Whitney+E’s+2016+OpEd+Article



Oh high school, the supposed “best four years of your life”. Yes I can admit that I’ve had fun the past three years but there are certain things that really GRIND MY GEARS. HERE’S MY RANT.

My main concern is the people. Yeah, I’m friendly. I like people. There a certain ones I cannot stand. People who love to talk badly about other people all the time. People who love to put labels on others. I have been a victim to many labels especially in the past year here at Foothill. Recently I have been subject to the “dumb girl” label and have found many people talking about my level of intelligence more than they talk about their own problems. Why? WHY? I hear new comments about myself everyday. Let’s take a look:

“Whitney Ellis? Yeah smart’s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of her.”

“She’s just a dumb blonde who only cares about looking pretty lmaoooo.”

“Wow look it seems like Whitney actually cares about school this year.”

Generic. No personality. (These are only a few, I will not list everything I’ve heard about myself). Do these people actually know me? No. Do they know how hard I work both at and outside of school? No. School has been my number one priority for years. I’m sorry I don’t only talk about grades or politics at school, but that shouldn’t make me “dumb”. I’m sorry I don’t know every answer in APUSH when Fitz calls on me but I’m really trying. I can see you giving your friends side glances when I don’t know the answer. It hurts. You’d feel the same way of you were called on more than anyone else in the class. These kinds of things make me not want to work to my fullest potential with the fear of being judged in mind. My blogs reflect my opinion but not to my fullest capability because I’m scared my classmates will talk about how stupid my opinion is, as I have heard people talking about other students blogs in a negative way. It’s sad that I feel the need to prove myself rather than learn when I go to school. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great people here at Foothill, there’s just a few people who need to think before they speak so harshly. We need to be more supportive of each other especially during Junior year, as it has proved to be the hardest.