High School Muse-ical

Nobody likes you when your 23

And you still act like you're in Freshman year

What the hell is wrong with me?

My friends say I should act my age

What's my age again?

What's my age again?

TODAY'S BLOG WAS INSPIRED BY MORE THAN ONE PERSON FOR MORE THAN ONE INCIDENT AND MORE THAN ONE OF YOU CAN RELATE:

High School staff, more than their elementary school counterparts, have the unique opportunity of working with young people on the brink of who they want to become. High School, specifically, lends itself to an uncertainty that is carefully masked by adolescent bravado and the ever present PEER PRESSURE. An educator on the high school level must have made peace with his or her high school experiences and moved beyond the pitfalls of fitting in, acceptance and approval to wield the confidence and authority over those going through it in REAL TIME. We have to resist the urge to show the short cuts and allow our students the opportunity to discover things on their own.
A Stockholm's Syndrome of sorts develops among staff in a high school that mirrors that of the students. Only a confident and actualized adult educator can avoid the same fate as the students. Many look at their career in education as a chance to get it right; a do-over. This has a lasting impact on peer-to-peer relations as different colleagues may be on different levels. It is a slippery-slope that too many fall victim to. The media publicizes the TEACHER DATES STUDENT incidents for the sensationalism, but the school system loses overall when these events are made public. Public school also loses when staff members are not upfront and honest about their own experiences.
Un-confronted issues like NOT MAKING THE TEAM, TEACHER'S PET, PROCRASTINATION, Being POPULAR or an OUTSIDER. These are all characteristic that in un-checked develop at an advanced pace the second time around. Only this time, the authority , money, influence and material/possessions have an increased affect on self-esteem. A staff member with unresolved issues might find themselves in competition with the students or staff members. He or she might confide in students they over identify with or punish students that remind them of classmates who victimized them. They may even seek to identify with students who remind them of the social once excluded from in pursuit of that elusive acceptance. The is creates a situation where the staff member is more unbearable than the students.

High School, "It ain't for everybody"

So Who were you in High School?? I bet you can tell who I was.