Commentary Can’t We All Just Get Along? How High School Has Been Reduced To Basic Feudalism By Omar Tanamly (November 21, 2003)

Seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, it’s how it’s always been. A student’s rank and voice all depend upon the grade they are in. It’s a trend common to most high schools in the world, and cannot really be unexpected. However, it is probably more serious than it appears to the naked eye. Hostility practiced in high schools leads to more hostility in the "real world," our experiences after high school.

We have all been, at some point in time, a timid freshman in awe of the elderly, more "privileged" upperclassmen. Tenth grade is just a year away. We swear not to be mean to later freshmen when we become seniors. We are so overwhelmed with all the new attractions of high school, that we are either so besieged with wonder of everything that we end up getting nowhere in class competitions, or we do far too well for our own good. We embrace the day when we leave the social mud hole and climb a rung on the ladder of high school social mobility. Not every single freshman is completely terrified of upperclassmen, yet the fact that there are a few of them who exist is significant.

Sophomores; not so important in the overall scheme of things, are still one step up from the new, even more precautious freshmen. We bask in the glory of mediocrity, but try not to let the fact that we haven’t made it to the top yet bother us. We think of the power we have over the younger kids, and seemingly forget what it feels like to be looked down on. We have yet to win the battle, but we will win the war, (just as everybody else will).

Now we are juniors. It all went by pretty fast, but we are proud of where we are, and wouldn’t change it for the world. School takes up much of our time, easing some of us away from our malicious attitudes. Whipped into shape by everyone who is telling us how crucial our third high school year is, we sit and wait for the fateful day…

At last, we are seniors! Seniors; the top of the social ladder, the leaders of the school, the underdogs who worked their way up from measly, deprived ninth graders. After arriving in the veritable Hall of Fame, we do our best to play the role of the powerful, authoritarian, almighty seniors we are, but just as everything does, even this gets old. However, I’m sure a few of us will forever take pride in pushing younger, smaller kids around, and spreading boorishness throughout our seemingly productive campus halls, but telling them otherwise would be useless. Even after three full years of loathing our vindictive upperclassmen, some of us do not break the trend of indecency, and continue to mistreat our fellow peers.

"Why?" some of us ask.

"It’s tradition," some of us answer. Tradition or not, in the end, will you be the bigger man? Break a trend, for the sake of decency, because we are all human beings, and should be treated with respect. Is the sacred custom of incivility important enough to schools worldwide to maintain its continuation? Granted, it is not a major problem here at George Mason, yet it definitely exists. It is an inevitable element of high school, yes, but it is a shame that students are bred in an environment where cruelty and condescension is encouraged. Social class guidelines that are practiced everywhere across the world begin, and are "perfected" in our own high school halls. As quoted before, the words of Rodney King are still awfully appropriate; "Can’t we just all get along?" I believe we can, and doing our best not to be indecent to younger classmen should be encouraged and admired in our student body.