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Yesterday my daughter Frick and I executed to perfection a commonly played scene at the kitchen table in the morning before school.ME: "Ah Frick, where's your coat?"
HER: "I have this on. I'll be fine." ("this" being a thin zipped hoodie)
ME: "Ya, no. It's about 21 degrees outside and you won't be fine. So go get your winter coat."
HER: "Really Mom, cmon. You know I can't carry it around all day."
ME: "I don't care if you WEAR it all day, just go and put it on."
Much Frick STOMPING ensues.
Sounds strange?? Did I loose you at, "I can't carry it around all day."? Don't worry bloggers, because that's certainly where I got lost too and I wouldn't have really understood it had I not seen it with my own eyes. I speak of the foreign, high school tradition, practiced by the children of this fine community we live in.
A little background:
One day last year,(Frick's first year) I went into the high school during school hours to drop something off for my daughter. Upon entering the semi-modern, updated high school, at the hallway of the entrance, which opens to the cafeteria on the right, office on the left, I noticed a SLEW of athletic bags strewn across the floor flanking the wall by the cafeteria. It was a virtual sea of athletic bags, literally hundreds, of multiple color, shape and size. My first thought? Fire hazard; but since the massive hallway entrance seemed wide enough to handle the mish mosh, I figured I go directly to the source on this one.
I asked Frick, "what's with the?'' She explained to me that NO ONE in the high school uses their assigned lockers. EVER.
Huh?
"Yup, mom, it's just not the way things are done at the high school," she said. I was flabbergasted. Not use your high school locker? How could this be? It is a travesty, to say the least.
Not only do the children of our community carry around ALL of their books in their backpacks..... further risking the possibility of a community of "Quasi-moto's", but they will not wear the proper outerwear, even in inclement weather, so as to not have to "carry around" said outerwear. But that's not the worst of it. The worst of it is that these future adults of our world are depriving themselves of a simple rite of passage, the locker memories.
I know, many a romance was sealed or doomed by the doors of my hallowed locker. Needed to re-apply my lip gloss or do a quick hair check? No problem, my locker had a mirror and 5 different glosses to choose from. (some things never change). My best friend and I shared my locker, because mine was in a "cooler part of the building" and my best collage art work was proudly displayed on the inside of the door with every teen heart throb represented. We pretended to be busily getting things out of our lockers to avoid trouble, and skipped classes by meeting at our locker, stored contraband in there and generally held just as many secrets in there as in our own minds.
I just don't get it? How can a student not use their locker?
Evidently, the Fire Department agrees with me. They just put a ban on athletic bags in the front entrance of the school. Maybe now they will use their lockers for their intended purposes. Making memories......
Maybe not. Frack says they just made the hallway to the gym their new spot for athletic bag dumping.
Aah yes . . . I know the "Battle of the Uncool Outerwear" well. My freshman will wear near-adequate protection on his top half, and then . . . shorts, with "short-socks" and sneakers. Thus attired, walking through snow and ice to the wait for the bus.
ReplyDelete"Dude, it's like 17 outside. You think shorts will work at the bus stop today?"
"Dad, I'm not outside that long . . . and don't call me 'dude.'"
;-)
XO
I don’t get this one at all either. I freaking loved my locker. Always gave me a perfect opportunity to pick up the hot girls. I never wanted to carry around anything, I didn’t even have a backpack, it was uncool at the time….at least where I lived. And if you never use your lockers, how can you expect to be able to stuff some unsuspecting freshman in his locker?
ReplyDeleteAll that being said though; I never liked to wear a coat (or hat, or gloves) to school. I remember getting on the bus with every inch of my hair literally frozen in place. Good times!
Being a teacher, I have seen first hand how things have changed. And someday Frick will be appalled that her kids are NOT leaving THEIR bags strewn around the hall. Who know what their method of madness will be.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I love you Jim...
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that disturbs me the most is the strewn-ing of said bags.
ReplyDeleteNOT one kids PAID for that bag. THE parents bought those bags. AND THEY ARE JUST TOSSED ASUNDER? ON THE FLOOR WITH DIRT AND YUCK?
GAAHH!!
i'd so right the principle asking they ban the bag of bags. It's a health hazard and plus, it isn't teaching kids to take responsibility for their stuff.
Seriously!
gaah!!
really? i had EVERYTHING i owned in my locker when i was in school..
ReplyDeleteI grew up on the South Shore of Massachusetts and went to a High School with the smallest lockers ever. You could barely fit your huge winter coat in there and have room for anything else. Getting a license and a car was great because the car was a place where you could finally ditch your winter coat during the day.
ReplyDeleteAt my HS, you had the same locker for 10th and 11th grade, and a new locker Sr. year. My Sr. year locker was in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, I had a brother in 10th grade who I "convinced" (i.e. told him I wouldn't drive him to school anymore) to give me his far better situated locker.
I grew up in a country where we didn't have fancy things like lockers. Or proms. Or anything worth half a damn's worth of fun. I always envied American kids their lockers. We had to lug our stuff around all day long which is why Europeans have unfeasibly long arms. Don't look that up or anything, you won't find it in any book, but I'm telling you. Our arms are HUGE! :)
ReplyDeleteBeing slightly older than most of you, I didn't carry much to school with me. Mostly because IT WAS 10 MILES TO WALK UPHILL BOTH WAYS!
ReplyDeleteWE HAD TO WRITE OUR REPORTS IN THE DIRT, BUT WE WERE HAPPY TO HAVE IT!
HEY! YOU KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN!
I'm sorry, now where was I?
I remember (100 years ago) when I was a teenager and h-a-t-i-n-g wearing a coat and, therefore, never wore one. I was never cold either. Now I am old, cold, and all bundled up, while my children run around without coats. I suppose it's just the cycle of life??
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, lockers ruled!! Like your own personal address in school.
ReplyDeleteTell her that she can be a "trend setter" by using her locker.
ReplyDeleteAnd for outerwear? You needed nothing except your letter jacket, right?
What, you were expecting high schools and high school students to make sense?
ReplyDeleteHow odd lockers moribund. I spent a few peaceful moments locked in them when I was a kid.
ReplyDeleteYup. Things sure have changed. I'm not quite sure why the anti-locker movement would have taken hold, though.
ReplyDeleteOh how familiar!!! It's (in my money) somewhere around -7 to 0 at the moment with about 12 to 18 inches of snow on the ground.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter...
a) won't wear a proper coat
b) won't wear a hat
c) won't wear boots
Then she is moaning she doesn't feel well or is freezing when we have to walk from the car to whereever... Hopeless!