This past week I’ve been reading part of a wonderful book I borrowed from my homeroom teacher (who teaches history) called Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James W. Loewen. The book discusses how American history is often skewed by textbooks to make our “heroes” seem like perfect people. Sometimes they just omit facts, and sometimes they put wrong ones altogether. Also, the books author remembers his adolescence and mentions that the textbooks are also boring.

Hmm…no wonder we teens hate history so much. The way it’s taught, like a collection of already-known, rote facts, leaves out the mystery of the past. There’s as much left to learn about history as any other subject. They don’t want to tell us anything controversial. It’s more important to be politically correct.

My brother took a good look at this book and said that it’s communist. But here’s what I think is communist: last year, I saw the following essay question on a test: “In minimum 4 sentences and 8 words per sentence, explain why you like the constitution. You may not say that you do not like the constitution.” (That was paraphrased somewhat.) First of all, it’s the content that matters, not how many sentences and words. But most importantly, why must I like the constitution? Now, I do like the constitution, but not everyone does. This is like a much less extreme version of what my parents went through in 20th century Russia: “Class, write a 5-page paper on why Stalin is the best ruler this country has seen and why it is important to practice socialism. You may not express a negative opinion of Stalin and socialism, or else you will be sent to the camps”. Hmm…

Sometimes, my education is like a big “Lies My Teacher Told Me”. About everything. Not just history. This book explains some misconceptions about history. What are other misconceptions? What are other misconceptions in other subjects? Will I ever know?

Well, today I have to give a speech in English class. The title was God, Flag, and Country. It was impossibly difficult for me to find something to talk about, because I’m not religious and not patriotic (given that this isn’t even my country). I love the United States, but I’m not patriotic to someone else’s country. Sorry.

So I ended up writing the speech about how immigrants see the US and what things must be improved. As a wise friend of mine put it, “I don’t want to stand up there and sing the Star-Spangled Banner.”

I despise public speaking…wish me luck!

So…evidently, today was the big kickoff for our DAT (that’s drugs, alcohol, and tobacco) unit. More anti-alcohol preaching by our textbook and teacher.

I wonder what will happen if I ask the teacher what the benefits of alcohol are for adults who aren’t alcoholics. He will probably say “none”. I should try it sometime. You know what…I think I will.

Anyway, it’s pointless and a total waste of an hour. I’ve got about six more weeks of it to go…Anybody know any good strategies to sleep in class without being noticed?

This week, I about died when my health teacher said, “Next week we’ll begin our unit on drugs, alcohol, and tobacco…”

I wanted to rip my hair out! I had to study this in 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, and now 9th grade. I really hate this. OK, all right, I know about it now. I could get a degree in this topic without much coursework now…Our teacher tried to justify this, saying that teens caught drinking, doing pot, or smoking always say, “Well I didn’t know that it was harmful!”. Umm…DUH! Of course they’re gonna say that. They’re trying to get out of trouble. And our teacher, who always says that kids lie and cheat to get out of trouble, should know that better than anyone else.

You know, before DARE in 5th grade, I seriously did not know what pot was. I would have found out eventually, sure, but I really didn’t need to know that in 5th grade.

The people who teach this crap to us claim that one of the reasons teens do this stuff is to rebel. So…why keep telling us “Don’t do drugs don’t do drugs NEVER do drugs”? Seriously, these people are thinking in circles.

I think that it’s much more important to study basic psychology in health class. We only did a little with it because (as the teacher put it) “we have to get to the drugs, alcohol, and tobacco unit”. Umm…no, we don’t. People need to know what’s depression and what isn’t, why people don’t like them, how to relieve their stress, and how to use what we know about memory to study for their tests. That is important. I’ve heard what drugs, alcohol, and tobacco do to your system once, and I don’t need to hear it again.

Well, guess what? My friends and I (most of them, anyway) showed incredible loyalty and allegiance today. We simultaniously decided to sit right where we belong: our table.

Well, tomorrow at my school there will be a “Mix it Up” Day. Basically, the idea is to force us to sit with different people at lunch in order to “break high school cliques”.

Um…excuse me…cliques are there for a reason. I’m surprised adults never seem to realize this despite once being teenagers themselves. We need our cliques. The friends in our cliques support us. We hang out with them and we feel like we at least belong in one place out of a world of indifferent, uncaring people. We pick our cliques on purpose, and the people in them are the people who are like us and can help us when adults can’t.

I look forward to lunch every day because I see some people who I don’t see at any other time in the day. My friend who I’ve known for six years is in only one of my classes. This is the only time we have to talk.

Also, I am disliked by many, many people in school because I’m smarter than them. If I end up sitting with those people, I can guarantee that my lunch that day will be miserable. I keep away from them. But in this case, I won’t be able to help it.

The main thing is this: I think that, before we focus on variety, we need to make sure we don’t lose the good friends we already have.

The Unspeakable happened today…

Yes, Loto. When I saw that thing, I wanted to die. This time, we only played a little because of shortened periods. Also, I won. But unlike what anyone else in that class will tell you, winning does not make it less stupid.

It is so frustrating not to be treated as old as you are.

I question the wisdom of teachers who do not let us eat or drink in class. I mean, most people will do it anyway, but obedient ones like me don’t and so are forced to half-starve themselves by lunch break or the end of school (plus with that 50 minute bus ride, it’ll be a while before I eat). What can I do? I have a high metabolism and I need to eat often. Not 3 times a day, but more like 6. That’s just me.

They spend all this time teaching diversity and tolerance such as race, religion, financial status, gender, etc. but they don’t appreciate the basic differences in our bodies. What the heck?