Here’s High School Today (from a current high school student):

Summary

The article describes a high school student's disappointment with the reality of high school, contrasting it with their initial expectations.

Abstract

The author, a high school student, shares their initial expectations of high school, which were shaped by movies and popular culture. Upon entering high school, they are disappointed by the reality of the school environment, which is described as a "jailhouse" with no lockers and students constantly on their phones. The author expresses concern over the lack of academic rigor and the prevalence of technology in their school, suggesting that the current generation has lost its passion for learning.

Opinions

The author had high expectations for high school, shaped by movies and popular culture.
The author was disappointed by the reality of high school, which was described as a "jailhouse" with no lockers.
The author is concerned about the lack of academic rigor and the prevalence of technology in their school.
The author suggests that the current generation has lost its passion for learning.

Here’s High School Today (from a current high school student):

The jocks, the nerds, the popular kids (all the cliques you could possibly imagine), food fights in the cafeteria, sights of jocks stuffing nerds into lockers, paper airplanes thrown in the classroom, girl drama — these were all things that I fully expected to experience as a rising freshman in high school. I remember being in awe of high school students, for their seniority and “coolness” as a teeny tiny middle schooler. Every day is going to be an adventure, I foolishly thought as I packed my lunch and backpack for my first day of school. As I approached the school building, adrenaline and excitement pumped through me. I was finally going to experience high school. I walked into the school building, waving goodbye to my mom, and I was met with a….jailhouse.

The entrance to my school was a “cafeteria” (whether it is actually a cafeteria is seriously up for debate), with mismatched tiles on the floor, bars on all of the windows, dim lighting, and deans herding students to their classes.

I stood in shock for a minute or two, before I was herded to my class. My throat bobbed as I clutched my paper schedule, quivering, and made my way up six flights of stairs (this might not seem like much, but I was nowhere close to athletic as a 12 chubby-year-old).

This is what high school is like? I finally made it to the third floor, panting and out of breath, holding on to the handrails for my dear life. I looked at my hands and red paint — paint that rusted off the rail — stained by my hands. I didn’t know this yet, but the journey to my third-floor Chemistry class would be my daily workout for the rest of the year. And no, I unfortunately did not lose any weight for anyone asking :(

Above all, and perhaps the biggest shock yet, there were no lockers. Lockers, the pillar of all cringy 2000s high school movies, were nowhere to be found in my school. I lamented over this for days — I kid you not — and I still do as I (and everyone else) lug around my backpack and books from class to class.

A new reality of high school dawned on me: every single person (all the students and faculty) is on their phones, scrolling and scrolling, students vape, and smoke, hiding in the staircases and running away from the deans, and vulgar language rides the currents of the fumes and smokes that fill the bustling hallways. As a current junior, three years of high school has somewhat desensitized me to this dreary image of high school, but it saddens and worries me that this image, right here, is the future of America. Students, void of passion and life, enter a classroom, and they scroll on their phones as their heads are slumped on their desks and their eyes are glued to glowing devices that they clutch with their hands. This is the future generation of the world.

The absence of academic rigor in the educational system, or at least in my school, is replaced by the presence of mediocrity and smoke. Whatever happened to the schools being sites of academia and learning? How has my generation descended into a state of decay and technological fixation? Have we Tik-Toked our way to this realm? Whatever happened to students coming to school for the sake of learning and not for the sake of school? The world should be grieving over this sight — and for our future.