I have to say, high school is very different from primary school. The work is different, the setting is different, but, most of all, the people are different. While high school has its ups and downs, these are my favourite things about it:
- By Grade 10, you get to choose your own subjects. This means you get to drop the subjects you can’t stand, like Business Economics for me, and also the ones that you’re just plain useless at, which, for me, is Art.
- You get different teachers every year. At primary school, I had some of the same teachers for my entire time there, like my Computers and Tech teachers. This can be a real problem, especially if you can’t stand them! In high school, this problem only lasts one year, and you also get to meet new teachers, which can be fun.
- You get treated more like an adult at high school. They take it that you’re mature enough to know the consequences of your actions, and so they don’t act like you’re a baby who hasn’t got a clue about anything.
- There’s a wider variety of extra-mural activities, so you can find something that you really enjoy, or just try out new things for fun.
- You can hang out pretty much wherever you want during break, instead of, like at Primary school, being herded like sheep onto a specific playground, which, come hell or high water, you were not allowed to leave until “the whistle” went, to signal the end of break.
- Every year, we have the Major Production, which I’ve done the past two years. It’s a really amazing experience, and it’s probably one of my favourite things at my school.
- With competitions like the Best Speaker, anyone can enter, which is very different from Primary School, where there was only a competition for the Grade 7s.
- When I was at primary school, I always used to marvel at how the “big school” kids had such tiny schoolbags, compared to our massive cases which were holding 20kg at any given time. I now know that the secret is in lockers. We have 2 corridors completely lined with lockers, and people only keep their books for 2 lessons at a time in their bags, changing them at break. This knowledge has now enabled me to do the same, and also have a nice, small bag.
- Some teachers don’t have fixed classrooms, and thus “float” around for different lessons. This is quite fun, because you get to see new rooms, and sit in a different place every time.
- By far, the best thing about high school is the people. You get so many different groups: the jocks, the Barbies, the goths, the nerds, the clowns, and you can make friends with the most amazing people, in different classes, so you always have somebody for each of your moods. You can learn so much about different people and cultures, and I think that this is often one of the most important things that we learn at high school.
