Life Lessons
What the heck is a syllabus?
Reign Gerritt
Issue date: 10/23/06 Section: Opinion
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Now that I'm in my 40s and looking back to my days in high school, I am still surprised at some things. Back then I wanted to take wood shop class and the counselor at the time commented that girls did not take those classes and stuck me in a home economics class.
The surprise for me was that it was 1980 and not 1940 and I had absolutely no interest in learning to sew and to learn to cut coupons for grocery shopping. To this day, I still do not desire these talents or interests.
High school was not a very pleasant time for me because I felt unchallenged and was not one of the "jocks" or the most popular girl in school. I remember a lot of peer pressure in 10th grade because my friends' future fates seemed to be determined. They were making life decisions about whether they would be going to college or if they would get a good job and raise a family or stay close to home.
I knew I was not disciplined enough to get good grades in college, and I definitely was not ready to settle down and start a family.
I had other dreams of seeing the world and being on my own. During high school I was not on the college track with my studies and after hearing other kids' excitement and conversations about which college they were going to go to, I knew I had to do something or risk not doing anything.
At 18, I had no idea what occupation I wanted to work towards and decided I would do some traveling. This proved to be an awesome experience for me. Several years after high school, when I returned to my hoe town, it became clear to me that I was no longer accepted into my circle of friends. Many of them had remained home after graduating and were working and raising families.
We were worlds apart. They were unable to relate to my adventures traveling to different countries and living in different environments. As time went on, I also started to find this created a wedge in other relationships as well. It wasn't just because I was worldlier than my friends but because I was a woman that was still single and independent. Not everyone could relate to this.
The surprise for me was that it was 1980 and not 1940 and I had absolutely no interest in learning to sew and to learn to cut coupons for grocery shopping. To this day, I still do not desire these talents or interests.
High school was not a very pleasant time for me because I felt unchallenged and was not one of the "jocks" or the most popular girl in school. I remember a lot of peer pressure in 10th grade because my friends' future fates seemed to be determined. They were making life decisions about whether they would be going to college or if they would get a good job and raise a family or stay close to home.
I knew I was not disciplined enough to get good grades in college, and I definitely was not ready to settle down and start a family.
I had other dreams of seeing the world and being on my own. During high school I was not on the college track with my studies and after hearing other kids' excitement and conversations about which college they were going to go to, I knew I had to do something or risk not doing anything.
At 18, I had no idea what occupation I wanted to work towards and decided I would do some traveling. This proved to be an awesome experience for me. Several years after high school, when I returned to my hoe town, it became clear to me that I was no longer accepted into my circle of friends. Many of them had remained home after graduating and were working and raising families.
We were worlds apart. They were unable to relate to my adventures traveling to different countries and living in different environments. As time went on, I also started to find this created a wedge in other relationships as well. It wasn't just because I was worldlier than my friends but because I was a woman that was still single and independent. Not everyone could relate to this.
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