The Heirarchy of High School

I feel that I must take this time to rant about an issue that had been consuming me for the past week. So at my school, we have this place called "The Bear Pit". It's a sunken area, in the main part of the school. It doesn't sound like much, but in the past it has been a defining part of the school. It's for the students to hang out at lunch and between classes and for the most part (except when they come in to talk to us) the teachers stay out of it. The only rule with The Bear Pit though, is that it is only for senior students (grade 11 & 12). And in past years seniors have been very strict about not letting junior students even close to it, they've always had to be "behind the blue line" (there is a blue line that surrounds The Bear Pit) and if you crossed it, you were in trouble and if you ever THOUGHT about stepping into The Bear Pit, you were OUT OF YOUR MIND! because you just didn't do that! It would have been suicide to step foot in The Bear Pit if you were a grade nine or ten. However, this year it has been very different. You see, my grade doesn't really care and so this year there have been GRADE NINES IN THE BEAR PIT!!!!! And NO ONE KICKS THEM OUT!!! I just can't believe it and certainly can't get over it!! So this has been a HUGE frustration to me in the last week or so and I think, in the near future, something drastic is gunna have to happen because I'm not sure I can take too much more of this! You see the whole dynamics of my school have changed since I was in grade nine. Back then there was a heirarchy system with seniors at the top and juniors at the bottom. There was absolutely NO going in or through The Bear Pit. Seniors had authority over juniors and juniors respected that. And this is the way it should be. Also in our gym, when we have assemblies, the seniors used to sit at the top of the bleachers and if there was room the juniors could sit at the bottom but if not, they had to sit on the floor. This year though, the grade nine's are sitting where ever they want....at the last assembly, they were sitting at the top of the bleachers! There was barely room for us, the seniors! *Sigh* My school has changed so much in the four years I've been there, and it's all been for the worst. There is no heirarchy anymore, and that is sad. The junior students have no idea, they think they own the school. And they will continue to do so if someone doesn't take action. And that someone just might have to be me!

"Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."

At first my philosophy class was pretty kool and I liked having discussions about things and hearing what others thought about stuff, but now it's starting to annoy me. You see, there are kids in my class who think they are so philosophical and so they try to prove this by questioning EVERYTHING! I mean, yes I am in a philosophy class and this is what we're supposed to do but come on! Questioning everything to the point of, "is this desk really here?" or, "is this desk real or is it just an idea in my head that I have created?" Well of course the desk is real! It was made by a person in a factory! And it's not just an idea, its composed of atoms! So basically this is what I go through everyday in philosophy class. And when one of these kids poses such a question, the teacher thinks it's "so interesting!" and so on and on we go discussing whether even we as humans are really here on earth, or whether we are just the ideas of some creatures, living on another planet in some sort of ultrauniverse! And I kid you not, these are real conversations that my class has had. All I want to do, during one of these discussions, is say to all of them the words of Sigmund Freud... "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."