High School Confidential

By Jacklin Aronchick

The holidays are past, the parties are over, and enough leftovers remain in the refrigerator to last you a lifetime. Going back to school seems like the bane of my existence and yet I miss the familiarity of its blanch walls. As much as I love vacation, being away from school for too long makes for a boring and meandering lifestyle. While we aren’t occupied with the repetitiveness of a school day, where would our path of activity wander off to?

What would I be doing if I weren’t in school for six hours a day every week? I’m pretty sure it would involve eating and sleeping a lot more than is healthy, or mindlessly playing whatever game is available. I’m sure that some people would be studying, but the majority would find many more amusing things to occupy their time.

The past two weeks were filled with videogames and whatever I found that was amusing. I’d much rather say that I got a great deal of important things done, but I didn’t and to say so would be lying and I prefer not to lie to a large mass of people I do not know. Actually, I got bored enough to completely clean up my room and start cleaning the house, but not in a productive way. Instead of tidying up the already clean space, I completely dumped everything out and started from scratch. Not a terribly productive endeavor but in the end positive.

I smile at the prospect of the end of vacation, and I’m no prodigy student. The early mornings, the boring classes, the procrastination that would come back in a flurry of late nights and assignments. The fact of the matter is I don’t mind being occupied by school. In fact, I like it and look forward to it.

Beyond looking forward to the next school day, I also look forward to the New Year. Coming back to school after New Years, though everything is physically the same, I find everything has freshness to it. Whether it is because it’s been void of the legions that call it school, or because of my new outlook after a reflection of the past year. My idealistic side insists that it is the latter and so I will believe that school is once again a beneficial endeavor worth pursuing. The renewing of this belief brought me to make a resolution suited to furthering that enterprise.

New Years was rather uneventful this year. I stayed home with my parents and brother and we watched the ball drop, stayed up for another hour or two and then went to bed. I thought it was the best way to ring in the holiday. No drinking at a random party or sneaking out, or something equally illegal. Why would you want to start off the New Year hung over or fearing the wrath of your parents? No thanks. I’ll take my quiet celebration at home and save all the real partying for St. Patrick’s Day!

That brings me to another hot topic: teen drinking. As an adolescent, it is normal to feel compelled to do what is considered “cool.” Consuming alcohol is definitely at the top of the list. There is nothing especially cool about puking your brains out or having a skull-splitting headache in the morning. Socially, it is widely accepted and even heavy drinking is accepted; it is simply hidden or hushed up and swept under the carpet. I blame a few things for teen drinking: No. 1 is, hands down, the teenage thirst for freedom from the hold of parents. If there is anything that a teenager can do that is against their parents’ wishes, they will do it. A close No. 2 is societal norms. Drinking is a socially acceptable activity, so it is something made to be desirable so as to tear down any social boundaries that would be put in place by a non-alcoholic lifestyle. Though highly debatable, I also believe that the drinking age has a hand in the teen drinking problem. In other countries where the drinking age is 18 or younger, the problem with alcohol is little if not non-existent, yet in the US, teen drinking is a major problem. One will always want what one cannot have.

This year is another opportunity to try and break out of bad habits and self-destructive ways. Look on it as such. Be more self-aware and think about how you can better yourself. Try and see the good in people, and the good in yourself. As a senior in high school I know these may seem like empty words and blind statements, but seriously try it.

I know I will.