Cats & Dogs

I can't bring myself to bore you with pictures of new sbs, or videos that you're sure to see somewhere else a thousand times. But at the same time writing something long, that might be seen as insightful doesn't seem too appealing right now either.

I'll do it anyway.

Without a doubt some of you won't feel so nostalgic about your high school memorabilia, that's understandable. High school wasn't a great place for everyone but, I feel as if it is something that everyone should experience. Grades Nine through Twelve are really a blur to me that becomes clearer towards Junior year. Most things that I pride myself in knowing, about people, life, and relationships comes from these past four years. Some say that it's because our teenage years are the most impressionable but, in a different environment, not necessarily education oriented I wouldn't have learned as much.

Think about it for a minute.

Being thrown into a building with some 2400 other students, from different parts of the city, something is bound to happen. Being in a classroom with just Thirty of these people, for any span of time, leaves you with no option but to learn. Whether I lamented it at times or beckoned it towards me, it happened. Every person in my grade alone held at least two mindsets, learning styles, social abilities, social disabilities, religions, cultural agendas, etcetera, etcetera.

Was I lucky? Does everyone have the same learning experience in high school? Or is that type of education only given in schools where the student body is not segregated? Not from each other but, from those not living in their immediate neighborhood. In Philadelphia at least, the only people who are spared from this type of seclusion are the ones who attend magnet, or private high schools. But at the same time I feel slighted because part of the learning experience is lost because, (we're) still not interacting with every type of person in our generation unless you include the bus stop.

Are "Feeder" high schools a product of convenience or casualty? Because it seems as though entire neighborhoods are taking losses. Obviously the government cannot mandate private affairs but, when the best schools in the city are almost equally matched by the feeder high schools in the surrounding suburbs one has to wonder.

I feel like we're losing as a generation, the generations before us have lost in some respect as well. Not everyone is guaranteed a college education, therefore they're not guaranteed cultural, religious, or any type of understanding in the world other than that which is right in front of them!

The breeding ground for ignorance is where one is bred, period. Nature tells us the same thing. A wild cat, and wild dog would tear each other apart in the wild.Whereas, a dog that has been taken out of the wild and domesticated might (but is not guaranteed to) get along with a domesticated cat.

Clearly there's a difference between human and animals but I hope that my simile (metaphor..what have you. I'm losing what I've learned in English already) wasn't lost on anyone.

Is it a problem at all? Some argue that animals shouldn't be domesticated to begin with. But what if the root of all wars, cultural battles, and hate in general is misunderstanding? What then?