Better Things To Do

BETTER THINGS TO DO

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The Sun Never Sets On School

This is my old elementary school on a Winter evening. I was promoted from the school in June of 2005. I have fond and not-so-fond memories of school. Both of my parents had to work, so I would get to school about ten minutes before 8:00 AM. School got out at 2:30 PM, but I would stay at daycare until later into the afternoon and sometimes evening. I’d usually be home by the time of sunset. When I’d leave school around the time of day this photo was taken, the sun would set on school. I would have finished my homework and be left to watch Nickelodeon and Disney Channel until bedtime. I didn’t worry about my classes until I stepped out of my bedroom door the next morning. School was confined to a certain time and place during elementary school. In other words, my elementary school involvement was not the British Empire of the early twentieth century: there was a time when the Sun would not shine on it. It had an end. 

That is not the case today. School starts at 7:30 (if you’re on time, that is), extra-curriculars begin at 2:30, giving you ten minutes to grab a snack from the TV Video tables, homework is begun around 4:30, studying starts at 7:00 and lasts until 10:00, then you go onto Facebook and take comfort in how your classmates bitch and moan just as much as you do about the school work assigned to them in their 3+ Advanced Placement / Honors classes. You eventually pass out and have nightmares about getting less than an 89.5 on your Calculus test last week. Then you wake up and do some of the homework you forgot to look up on School Loop last night before you have to head off to school. 

All day, homework and studying and taking notes and writing compositions and other school assignments take up your time. Your social life is entirely extra-curriculars. Your future has already been planned by you or your immigrant parents since 7th grade. Your mind not be on sophomore World History, but your involvement in high school may be a lot like the Victorian British Empire: the sun never sets on it.

After sunset, you may still be at a charity benefit concert, a football game (either playing in it or filming it), setting up this season’s dance, performing your role as the star of the latest play in theatre, on your bus ride home from the Mock Trial competition in another county, reminiscing with your teammates at the Academic Decathlon banquet, or most likely studying for tomorrow’s Physics test.

Being an APH student, an overachiever, whatever you call yourself, means giving up that old feeling of relief when the sun set. 

The sun never sets on you, and it won’t until after you graduate.

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Limitations of the Study

  • I am not a professional sociologist.
  • I do not possess any sort of academic degree.
  • I do not know every APH student at Rancho Cucamonga High School.
  • No special education students were interviewed for this project.
  • Some of the interviews were incomplete due to time constraints and participant unwillingness.
  • The overwhelming majority of participants wish to remain anonymous, so most students mentioned will be referred to by pseudonyms. 
  • I have not read all studies by education departments before, during, or after the conduction of this study.
  • I conducted this study alone with no assistance from professionals or peers.
  • The study is biased towards upperclassmen because of limited contact with underclassmen.
  • I was not a member of Key Club, ASB, or Student Achievement at any time during my high school career.
  • I am still a high school student.
  • I have not conducted this study at any other institutions. 
  • Few teachers were interviewed.
  • The administration was not informed of the project.
  • None of the interviews were marked by date or location.
  • I had limited means to verifying the responses of participants, some of who I am sure were lying during interviews.
  • Some of the notes were been lost before analyzation. 
  • I have not read any books on the policy of ‘tracking’ or education policy beyond that of the 1960s and somewhat on affirmative action (which does not apply to this study).
  • I am human, and I make mistakes.
  • Truth is subjective.

Filed under Introduction Limitations of the Study

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Anonymous asked: Woah woah, as long as you didn't just FORGET! Don't take time away from your life to work on your blog! I'd feel bad =0

I’d never forget. :) No worries

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Anonymous asked: =(

I’m so sorry. I’ve been so busy with homework and Facebook debates that I haven’t had time to post my analyses. I’ll publish two posts Thursday night, I promise. 

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Introduction

High school isn’t easy. This statement is generally agreed upon by most of American society’s youth, so why would anyone deemed to have “intelligence” dare find a way to make high school even more difficult?

These are the students who spend long hours studying for major exams in Advanced Placement or Honors (here, we shall refer to as APH) courses.

These are the students who devote two hours on their knees to decorating a poster that will hardly be noticed just to show their commitment to student governance.

These are the students who view a score on the SAT of less than a cumulative 2000 as a disappointment. 

These are the students who volunteer for causes they’re not even passionate for just for the benefit of future colleges that they will be applying to.

These are the students who take advanced language classes when their first language was not even English.

These students are what I call “APH Students,” or “overachievers.” 

This blog is a look inside what drives the students and who they truly are, and what makes the school this study was conducted at (Rancho Cucamonga High School) a breeding ground for such achievement. 

Each week, personal profiles of exception students, survey results, photo montages, personal accounts of major events, wide-ranging statistics, and even taped interviews and audio clips will be posted to better understand these students and what drives their passion for success in high school.

A minimum of three posts will be posted each week, and submissions and reviews from readers will be regularly published as well. Most of the blog’s participants will remain anonymous, as to protect their identities and future chances at reaching their dreams.

Up next, a personal profile.

Thank you for reading, Better Things to Do. 

Filed under Better Things to Do Introduction Premise First official post

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Anonymous asked: 6pm tonight or tomorrow night?I don't see anything :/

Tomorrow night of course. I have to conduct two more interviews that I wasn’t able to get to tonight because I had to work in my mother’s office this evening.