I’ve endured four long years of high school. The one thing I’ve observed over my tenure at Mattoon High School that really irks me is how high schoolers treat each other.

            I’m not just talking about bullying; I’m talking about the overall attitude of students, the subtle glares they shoot and the hate they display to people who do nothing to warrant it.

            The problem is so many high schoolers are polarized; they see in black in white and have no regard for the middle ground. The following is blurb I heard in the hallway:

            “Take a shower dirty!”

It never occurs to them that the kid who doesn’t shower daily might have family issues; might have been raised in a family that doesn’t value good hygene. Instead, they jump to the conclusion that they spend all their money on drugs and not soap. Another blurb I’ve heard:

“I don’t like him; he was a horrible boyfriend to my friend!”

High schoolers are vicious, if their friend goes through a break-up and turns on the water works saying how horrible it was; the ex becomes the most evil person on the planet.

They refuse to look at all sides of the issue and just stick with their friend. Contrary to what this person thinks; this boyfriend may not have been an awful person.

True he could have been better to her but the same can be said about her.

This refusal to see the gray area, this tendency for high school students to jump to hatred is the single biggest thing I will not miss about high school.