10 False Rumors: High School Realities

Mia Jay, Staff Writer
March 8, 2019

It’s that time of year again: incoming freshmen are visiting counselors, electives are recruiting, and people are dispensing sage advice about the woes of high school to inexperienced students. Unfortunately, most of the advice I received as an 8th grader was misleading at best and an outright lie at worst. So, to clear things up, here are the top 10 follies I was told about Campolindo before I began my freshman year:

  1. In order to pass freshman P.E., you have to run a mile in 7 minutes and 30 seconds. Going into high school and passing P.E. was 1 of my main concerns as a new freshman, as I am not a fast runner. So, when I was told that I would need a fast mile time, I freaked out. However, when it came time for the fitness tests at the end of freshman year, I found out that in order to pass, you only needed to run a mile in the time allotted based on your BMI. Which, for most people, turned out to be about 13 minutes. Thank goodness.
  2. Teachers in high school do not accept any late work. Many teachers in middle school would stress the point that they were being nice when allowing a student to turn in late work, and, in high school, there would be no room for extensions. Luckily, Campolindo teachers are actually fair and understanding people. “In my experience, they’ve been pretty reasonable with extending deadlines for stuff if you’ve been sick and giving you extra time for assignments when you need it,” said sophomore Steven Metcalf.
  3. Your high school experience will be determined by cliques. This stereotype is fueled by the abundant number of teen-focused films such as Mean Girls or The Duff that present high school as a collection of small groups of people that do not interact with each other rather than a single community. Campolindo is not immune to drama, but, according to sophomore Emma Bennet, “Everyone is pretty friendly here, and I feel like cliques aren’t really a thing at Campo.”
  4. Students put a lot of effort into their appearances at school. Based on movies, TV shows, and Buzzfeed quizzes telling you what to wear on the first day of school, kids imagine high schools filled to the brim with girls in dresses and a full face of makeup and boys with polos and khakis. But sophomore Haley Hartman said, “I always heard the stereotype of girls dressing in cute clothes, but, in reality, everyone kind of just wears sweatshirts.”
  5. There are no phones allowed at school. During freshman year, I was shocked at how much I was able to use my phone. In middle school, teachers would take away your phone for the rest of the day if they caught you on it during class or passing periods, or even during lunch. Phones can be a distraction, but in many classes, they can serve as a useful tool. You can use your phone for a calculator, School Loop, Quizlets, research, and more.
  6. You will get 5 or more hours of homework every night. In 7th and 8th grade, almost all of the teachers assigned an extensive amount of homework with the excuse that they were “prepping you for high school” because we were going to be getting so much more as soon as we stepped onto the high school campus. The truth is that the amount of homework itself is roughly manageable, but extracurriculars and your own activities are what makes it feel like a huge load of work. As long as you manage your time in Academy and at home, you should be able to get it done. If not, see #2.
  7. You cannot eat or chew gum in class. When I was at JM, they always told us not to eat in class or chew gum, and that we would get in a lot of trouble for doing such things in high school. However, in most of my classes, I can eat, and in a lot of them, I can chew gum. In fact, a lot of teachers are starting to believe that chewing gum helps you focus during class or during a test. And if you stick around in French class for long enough, you’ll probably reach a point when the teacher Ed Willy offers to make tea for you.
  8. Having academy would be like having an 8th class. I heard about academy and thought it would be an 8th class where everyone worked really hard. The reality is that a lot of people use it as a necessary break from their busy schedules, or to study or finish homework. Not the worst lie, but definitely misleading for those intimidated by the amount of academics in high school.
  9. Everyone gets straight As. In middle school, it was a whole lot easier to get an A, which makes it somewhat understandable that people would think the same would be true for high school. And while it is true that Campolindo students have higher GPAs than many public schools across the country, there are still a lot of people that have “B’s” and “C’s”. “A” does not stand for average, not even at Campolindo.
  10. If you are late for school, your teacher will not let you into class. This 1 should be pretty straightforward: schools are for learning, and teachers will not lock the door or send you away just because you are late. If you are over 5 minutes late to school, your teacher will ask you if you have checked in with the attendance office. Or not even bother. This rumor seems to be a tale told by middle school and elementary school teachers in order to scare students that are habitually tardy.

While some rumors can turn out to be true, a good amount of the things you hear are often just plain nonsense. That’s why it is important to take every piece of advice with a grain of salt, even if it comes from upperclassmen. Actually, especially if it comes from an upperclassman.