I have a friend who was kicked out of his high school because he missed two weeks of school, which is understandable for the school to take that kind of action. However, I don’t understand why the school is so unresponsive.

Unfortunately for him, he was a senior and was only a few weeks away from graduation. He tried to contact the school to ask about summer school or any possible way of graduating. They ignore his calls and tell him that he’s not allowed back. Um okay… that wasn’t what he was asking.  Desperately trying to help him, I send a rather lengthy e-mail to the school’s principal, the three assistant principals, and a secretary pleading for a response to his situation even if it was a negative response because any response was better than none. Of course, I didn’t get a response and neither did he.

He took matters into his own hands and contacted a different local school about summer school. They were responsive and extremely helpful. He was told to get a form from the unresponsive school and have them sign it and he would be able to attend summer school at this responsive school. He called the unresponsive school and they told him to come in today. He came in and they threatened to arrest him for trespassing and told him to call and make an appointment. He was already there and they were not doing anything, seeing as how passive they are. Why couldn’t they had given him the form during that time? He just wants to get the form and never come back to the passive school again. Not only did they not give him the form, threatened to arrest even though they told him to come in, but they also tried to impose fees on him. They said they wanted payment for textbooks that they never allowed him to return. They also asked for a “senior fee,” which is apparently a $90 fee for graduation. Why are people at that school so incompetent? He was kicked out prior to graduation. Therefore, he did not graduate or receive a cap and gown or anything like that, which is what the fee was used for. Also, graduation was last week. You would think a school would take care of all of this stuff before graduation. Their response to this was, “Oh, right, you didn’t graduate. Someone should’ve taken care of this.”

What do they take care of at this school? Obviously not their students. The administration is very passive. They do not even encourage students to strive to do well for an education after high school. It’s no wonder drop out rates are so high and why many students at this school have the belief that they do not need college because they don’t think they will prosper.

I thought a school’s role in society was to encourage students and give them that extra push they need to aim for a better education. I thought a school was supposed to be responsive and helpful. A school, along with many other factors is supposed to help shape students in becoming who they are. Now, I can see why drop-out rates are as high as they are and why many people choose not to go to college. They weren’t fortunate enough to receive assistance or the extra push that will help them gain ambition.

What is the tax money supporting here? Are they getting paid to ignore phone calls, e-mails, and lie to students? I guess so.

I have an updating problem… I think this is simply because my life is boring and nothing interesting worth writing about happens. Therefore, I’m going to write an opinion entry. I will try to be more consistent with my updates from now on.

I have been working for the past three weeks. Work is extremely boring and to keep myself sane, I read articles online about everything ranging from news to consumerism to politics to web design. Everyday I read an article or two that I want to react to, but I’m just so lazy that I don’t write anything. Today will be different =].

This morning, I read Robert J. Samuelson’s article “Why Social Security Should Go Broke” from Newsweek. I have to say, I kind of want to agree with the article. However, I have a better idea than allowing Social Security to “go broke.” Social Security should be optional. I do not see why my generation and people in their twenties must have a part of our paycheck taken for Social Security if we are not going to get any. The Social Security tax should be required for those who want it, only. Is it our fault that the government decided to “borrow” money from the Social Security fund as if it were a bank? No. Then why must we pay for Social Security that we won’t receive? It should just be optional. I rather keep the money from my paycheck to save for my increasing college debt.

Samuelson makes the point that there is now a higher life expectancy than from the time that Social Security was proposed. The logical thing to do would be to raise the retirement age. However, people will only complain because I had noticed that a lot of Americans are not interested in changes as these. Americans don’t want higher taxes or anything of that nature, but they do want more funding. Where would that funding come from? Our $11.3 trillion debt will only increase if people are not willing to sacrifice for the things that they desire.

Okay, I diverted from the topic of Social Security. It amazes me that a lot of people that I know are still spending  a high amount  on unnecessary things to feed their expensive tastes and for entertainment, yet they complain about a recession and how they owe a lot of money to the credit card companies. I think that if people really want change to happen, they need to sacrifice certain things and change their lifestyles. I am not saying that everyone does this, but through daily observations, I see a lot of people doing these things.

Please note that I am not a Democrat and I am not a Republican. If your opinion differs from mine or even if you agree, I would love to hear what you think about this controversial topic.

Plug: Simply Precious

I’m coming to the conclusion that I’m going to be miserable at a boring desk job after college. Every summer since I was 17, I’ve been a student intern for the Social Security Administration (SSA). What exactly did I do? I sat at a desk doing boring office work. However, the majority of the time, I sit there reading online articles because there was not enough work for me to do. I would ask for more work and I would not get much work in return. I tend to work at a much more timely pace than my co-workers, even when I purposely took my time. A boring desk job provides great pay and opportunity, but I cannot work at a desk job for the next fifty years (scary thought).

Prior to college, I wanted to own my own web and graphic design business. I do not want to make that my primary career. I’m beginning to realize that web and graphic design is much more of a hobby than a career for me. My love of graphic design will surely die if I choose to do this for the rest of my life. However, freelance once in a while is okay with me. I like creating artwork for pure enjoyment, not something that I would depend on for a source of income.

I would never work at retail ever again. I absolutely despise retail because of how many people are. I worked at a Target for six months during my senior year of high school and at another store for a month. Retail made me realize how annoying and rude many people can be. Despite rude behavior, I had the self-control to not break down or explode. I did learn to appreciate people and to become far more understanding when I shop or eat somewhere.

What I would love to do is travel the world and document my experiences. However, this is not an option for me because I would need something that would provide a stable source of income. I suppose, I really cannot opt out of a desk job because that would provide a very stable income that I can depend on. I’m the kind of person that needs a plan, just to have an idea of what is going to happen.

I still have about two years to explore career possibilities. Who knows what the future holds, right? Out of curiosity, if you’re done with school and in the “real world,” are you doing what you imagined/wanted? Do you like your job? If you’re still in school, do you know what you want to do?

Plugs: Simply Precious, Maggie, and Kyah

I have trust issues. I don’t trust people easily and sometimes I find it difficult to open up to certain people. As weird as it sounds, it’s not in my nature to trust (many) people.

People at my school like to leave their laptops and books laying around in the library. Personally, I wouldn’t do that. I don’t trust other students not to steal. In fact, there have been reports of stolen items from the library. People also like to leave the doors to their dorms and apartments unlocked. Seriously, who does that? My roommate and I lock our room practically all the time. We don’t trust people not to come in when they’re not supposed to. I know of people who open other people’s rooms when they’re not in it, just to see what the room looks like.

Last entry, I mentioned that I got back together with Alex. Currently, I am very happy with him and he is slowly changing back into the guy I fell in love with. However, I still don’t trust him to the extent I did before. Before, I never opened up so much to a guy before. I never trusted a guy so much. I never told a guy practically everything about me. I never done a lot of things that I did with or for him. Now, since our break up a few weeks ago, I feel like things aren’t the same and they aren’t. He’s afraid I might leave him one day for what he did. I don’t trust him not to break my heart again; I really don’t. I do trust that he will try and I do trust that we might possibly make it. However, I’m not looking too much into the future as I used to and I really think that’s a good thing. However, I really do want to trust him to that extent again.

Plug: Simply Precious

I absolutely hate April.

It’s like after spring break, the workload for my classes tripled. I wish April could just pass over and I wouldn’t be stressed or busy every single week. My teachers love assigning research papers around the same time and making them due around the same time. I have a sociology paper that’s supposed to be around 20 pages about propaganda; I really should start now. I also have a history paper that’s supposed to be around 6 pages about ads and technology (oh joy, more propaganda!). My last research paper is for art history and is supposed to be around 8 pages about Japanese prints. I think my art history paper will be my easiest paper, aside from other countless short papers I have for sociology and art.

My art teacher is insane; she makes you write papers nearly everyday for homework along with countless projects. What kind of art class is that? Not only does she assign papers almost everyday, but she grades pretty harshly. These papers are called response papers, but if you don’t respond a certain way, she takes off points. I thought the point of a response paper was for us to input our opinions into it, not to only state facts and not have opinions that disagree with the author or her. Our projects are pretty pointless also because she gives us the assignment, but does not provide any examples. That doesn’t help because we don’t know what she’s looking for. If she is highly critical of our papers, I can just imagine the art projects.

My life is hectic right now. There is way too much that I have to do. Today, apart from my three classes (I skipped one.), I had to attend a meeting about budgeting for my club (Campus Activities Board), a lecture for sociology (last one, yay!), and a meeting with a former professor about taking independent study for art next semester. My club is planning a huge concert on campus at the end of April, and we have been busy doing promotional things for that. I found out that I have to fill out a bunch of forms and give a short presentation, so my club can be granted money for next school year. Also, we have registration for classes on Monday and I absolutely have to get in my classes. The only class that I’m actually worried about is Arts 395 because there are only two spots left. I cannot wait until next spring when I can register with priority as a rising senior.

I only need to survive four more weeks and that includes finals; I seriously can’t wait for summer vacation. Hmm, I also got back together with Alex, but I’ll write about that later.

Plug: Simply Precious