This Week's Feel

I think it's an understatement to say that this week has been turbulent for Anderson High School. While students were already thrown in the frying pan with EOC's for the 9th, 10th and 11th graders, AP and IB testing took its toll on the upperclassmen. To stir up the pot some more, the whole yik-yak (I don't know how it's spelled…) deal escalated to epic proportions… So this brings me to two key points.

1. By banning the use of cell phones within class and not allowing students to have certain apps (which they can't really control), what are they accomplishing. Yes, bullying is bad. Basically everybody experiences bullying at some point in their twelve years at school. Yes, yik-yak makes it easy for kids to cowardly demean each other, sometimes purposefully, sometimes thinking that it's a funny joke. The app is/was being heavily abused at Anderson… Yet, instating these cell phone rules isn't going to solve the problem of bullying… It may stop bullying in one technologically advanced form but people are creative and it will manifest itself in another way, shape or form. I believe that the issue is being approached from the wrong side. Bullying will occur regardless of the rules in place, unless you create a super harsh authoritative regime. Rather than trying to squash bullying, it would be much more effective to teach kids how to handle bullying and provide them with emotional/social support. This means that the problem is approached front the positive side and helps kids mature, to learn how to respond to adversity as once they become adults, the world isn't going to coddle them. If a coworker or stranger calls a kid-now-adult a bunch of names, unless it's a threat or a disturbance in the work place, the world won't shed a protective tear around the abused, that's the sad truth. It's key to learn to stand up for yourself and to become comfortable with who you are, to not listen to the caustic remarks of others and know your worth. All alternate perspectives are welcome and appreciated, especially considering how little student input the administration seems to be seeking on a matter that mostly pertains to the student body.

2. The good news. By the above paragraph, one might get the impression that the AHS student body is morally filthy but this is far from the truth… Considering 911, we should remember that the actions of a few should NOT determine the judgement of the character of the many. While some students abused technology to post cruel and crude comments about others, the Anderson student body on average is awesome. I say this as I attended Trojan Live this Friday and the audience's support of the performers  was overwhelming. One particular girl clearly got stage fright, she was trying to sing "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men and she couldn't get started. The audience took notice and rather than booing or just sitting in scary silence, the entire theater began to clap and yell words of encouragement. It took about 3 rounds but once the girl got started, she did REALLY well AND overcame her stage fright! Also, I want to acknowledge that all of the other performers were fantastic as well and I admire the guts it took for them to get up on stage!