Wednesday, December 08, 2004

How Would You Do it Differently?

High school. If you got a "redo", how would you do it differently? I work in a high school and today when the bell rang, I got stuck in the hall. I say stuck because it's an urban school with 2,500 kids. My high school had 400 top to bottom. When the bell rings in this school, I am like a deer in headlights. First of all I am shorter then these kids and not as aggressive. My heart palpitates in these halls. Anyhow, today I'm in the hall and the bell rings. For one brief moment I flashed back to my high school expereince and I started to think how I would have done it differently if I knew then what I know now.
For starters, I sold myself short on grades. I had an IQ test in 8th grade and scored rather high. Without any effort at ALL, I got B's. I was a solid B student ( except for Math). I didn't do my home work or study. If I had, I would have been in the top of my class, where I should have been. I took the SAT 1 time, never took the PAST or ACT. If I had, my scores would have been much higher. I took AP History and got a A. ( again, no effort, and this was a college level class). I think that I thought women weren't desireable if they came accross as smart. None of the women in my family were college educated. My generation would be the first to go to school. I am pretty sure I actually believe it was cute to appear air headed.
I got to college and something clicked. I achieved. My undergraduate average was a 3.75. I graduated with honors in the top 10% of my class. I was inducted into not one, but 2 academic honor societies. Out of 1200 kids, I graduated in the top 100. Not bad.
I am about to graduate with my Masters in May. This time I have a 3.987. Almost a perfect score. 60 credit hours of pretty intense research and work and I have a near perfect score. I am finally letting the world know I am one smart cookie. I am only disappointed that I sold myself short in high school and didn't acheive at the level I was capable of.
Oh yeah, I would have dated more guys casually, and less seriously. I am not in any way saying I would have been a Ho. That's just not me. I just would have dated more and not gotten into long relationships. Sex in the City has taught me sooooo much. I wish I had been a little more Carrie and a little less Charlotte. Know what I mean??





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