Freshman Talk

High School Survival Guide

Quit. School is overrated. It's an institution established by "The Man".

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High School Survival Guide

High School Survival Guide

Rule #1: Be yourself. It's that simple, and shouldn't need much more of an explanation than that, but it does. Every single day I see people acting like someone else to be "cool" with someone else, or changing personalities from clique to clique, or individual to individual, just to feel popular and accepted. Why should you need to change yourself and pretty much become someone else just to gain the awareness and "friendship" of someone else? Dress yourself, do not let others thoughts and opinions dress you. You are you, and should never become anything but. Everyone's heard all that I'm saying before and I know that it most likely will not stop a single person from doing what I stress not to. Also I believe that everyone has at one point put on a mask and covered up themselves from others. Be yourself.

Rule #2: Make friends with teachers and principals. Go above and beyond to be enthusiastically and clearly generous and respectful to all school officials. Just throw out excessive, "How are you doings?" or, "Good morning Mr. Blank, how are you doing?" Most teachers have some brains, so they'll catch on pretty quick to your act, but they'll definitely be more "impressed" by you than annoyed. Trust me, it pays off when you forgot to finish that big project and the teacher decides to give you one more day, or she gives you time to work on it after school. And it will pay off even more so when you're sitting in the Assistant Principal's office and should be getting suspended like a normal student, but you're not, because he remembers that you're an "overly respectful child" and assumes that it was an accident, or it was the other punk (who the principal thinks of as an uncooperative little brat) who was sitting next to you's fault. Just remember: do what they ask, try your best not to argue, show off your good sense of humor (when necessary), and stay out of Major trouble. Make friends with teachers and principals.

Rule #3: Keep your grades up. Make sure your number one focus is always schoolwork. Think about when you're going to do your homework and how much you have. Coming home at midnight and doing half your homework, then doing the other half at lunch or during computers or another class where you have moderate freedom is not a good strategy. You'll get caught up in the rush of things and become forgetful of the little assignments and easy points that you don't worry about. If you don't understand something on your homework, don't just quickly try it out just to get an answer on paper. Use your book and try to understand the concept or find the answer. If you can't, then guess to the best of your ability and ask your instructor for help the next day. Trust me; teachers are glad to give out extra help even if it's at a disadvantage to them. Teachers thrive on students actually caring about gaining knowledge and doing good in the class. They live for it, and nothing shows that you want a good understanding of the material better than actually asking for it. Check your grades frequently, and if they're lower than you'd like, then focus extra-hard on the classes you need it. When my grades are low in a class, I just take a step back and look at all the assignments, see what I missed or forgot to turn it in, and do what I need to do to get them in right away. Then just stay focused during the class and make sure you really understand everything that is being taught. I guarantee you that after a little while of actually putting special attention on a class or a couple classes, you're grades will be rising higher and higher. Often times, I seem to realize that the "smarter" kids are afraid to ask questions because they think they'll look dumb and feel embarrassed. Or if they really need to ask a question they'll ask someone nearby quietly that they know won't "care" that they sound "stupid." That is horrible. You shouldn't worry too much about what other people think of your brains, and secondly: no one should and probably won't ever judge you for asking a question. More than likely, if you have a question there are many other people in the room with the same question who will actually be relieved that you asked it. Another idea I've seen kids transfer over from the middle school is that "My grades right now don't matter for college. I only have to try hard when I'm a Junior and a Senior." Most colleges will look at your 9th and 10th grade actually, and even if they didn't, it'd be extremely hard, and pretty unreasonable to think that you'll be able to just switch over from barely sliding through classes and not doing your homework to becoming an A, B student with a great work ethic. Just never give up and always do your work and it really shouldn't be too hard. Keep your grades up.

Rule #4: Avoid fights and troublesome situations. Now this doesn't pertain as much to girls as it does to boys. But honestly, practically every boy loves to see fights. They're exciting and they fulfill our need for adrenaline. Most of us will even go as far as to make up things others said in order to spur on two kids to fight. Fighting is pretty hard to avoid. It's always going to be. Sometimes it's just hard to control yourself when someone says something about you or whatever, but school is not the place to fight! You'll get suspended if you are actually the one fighting, or possibly if you were instigating the fight and what not, which will do two things: put you on the principals bad list which will make it easier to get in trouble again, and it will make it harder for you to get a good solid understanding of the material and it may hurt your grade. You can get in trouble or you can just lose your principals trust even if you are around a fight and are seen. More often than not, when someone says a fights going to happen, it starts to spread around the school pretty fast. Most people hope that it happens before it's time to get to next block, but often times fight are very delayed or don't happen at all. In the case they are delayed, most people will go to class, but some people just can't resist the urge to see the fight. They've got all this energy built up and they need to see something happen, so then end up waiting. Now they're late to class, and all this does is cause more problems. Often times when you're more than just a minute or so late the teacher will question you about where you've been. This can be slightly uncomfortable having to make up an excuse on the spot while looking as innocent as you can. But pretty much, fights aren't worth the trouble you're going to get in eventually. Avoid fights and troublesome situations.

Rule #5: Exercise your brain. Now I know summer is your time off, your time to let your brain and body relax. But it really isn't a bad idea to do a little bit of something every now and then. I like to read a lot during summer. I read more throughout summer than I do throughout the rest of the year. If I don't then when I come back, my brain feels foggy, I'm forgetful, and it just makes you feel dumb for the first few weeks back. A lot of teens say they don't like to read. My guess is they just haven't found what they like to read. I read about whatever I want to learn about, or about something that's a part of my life at that moment. There's always a book out there for you, it's just a matter of finding it. Maybe you really just aren't a book person. There's still a lot of other things you can do to keep your mind alive. Maybe you like to write? If so then write! There are millions and millions of things you can do with that will benefit your brain. Just remember to always do something for your head between school years. Exercise your brain.

Rule #6: Don't forget to have fun. Your high school years aren't all about learning and preparing for the future. Once you start high school, all you've got left is a few years there and a few more at college before you have to face life and finally start to grow up. Now I'm not contradicting rule #3 at all. You're grades are going to set you up for the rest of your life. But so is your personality. So make sure you get what need to get done in school done, but the rest of the time should yours to enjoy life to the fullest. Just do whatever makes you happy, and never let anyone stop you. Just be smart, and have fun! Don't forget to have fun.

Rule #7: Plan. This is the last rule I'm going to write out, and it'll also be the shortest. This one is easy. Make plans. Nothing big. Just make little mental notes to yourself about doing this, or doing that. And always keep the big picture of what you want to do with your life in mind. Just keep yourself out of trouble and think out the consequences of what you're going to do and make sure that it's worth it. Think things out before you do them and ensure that everything's gonna be alright. Plan.

High School has been easy and quite enjoyable for me so far. I don't see any reason for that to change as long as I keep doing what I'm doing and continue to try my best in all aspects of life.

Andrew Miller