My Impressions of High School as a Freshman

In grade 8, the thought of high school terrified me. My teachers used to go on and on about how we would have to start taking much more responsibility for our assignments, that our teachers wouldn’t care if we failed or not, and that extracurricular activities were crucial to “stand out,” apart from getting 90%+ grades. This summer, I dreaded losing all the fun and freedom from middle school, like flexible due dates and being in the same classes as my friends all day.
After the first month and a half of school, I realized it was all a lie. Initially, there wasn’t anything to be scared of, but I thought it was just the teachers going easy on us, letting us get our guard down before *boom* - a random pop quiz. Thankfully, week after week, things stayed the same.



How are the teachers in high school? ?
First off, high school teachers are pretty relaxed! They aren’t uninterested and annoyed, even enthusiastic at times. They also teach slowly, which makes it easy for us to follow along during the hour and 15-minute long periods. They don’t even get upset when we talk too much! The worst I’ve seen this year is a disappointed look telling us to be quiet so we could finish quicker and have free time.

Is there a difference in the amount of assignments?
Frankly, I finish most of my work at school, so I only have to go out of my way for 1 hour at home to finish anything I have left. Even my friends who have a completely different semester than me take about the same amount of time - no more than an hour. I’ve also noticed that high school teachers don’t want to force us to work after school, we just learn the curriculum expectations, practice, and review before a test - that’s it, simple. Best part is, we don’t have to memorize everything known to man about the mitochondria!

Do Seniors bully Freshmen?
Contrary to popular belief, seniors don’t see freshmen as “fresh meat” to bully. All the grade 12s I have spoken to are nice and glad to help whenever they can. Also, they don’t tower over the rest of us, as many of the grade 9s are tall. Neither have I seen them shoving students in lockers (side note: I’ve never been to my locker once since orientation). In other words, fortunately, Hollywood has been completely wrong so far.

Overall, I’m glad to say my expectations of high school were way off! The teachers do care and want us to succeed; they don’t take pleasure in drowning us in homework, and the older students aren’t out to make our lives miserable. It turns out that grade 9 is better than I thought.