take on the unfamiliar scope of new territory.
Instead of breaking down like Brooks, I became petrified like Andy. I decided against letting the newly implemented rules and security guards get the best of me. I lied, cheated, manipulated, and stole my way to a premature release. Flawless in my execution, I only got better. It was strictly about getting ahead, and beefing up my stats. What mattered was only on paper. This was the cruelest lesson handed down from the latest batch of educators.
I just failed to see the young, inexperienced teachers as bright and dedicated. They were noobies. I saw them as particularly cold and anal.
I will admit that I didn't fully understand them until I graduated college. I quickly forgave them after experiencing several different schools, where I witnessed firsthand the flaw that collegiate mentors passed down from class to class. It was a weakness that came with every teaching certificate; quantity over quality.
Quantitative work is the hallmark of every college in America.
Colleges breed workaholics. The value of your academic worth only comes down to how much you accomplish. Nobody kills more trees than the typical 21st century teacher. They absolutely love quizzes, tests, homework assignments, activities, essays, worksheets, projects, research papers, and everything in between.
It’s a competition that plays similarly to baseball. It’s really only a game of discretionary numbers.
It’s outdated in my opinion. We are still stuck in a time where the content of human character plays second fiddle to social constructs. Instead of caste and color, it’s the number of gold stars that determines your value. Congratulations, us.
If it wasn't for the few teachers who actually portrayed sincere human qualities, and cared about something other than grades, I probably would've been a complete nightmare to society. I was very fortunate enough to abort my assiduous, cold-hearted ways. I was able to relax, and see more to school and life. I would really like to thank a small handful of professors for teaching me things worth learning like how to be genuine, patient, and flexible.
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