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School Daze

This year will be my last year at George Washington High School. In the past, I heard from older friends that senior year is the best year because it is the last year of school and everything you have learned earlier backs you up. They also said that teachers are more lenient on you because they know that it is going to be your last year.

Yesterday was the first day of school for me and all the other students who attend San Francisco’s public schools, and today I am already loaded with packets of worksheets, torn textbooks, homework handouts and lists of supplies that will be needed this semester.

It is too overwhelming for me. The teachers in every period lectured on how we are seniors and should not be babied because we all need to prepare for college. I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown. I had absolutely no idea how I am going to take all this pressure. Everything I heard from my older friends was just tossed out the window. None of the things they told me seemed to be true in my case.

Right after school I rushed to Office Depot, afraid they would run out of two-inch binders or something. Afterwards, I walked to the bookstore to purchase several books that the teachers required us to have. Adding to all that, I stayed up until 1 a.m. completing homework that was assigned to me; I dozed off drooling on my papers.

Now keep in mind that this was only the first day of school. If I can’t handle this, how the hell will I get through the rest of the year? My friends said that this would be my easiest year? I still remember last year, and even though I thought it was tough at the time, it now seems like practically nothing compared to this year. During my junior year I was able to play on the school tennis team, keep my after school job and also maintain a 3.0 average. Now it all seems impossible.

Just last week at work we had a discussion about the things that youth think are wrong with the San Francisco school system. I remember much of the topics discussed at the meeting, but the one that stands out most to me was about dropping out of school. My opinion at the time was that there is too much pressure on youth today in school. When they finally cannot take it anymore, they just give up. I actually thought about dropping out my sophomore year because I really thought that I might not make it all the way to the end of the school year, let alone graduate.

I am really glad now that I didn’t drop out. When I look back on my life, I see myself in school most of the time — more than 10 years of elementary, middle and high school. If I had dropped out, all those years of waking up early in the morning and walking to school would have gone to waste. Even though right now I am struggling through my first week of school, I now know not to give up. I have my whole life ahead of me. I will graduate with the class of 2003, attend a four-year college, find a fulfilling career and start a family someday. No matter what, I will not give up.