Natalie Johnson
Humor Columnist
It’s the first day of school.
When we were kids, the first day of school each year was considered the start of a new era. It was exciting and, amazingly, important. School supply shopping seemed vital to a good school year–if you started out with a plain blue folder, then your school year would be plain old blue. That is how I feel this year. Plain, old and blue.
To a little kid, school is the most exciting thing. Once you start, you’re all grown up– you’re happy to be there! Then after about the third week of kindergarten it hits you; This is the next 18 years of your life. Suddenly education seems, in many aspects, to lose its charm.
When you’re six, your fresh first day of school outfit is on fleek. Cute Old Navy shirt, jelly shoes and a jean skort from Gap. When you’re 16, you’re first day of school outfit is just a variation of what you wore every other day in the summer.
When you’re six, you rush to get the best school supplies. Will Target still have the Lizzie McGuire folders? Will mom let you get the mechanical pencils and the colorful pens? When you’re 16, you don’t use folders, and a nice mechanical pen is coveted among all students.
When you’re six, all day you think about lunch. When you’re 16, all day you think about lunch.
Why is it that when we were six, we could go to the bathroom as needed, but now that we’re in high school, we need to use passes or have to wait four hours before you have a spare six minutes, or possibly 30 if you have to wait in line for the girls bathroom?
Why is it that when we’re six and getting 12 hours of sleep, we get nap time? Five hours of sleep is my nightly intake. Hey, where the heck is my nap?
At least we have a 15 minute break during second hour while Jerry Collins reads the announcements.
The harsh reality of back to school is that it just isn’t exciting anymore. Sure, the first day can be fun, seeing your friends, not doing much in any of your classes, but unfortunately it is just not the same.
After starting junior year, I realized that some things never change: Names games for the first week of school, post-it note origami and peers who are unaware which side of the hallway to walk on.
There are other things to look forward to, however. Bosco sticks at lunch, fewer dress code restrictions, and overall freedom– as long as you have pass to the library and stay in the cafeteria for the remainder of lunch.
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