By Beauty Damned

In Case You Ever Wondered What It Would Be Like To Go Back to High School

Another Saturday, another SAT practice test. God I hate some of the kids in my Kaplan class. I know I mentioned it in a post a couple weeks ago, how annoying some of these teenagers are. While some of them are perfectly fine, normal people of course; minding their business, listening to the teacher, genuinely exhibiting a desire to do well on the test, others are downright intolerable. For instance, the pack of boys who always sit in the same corner of the room and make a juvenile spectacle during every class. When it's during class, while a discussion is going on or the teacher is instructing on the chalkboard, it's irritating, yes, but nothing like when you're sitting there for a four-hour practice test, hunkered down reading a complex passage, about which many difficult questions are to follow, and having the silent concentration in your head disrupted by the uncontrollable laughter and out-of-control antics of several teenage boys sitting directly behind you.

They usually maintain a steady, low level of whispering, suppressed laughter and jerky movements even while the teacher is in the room. But she usually leaves the class at least once during the test to consult with the teacher who is conducting another class right next door. This is when all hell breaks loose. A stack of flashcards is thrown, creating a visual distraction as they scatter and smack down to the floor; a desk is jerked loudly; one foot kicks another; this is all accompanied by merciless laughter and the trading of infantile accusations of guilt. I turn my head slightly toward them and say the words that I know will only cause them to laugh harder, but will set the stage for me to give them a piece of my mind: "please, shut the fuck up." Today, I could take it no longer.

The laughter continues and now two girls join in who obviously know the boys from school, and apparently think they're pretty cute. These girls rub me the wrong way on every level. They are exactly the type of girls I never got along with in school, so it makes perfect sense that I don't feel any affinity for them now. Difference is that now I don't feel even remotely inferior to them on any level and am much more equipt to make them wither under my glare. I am not their fucking peer and I will not be passive as their peers are. I think I let them know that today, when the laughing didn't cease and I still couldn't concentrate, causing me to turn around in my chair, look each of them in the face and explain to them that if they were not interested in taking the test, they could take a hike instead, but that they were being really rude and others were unable to focus over their disruptions.

One of the boys attempted to talk back, saying, "take the test then. Go ahead." I gave him my best "don't you dare get smart with me because I'm liable to fuck you up" look and said "I can't take the test with you laughing." This was relatively effective, as they hushed quite a bit after that and I tried desperately to find my sense of calm and focus that was completely lost during the course of the teacher's absence. I didn't regain it in time to do as well as I would have otherwise on that portion of the test. I was fuckin pissed. I'm still pissed. It was one of the hardest reading comprehension passages, and it had to be disrupted by these assholes. Fuck that, I'm 26 years old and I actually care about doing well, so I felt totally justified in telling them to put a lid on it, even when no one else in the class would dare. Well no one else in that class has been living in the real world for the past ten years, paying their own way in life. Very few of them have a concept of what a privilege it is to have the opportunity to go to college in the near future. You can't blame them for being young and stupid, they're just kids, but you can blame them for being assholes.

After class I waited to talk to the teacher to seek advice about a few sections of the test that I'm not doing as well on during the last couple practice runs. After she finished telling me that I have great writing skills - but unfortunately the SAT does not reward my talent for writing, only rewards the technical aspects of my essay as far as form goes - I told her that she can't leave those boys alone in the room without her supervision because they go haywire. She agreed and said that she is not going to allow them to sit together in the future. She and I are probably about the same age, so I think she understood where I was coming from. Ugh. They're at least sixteen years old, these kids, and they have to be treated like they're in kindergarten. It's pathetic.

So that was my Saturday morning/afternoon. I am sweating about this test. I only have five weeks left to study and a long way to go. Meanwhile, I am ready to rumble with the jackass-brigade if they decide to push me. I am not one to endure torture and I care too much about getting a decent score on this damn test to let them ruin it for me. I would just transfer into the class next door, but I don't like that teacher! Ah well. I'll cry no more about it. I'll kill them with my merciless...uh...beauty. ;o) Haha. Try a knuckle sandwich.

The weather is terrible so I'll be staying in for the rest of the day. I am so excited for spring to kick in.

Posted by Maria at April 2, 2005 04:08 PM | TrackBack