The Monthly Pessimist: From terrible lunches to minimal learning, saying goodbye to high school is the moment for which I’ve been yearning

May 16, 2020

By Joe Arino-Sandomenico
Editor

From the second I stepped through the doors at LHS, I knew one thing: High school was going to stink. I was sure the classes were going to be irritating, the teachers bothersome and my classmates just straight up annoying. Obviously, there are some exceptions, but I will keep the names of these people anonymous so I do not call anyone out. 

Freshman year might have been the best year of my high school career, and yet, it was probably the most boring. Nothing happened. Peer group was a snoozefest, gym class consisted of pointless games and we were treated like children. The highlight of my year was when public speaking teacher Mr. Snyder, who retired last year, threw my iPad out the window. And yes, the iPad is okay.

Another thing freshman year taught me was that school lunches consisted of the nastiest food I would ever eat. The bread for the sandwiches looked gray, the pizza tasted like rubber and for some reason, a water bottle cost more than a can of Snapple. The amount of effort put into school lunches is the same I put into doing homework, which is not much.

Freshman year might have been the best year of my high school career, and yet, it was probably the most boring.

My sophomore year was way worse than I thought it would be. Putting personal hardships outside of school aside, the schedule changed. No surprise there considering it happened two times throughout my high school career. Not only that, but I also started taking more advanced classes and joined some clubs. Not a fun idea.

Now, I was enrolled in an Advanced Placement class. These college-level courses are really annoying because more people take them just to boost their GPA. That’s not really “high school’s” fault, but the students are in high school, so the connection is there.

Clubs in high school, especially at LHS, are not even adequate. The only two clubs that seem remotely fun and useful are Future Business Leaders of America and Chess Club. Of course, we do not have a Chess Club because no one wants to use their brain anymore to play such a strategic game. FBLA, on the other hand, is at LHS, so kudos for that one. 

Junior year basically solidified my opinion that high school is atrocious. That was the year I learned that people stink and just putting your head down and trucking through high school is so much better than developing friendships that are bound to fall apart. The assignments I was getting were also annoying, even for a scholar like yours truly.

I will say prom was pointless. High schoolers are annoyingly fake and can, in fact, ruin your year because you are stuck with them five days a week.

The work I got was a little extreme, just like the amount of work we are getting while doing online schooling. For two AP classes and an honors class, it is safe to say I got about six hours of homework every other night. However, homework is not my thing, so whether it was six hours or one hour, I would still be complaining.

Now onto this year, my senior year. I feel like nothing I learned this year has really prepared me for the future. Again, not throwing shade, but let’s just say I considered dropping out this year and getting my GED just so I would not have to go to school. 

To top it all off, I basically spent one-third of the year at home because of the coronavirus. Am I complaining about not being in school? No, but the insane amount of work I am getting for no reason is overwhelming. I would have loved to achieve some personal goals during my senior year, like getting back into shape and picking up some hours working a decent job. This is why I took two senior privileges, but the schoolwork the teachers have been assigning ensures that I will not be able to meet these goals. 

Two major changes would have made high school so much better. One of them is people simply being more mindful of their words and actions. Another is the administrators themselves working more closely with students to help them more. Yes, I know I am sounding soft like a marshmallow right now, but as a senior, I would have liked high school to go a little bit better.

Since this is my last installment of “The Monthly Pessimist,” I might as well say my goodbyes. This column has definitely been the highlight of my high school career. I would like to thank you all for always reading what I write. I appreciate it. 

Now that I think about it, though, high school was not that bad. Actually, yes it was. Haha. See ya, LHS.