Chronic Prejudice Is The Plague Of WHS
Ellie Blake
Co-Editor-In-Chief
Some students go home to quaint, quiet houses, greeted by both their parents and fed a plentiful dinner.
They take a walk to their room filled with clothes they don’t wear and junk they don’t need. After sitting on their queen sized beds and texting on their brand new iPhones, they fall asleep.
But not all high school students have this.
In fact, quite a few students don’t have anything close to what some students have. Some students go home to one parent, or are welcomed by people that aren’t blood-related to them. They sleep on beds that barely fit their bodies and wear the same clothes everyday.
A student’s home life and family income does not make him or her less than any other person.
Unfortunately, people at WHS have a high tendency to judge someone before getting to know them.
In my personal experiences, I noticed that this happens quite often with new students at WHS. When a student enters a new place, he or she is lucky if one or two people know anything about them. Many times a new student is noticeably different than most of the students here. It’s hard to fit in a high school, even if someone has been here since they started kindergarten. Starting fresh at a new school makes fitting in even more difficult.
Since their peers know nothing about them, the attack begins. Most teenagers feel the need to analyze every little detail about the new student and pick them apart. The sad thing is that some of these new students are interesting and would fit in if people just gave them a chance.
Just because someone wears something out of the ordinary doesn’t give someone the right to judge them. Everyone has their own sense of style, whether they show it or not. Most high school students are scared to show their sense of style because they are afraid of being judged themselves. I believe that every student should be able to express themselves through their style without the fear of judgement. High school should be a place where you are able to be yourself, not somewhere that everyone follows a group of people just to be “cool”.
I love the intention behind the words, but I doubt if it really happens here.
“Freshmen and new students - we can’t wait to get to know you. We can’t wait for the opportunity to help shape you into the person that you will one day become,” principal Ryan Ricenbaw stated in his beginning of the year letter.
I look at this quote and think about if this really happens here at WHS and start to doubt myself.
New students never get an opportunity to shape themselves into who they want to be because they are instantly judged because of who they are. We should stop looking at the outside and start learning about the inside, which is what really counts.
Fellow students: stop making assumptions based on looks, clothing, quirks and other unordinary things. Take a step back and realize that everyone is human and have the right to be accepted just as they are: an individual with purpose.
