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manyc
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Registered: 01/03/04
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The High School Complex
#8064976 - 02/24/08 03:47 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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This applies to everyone who has attended public schools.
There are many things that come to mind when one thinks of the word "high school," which vary from person to person. Everyone's experience of high school was different. For some people, it conjures up things such as hating the experience, being an outcast, and random boners when the class is going up to the board in turns and you're next. Yet for some, it incites the memories of being popular, having a good time, and hating on the former group of people described mercilessly in the twisted and cruel social hierarchy of school. Though all students can be split into these two groups, they all have one thing in common. This commonality is the fact that we are all victims of the true intention of the public school system, and its impact on the rest of our lives. Its role is to subordinate us, to keep us children as long as possible; and turn us into viable candidates for employees, whose only purpose in life to the government is to help feed its economy.
Going through school, knowing that its main function in society has become not to educate, but to subordinate, really makes one hate even attending. I love to learn, but the environment that public schools provide is so counteractive to a positive and healthy learning experience that I loathed every moment I was there. This exacerbated my already existing anxiety in social situations. There are so very many factors that contribute to this corruption of the school system, ranging from teachers that have ulterior motives in what they want to teach to the fact that less money is spent on Education than War, which leads us to the root of all the problems: the System itself. Trying to find ways to fix the problems it created in the first place, which just creates more problems in the process.
This is not to say that there are not good schools or teachers, because there are. This brings me to the conclusion of the problem that I have outlined.
There are "Free Skools" are out there, which exist void of the hierarchies of other schools and offer a wide range of classes and workshops. From Wikipedia:
"Free Skool Santa Cruz in California is perhaps typical of a new batch of free schools that are explicitly rooted in an anarchist tradition of collectivism, autonomy, and self-reliance, and feature informal, non-authoritarian learning outside of the monetary economy."
Personally, I see these alternative ideas to schooling as the true American Dream. Although this cliché I speak of is rooted in the raping and pillaging of the incredibly beautiful and diverse American Landscape, one can't help but identify with the phrase if raised American.
As I understand it, this dream that has come about from the American phenomenon over the past 200+ years, is defined as the dream of being completely free, which means being completely self-sufficient. Obviously, this dream has become somewhat impossible to achieve. We are put through institutions (public schools) which lead us into lives that illustrate our fealty to the System. Here is what Wikipedia says of the American Dream:
"American Dream can be defined as having the opportunity and freedom that allows all citizens to achieve their goals in life through hard work and determination alone. Today, it generally refers to the idea that one's prosperity depends upon one's own abilities and hard work, not on a rigid class structure, though the meaning of the phrase has changed over America's history. For some, it is the opportunity to achieve more prosperity than they could in their countries of origin; for others, it is the opportunity for their children to grow up with an education and career opportunities; for others, it is the opportunity to be an individual without the constraints imposed by class, caste, race, or ethnicity."
Unfortunately, class does exist in America, as it is unavoidable with a Capitalistic economy, which finds its way into our everyday lives in this country one way or another.
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Hemp could Save the World. "There is no flag that is large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs." -Serj Tankian Know Thyself. "If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." -Terence Mckenna
Edited by manyc (02/24/08 03:49 PM)
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065010 - 02/24/08 03:57 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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High school doesn't end with graduation. Life is high school. It sucks but oh well.
I was neither of the groups you described. I was friends with a lot of the popular kids because I was always nice and fun to party with, but I was always a little too "different" to be fully accepted. My true friends were all stoners, but even they sometimes got on my nerves for being so fuckin stupid, except for a few of my best friends.
High School basically taught me how fucking dependent and intertwined most people are with our social system. They can't comprehend a world without a "path," without a predetermined, safe system that will guarantee them a life of quiet almost-happiness.
Plus I was an extremely vocal atheist and thus pissed off alot of kids in my conservative Christian home town. Wouldn't have it any other way though.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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bradmassive
KingOfTheHill


Registered: 11/03/07
Posts: 866
Loc: VA
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: g00ru]
#8065022 - 02/24/08 04:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
guruu said: High school doesn't end with graduation. Life is high school. It sucks but oh well.
I was neither of the groups you described. I was friends with a lot of the popular kids because I was always nice and fun to party with, but I was always a little too "different" to be fully accepted. My true friends were all stoners, but even they sometimes got on my nerves for being so fuckin stupid, except for a few of my best friends.
High School basically taught me how fucking dependent and intertwined most people are with our social system. They can't comprehend a world without a "path," without a predetermined, safe system that will guarantee them a life of quiet almost-happiness.
Plus I was an extremely vocal atheist and thus pissed off alot of kids in my conservative Christian home town. Wouldn't have it any other way though.
You just described my high school life to a T!
-------------------- "In the beginning, I had no name. i was a shape, a snarling shadow of the Old World which slipped into this existence" - Steven Erikson "Our progress as a species rests squarely on the shoulders of that tenth person. The nine are satisfied with things they are told are valuable. Person 10 determines for himself what has value." - My good friend Za -
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circularvortex
Bass Head




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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065025 - 02/24/08 04:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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People really like to bitch about society and working, but I bet you sure as hell enjoy the benefits.
High school was a joke. I learned far more on my own time than I ever did in class. I hardly agree that all students can be split into the two groups that you posted. I know I certainly wasn't an outcast. I wasn't the most popular kid in school, but I didn't particularly care to be. And while I did tease kids who deserved it at times, I wouldn't call it merciless.
I think one of the biggest lessons that high school (in part) helped me learn is that you've gotta put up with a lot of bullshit in life. I graduated, but never bothered to pick up my diploma. I'm in college now, and I find the university system to be MUCH better than high school. I actually learn things!
High school is not that big of a deal. It's something everybody goes through. And then you move on.
-------------------- No statements made in any post or message by myself should be construed to mean that I am now, or have ever been, participating in or considering participation in any activities in violation of any local, state, federal, or fashion police laws. All posts are works of fiction. For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool By making his world a little colder. Under closer inspection I realised it was a funky ball of tits from outer space.
 
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bradmassive
KingOfTheHill


Registered: 11/03/07
Posts: 866
Loc: VA
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Paul Simon's, "Kodachrome"
"When I look back on all the crap I learned in high school it's a wonder I can think at all."
-------------------- "In the beginning, I had no name. i was a shape, a snarling shadow of the Old World which slipped into this existence" - Steven Erikson "Our progress as a species rests squarely on the shoulders of that tenth person. The nine are satisfied with things they are told are valuable. Person 10 determines for himself what has value." - My good friend Za -
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manyc
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫


Registered: 01/03/04
Posts: 571
Loc: Axis Mundi
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065036 - 02/24/08 04:02 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I was part of that group too, actually. I identified with no particular group but intermingled with all of them. I wasn't prejudiced or biased towards a person because of what they wore - which is truly one of the main factors that divide kids in high school, which is ridiculous. Near the end of high school I became more and more introverted though as my friends faded away. Then I just left. Got my GED and scored high as a mother fucker on it because standardized tests are so ridiculously easy.
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Hemp could Save the World. "There is no flag that is large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs." -Serj Tankian Know Thyself. "If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." -Terence Mckenna
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AndhesEcuador
Primitive and Proud



Registered: 08/29/07
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Quote:
circularvortex said:
I think one of the biggest lessons that high school (in part) helped me learn is that you've gotta put up with a lot of bullshit in life.
Hmmm....I guess that was your decision. Personally, I had fun questioning the teachers and embarrassing them on the subjects they were supposed to teach. Going high was fun too.
-------------------- NO EGO WBS TEK
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bradmassive
KingOfTheHill


Registered: 11/03/07
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Loc: VA
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065044 - 02/24/08 04:06 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
manyc said: I was part of that group too, actually. I identified with no particular group but intermingled with all of them. I wasn't prejudiced or biased towards a person because of what they wore - which is truly one of the main factors that divide kids in high school, which is ridiculous. Near the end of high school I became more and more introverted though as my friends faded away. Then I just left. Got my GED and scored high as a mother fucker on it because standardized tests are so ridiculously easy.
OK I gotta stop myself from freaking out now cause thats EXACTLY what happened with me back in the day.
-------------------- "In the beginning, I had no name. i was a shape, a snarling shadow of the Old World which slipped into this existence" - Steven Erikson "Our progress as a species rests squarely on the shoulders of that tenth person. The nine are satisfied with things they are told are valuable. Person 10 determines for himself what has value." - My good friend Za -
Edited by bradmassive (02/24/08 04:46 PM)
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appleorange
Rainbow Technician



Registered: 12/30/07
Posts: 4,868
Loc: ReykjavÃk
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065053 - 02/24/08 04:09 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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High School was awful for me, I spent half of it in an "Alternative Learning Center" because I got caught selling drugs on campus.
The bus ride to this place took two hours and a cops had to chapperone me to the pisser. Three kids got stabbed when I was there, bomb threats all the time, big hulking black kids trying to start fights with me because I liked to read.
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Rainman420
Music is my Life



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Re: The High School Complex [Re: g00ru]
#8065061 - 02/24/08 04:11 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah, High School really pisses me off. I am still a senior. But I just had to get switched to an alternative school that is much easier. Basically, high school puts you in a system to be placed into the system after graduation. People who fail out have to go get a job and make it on their own determination (which is not a bad thing, just statistically lower results). It is really just a system that everyone basically is forced to partake in. There are few alternatives (home school. is the main one). But public schools only reward those who put effort into actually making good grades. It doesn't matter if you don't do any homework and ace every test, you will still most likely end up having a mediocre grade. High School is fun if you don't get caught with drugs on campus and then all hell breaks loose, the cops are all like "yes!, we on a new level now". High School has just fucked me over. I hate my school. Plus it is all rich kids basically, so the teachers and administrators have a reason to be extra hard on EVERYBODY. The classes are harder, the hmwk is excessive, cops are assholes. Man I really ranted, sorry bout that, but you get my idea of high school. O yea and social classes are just human nature i suppose.
-------------------- The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.
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g00ru
lit pants tit licker



Registered: 08/09/07
Posts: 21,088
Loc: georgia, us
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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Quote:
circularvortex said: People really like to bitch about society and working, but I bet you sure as hell enjoy the benefits.
High school was a joke. I learned far more on my own time than I ever did in class. I hardly agree that all students can be split into the two groups that you posted. I know I certainly wasn't an outcast. I wasn't the most popular kid in school, but I didn't particularly care to be. And while I did tease kids who deserved it at times, I wouldn't call it merciless.
I think one of the biggest lessons that high school (in part) helped me learn is that you've gotta put up with a lot of bullshit in life. I graduated, but never bothered to pick up my diploma. I'm in college now, and I find the university system to be MUCH better than high school. I actually learn things!
High school is not that big of a deal. It's something everybody goes through. And then you move on.
Don't downplay its importance. High School is a time shared by people during one of the most tumultuous transitional phases in life. It's when you first begin to discover what the real world is. And it is incredibly prophetic.
And when I say the "system" I'm not talking about civilization in general, I'm talking about that predetermined life path that all young men and women are expected to follow.
-------------------- check out my music! drowse in prison and your waking will be but loss
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The_Ghost
ゴースト



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Re: The High School Complex [Re: Rainman420]
#8065109 - 02/24/08 04:27 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Highschool is comparable to kindergarten. Clearly a fucking joke all around. The best thing I got out of it is starting to do drugs, and biology class. I feel that if i didn't smoke weed during my senior year, i would have flipped out and did something i would regret later.
Now, less then 3 years later, its a distant memory of how shitty our k-12 educational system is.
-------------------- / / / / / / / LISTEN TO MY MUSIC: E X E D / / / / / / / The universe gives no fucks. And takes no fucks. May His Circuits Ever Function
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manyc
♫♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫


Registered: 01/03/04
Posts: 571
Loc: Axis Mundi
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: Rainman420]
#8065127 - 02/24/08 04:38 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rainman420 said: Yeah, High School really pisses me off. I am still a senior. But I just had to get switched to an alternative school that is much easier. Basically, high school puts you in a system to be placed into the system after graduation. People who fail out have to go get a job and make it on their own determination (which is not a bad thing, just statistically lower results). It is really just a system that everyone basically is forced to partake in. There are few alternatives (home school. is the main one). But public schools only reward those who put effort into actually making good grades. It doesn't matter if you don't do any homework and ace every test, you will still most likely end up having a mediocre grade. High School is fun if you don't get caught with drugs on campus and then all hell breaks loose, the cops are all like "yes!, we on a new level now". High School has just fucked me over. I hate my school. Plus it is all rich kids basically, so the teachers and administrators have a reason to be extra hard on EVERYBODY. The classes are harder, the hmwk is excessive, cops are assholes. Man I really ranted, sorry bout that, but you get my idea of high school.
God damn man, not doing homework and acing every test was my thing in high school. My teachers would constantly be encouraging me to do my homework because it was the only reason my grades were so crappy. But man, I had more important things [to me] to do when I got home after school, like smoke weed and walk around. I didn't want school to fucking leak into my life at home more than it already did with projects and whatnot. I spent 7 hours a day there 5 days a week, I think that's more than enough. As time went on I cared less and less and stopped even doing classwork.. that was shortly before I dropped out. Shit just got to me more and more, I was going to snap if I didn't get out.
After being out of school, my outlook on life and my general mood got so much better. Such a weight off my shoulders.
Quote:
O yea and social classes are just human nature i suppose.
Well, rank does naturally occur in groups of people, but this isn't like social class. Social class in America is based on your income, which is totally fucked up. It's not based on any kind of real merit, like wisdom or skill.
Just money.
--------------------
Hemp could Save the World. "There is no flag that is large enough, to hide the shame of a man in cuffs." -Serj Tankian Know Thyself. "If the words 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness' don't include the right to experiment with your own consciousness, then the Declaration of Independence isn't worth the hemp it was written on." -Terence Mckenna
Edited by manyc (02/24/08 04:40 PM)
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Frost000
Badfish

Registered: 01/03/08
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: The_Ghost]
#8065144 - 02/24/08 04:42 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Admittingly the public school system has alot of problems. But what do you suggest instead, we never send our kids to school and let them grow up being complete idiots? Quit bitching about our systems unless you either have a fix for them or are working to fix them.
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mayfly
.



Registered: 01/05/08
Posts: 800
Loc: planet home
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Quote:
circularvortex said: I think one of the biggest lessons that high school (in part) helped me learn is that you've gotta put up with a lot of bullshit in life.
Exactly. I've never been good at putting up with other people's bullshit, especially if they are arbitrarily "in charge". I technically never graduated, mostly due to a bad recommendation from my grade 12 math teacher (despite being in all advanced placement classes and scoring 99% on two of my four finals).
It ruined my chances to go to university (although of course I could retake that one class if I really wanted to) but I'm actually kind of glad I didn't end up following that path, as much as I think I would enjoy university. I'm starting my own business right now and I'm happy. So by my definition, I'm one of the most successful people in my graduating class.
I'm also lucky because I don't think high school screwed me up as much as it did a lot of people. I might be better off now had I swallowed their bullshit a bit more politely, but my own regret is not dropping out early so I could have gotten to where I am now a bit earlier.
-------------------- "The important thing to remember: if we ship all our fat-bottomed girls off to foreign countries, the terrorists win."
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Rainman420
Music is my Life



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Re: The High School Complex [Re: Frost000]
#8065165 - 02/24/08 04:48 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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I like the idea of a free school, someone mentioned it earlier. I think the idea of taking away all of our rights at school is ridiculous. The cops can search your car anytime on school grounds. It is not a "free" environment, which is the principal on which America was founded.
-------------------- The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to complacency; From complacency to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.
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mayfly
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Registered: 01/05/08
Posts: 800
Loc: planet home
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Re: The High School Complex [Re: Rainman420]
#8065176 - 02/24/08 04:52 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah, free schools are a great idea. I think a lot of kids would respond really well to that.
I always thought it was really fucked up that you had to ask permission to go to the bathroom or get a drink, and that they could arbitrarily search anyone and any time.
-------------------- "The important thing to remember: if we ship all our fat-bottomed girls off to foreign countries, the terrorists win."
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Drewwyann
Slayer of ticks



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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065206 - 02/24/08 04:58 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Do you honestly think they made high school so we would become more subordinate? No one said you had to go to college, and no one said you had to do well in high school (except parents mostly).
Sure, it's shitty, and it sucks, but I don't believe it's in place so people will become subordinate.
--------------------
 Anyone need a glass pipe? : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002435158931 Love powerfully  
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Redstorm
Prince of Bugs




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Re: The High School Complex [Re: manyc]
#8065210 - 02/24/08 05:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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High school is less about learning subjects ans more about learning discipline. I thought high school sucked, just like everyone else, but I still feel it imparted some important knowledge on me.
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Drewwyann
Slayer of ticks



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Re: The High School Complex [Re: Rainman420]
#8065214 - 02/24/08 05:01 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Rainman420 said: I like the idea of a free school, someone mentioned it earlier. I think the idea of taking away all of our rights at school is ridiculous. The cops can search your car anytime on school grounds. It is not a "free" environment, which is the principal on which America was founded.
America may have tried to found itself on the notion of freedom, but look what we did when we came here. We slaughtered indians mercilessly.
And isn't high school already free?
--------------------
 Anyone need a glass pipe? : http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002435158931 Love powerfully  
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