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What I Learned in High School


  1. No one ever looks good
    in the bathroom mirrors. The fluorescent
    lighting and dingy walls do no one justice.
    You probably look just fine.
    Stop checking yourself out in the mirror and go back to class.
  2. If you’re going to be
    late, make it count.
  3. Never sacrifice your
    health for homework. Go to sleep,
    dammit! And it’s rare that any homework that
    was finished after 2 AM was done correctly.
  4. Always carry food on
    you. Whether you have to stay after
    school later than expected, or you need a sugar burst to get you through that
    algebra class, you’ll want that emergency food.
  5. Always have money with
    you. Always.
  6. As a freshmen, find
    friendly upperclassmen. They give you
    rides and life hacks.
  7. It’s okay to sit at a
    lunch table alone. People trying to
    squeeze in sixteen people at a table look ridiculous. Be a nonconformist, start your own lunch
    table colony. Trust me, at a crowded
    lunch, other people will join you, and you’ll meet some pretty awesome people
    by sitting at different tables.
  8. Never, ever, let people
    know that you have gum.
  9. There’ll be classes
    that you simply can’t stay awake in.

    1. Eat
      your emergency food.
    2. Drink
      cold water.
    3. Get
      up to blow your nose, taking an extra-long time to do so, as you focus on
      waking up.
    4. Stretch
      your legs under your desk.
    5. Don’t
      look at the clock. It will make things
      worse.
    6. Raise
      your hand and ask a question.
  10. Don’t get into fights
    on social media. The whole school will
    know by homeroom the next day.
  11. To be honest, without prior preparation, any studying done while the teacher is handing out the test probably won't get you too far.
  12. It pays to make friends
    with staff and administration.
  13. If you are struggling
    in a class, or you are not the best off with a teacher, invite them to one of
    your sports events or plays or concerts.
    It’s hard to fail someone once you really get to know them.
  14. Don’t wait until your
    senior year to join clubs and participate in school events.
  15. Everyone is fighting
    some sort of battle. Everyone has
    problems of their own, from your mean teacher, to the “little miss perfect”
    class president, to a classmate you’ve been at odds with since middle school.
  16. “Study for the test
    tomorrow” doesn’t mean “no homework”.
  17. Don’t lend money to anyone unless
    you see that person every day. I have
    about thirty dollars that I never saw again.
  18. Don’t order a pizza if
    you only have twenty minutes to eat.
  19. Start looking at
    colleges before the fall of your
    senior year.
  20. Follow the lab
    instructions. Wear goggles. And add the acid to the water, not the other way
    around.  Waft chemicals.
  21. Always change for gym
    class.
  22. Take one fun
    class. Even with a demanding schedule,
    take that one college prep class in public speaking, or that cooking class that really caught your eye.
  23. People who do drugs or party often are not automatically bad people.  That said, don’t do drugs, kids.
  24. Co-ed health classes
    are going to be awkward. It’s a fact of
    life.
  25. The mitochondria is the
    powerhouse of the cell.

Comments & reviews · 13
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User avatar
manilla
Comment

"The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."

BRILLIANT.

User avatar
manilla
Comment

"The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell."

BRILLIANT.

User avatar
aulyasela3597
Review

High school is where you build the foundation upon which you will build the rest of your life...

Many of the skills and habits that will lead to your success (or failure) in later life are those that you master in high school. Not that it is impossible to turn your life around after a wasted HS experience, but those who develop good "studenting" skills are going to be successful more often than not. Those skills then lead to more success in college and then in life as well.

So take it seriously and do your best always !!! It is how you invest in yourself :)

User avatar
CarsonTheArson
Comment

This is all so very true. All of you little highschoolers better follow this advice! I know I missed a few things when I was still in highschool >.> 3, 4, and 5 are so especially important. I found myself without food and money more often than I would care to admit <.< Take care of yourselves, you lovely people <3

User avatar
Wolfi
Comment

This is a beautiful piece of literature. Helpful, too! #25 <3

Hi, Queenofscience here for a review!

Wow, so true about high school. So true about late nigh studying (not that I had studyed late at night.) Most likely if you do HW paste 12, most likely it's not going to be correct. Your going to be too tired.

Health classes are kinda awkward. I especially when your do sex-ed. So weird. And then, you as the student, want to ask questions about that stuff but you don't have the guts to ask your parents because it's awkward.

True, doing drugs doesn't not automatically make you a bad person. But still, don't do drugs.

"Study for the test." Yeah, that still means you have HW.

I really enjoyed your work. Keep writing.

User avatar
Dracula
Comment

25 is one hundred percent accurate.

This is the single greatest thing I've ever read about high school. This is very useful. Especially for kids going to high school. Keep writing things like this.

User avatar
Aley
Review
Aley wrote a review · Sun Nov 15, 2015 5:46 pm

Hello!

So I'm actually reviewing this because I saw it was an article and thought sweet, YWS is branching out. That being said, I didn't come into it expecting a "Top 25" list, so I was a little surprised when I saw that it was one.

That being said, I'm not going to comment on what you wrote so much as how you wrote it. There are a lot of these articles in health magazines, women's magazines, men's magazines, and so forth, so it's a good skill to learn to do right. Right now, I think you have half of the equation. You've got the right "you" style of writing that's informative and commanding at the same time to draw the reader in and make them feel like you're giving them a secret, while influencing what you believe is important.

What you're missing is the layout of these articles. In the magazines, usually they have a section introducing the list, and information or stories between each bullet point about that bullet point. A lot of the time today they have each bullet point being a separate page with a stereotypical image at the top. I would suggest keeping this, but adding to it by breaking out of the [#. Paragraph] style and moving to [#. Sentence / introduction, story and or support, conclusion.] If you're not a poetry buff I used the / to indicate a line break.

It's going to make this longer, but if you start out with a brief paragraph introducing the list and why you made it, and conclude with some sort of witty banter, then you're going to have a better article that will be easier to read. Right now, there's really no point to look at the list because you don't have an introduction to it, and when we get down to the last point, it seems sort of frivolous even though it's a cute point because it's a piece of information you need to know in high school. You need something to walk us in and out of the article just like we have a bun for reviews.

All in all, I really like the list, but I think it's only done half of what it could do if you filled it out giving yourself more space to explore the points, and gave us an introduction and conclusion of writing. It's really close to being a lot like magazine lists and I really like that about this piece.

User avatar
Amindor
Review
Amindor wrote a review · Sun Nov 15, 2015 4:09 pm

Hi jumpingsheep, Amindor here.
When I saw the title of this, I knew I was going to love it. And I do. This has some really great tips that would be of value to someone in high school, especially if they're coming in as a freshman. Well, I'm a sophomore, but it still taught me a lot, and there are no flaws in this work. I loved it and I can't wait to read and review more of your work in the future! Keep writing!

I love this. I was looking for something to review, but this is perfect, so I'm just going to say that everything is true. Every. Single. Thing. Like, really, do you go to my school? My favorite ones are 1, 3, 8, 11, 15, 16, and 25. Keep writing stuff like this, it cheers me up! :D

User avatar
xv0nillaWriterx
Comment

I love all the steps, it helps a lot and im going to bring 2 dollars a day and try to behave myself. I also like when say "Take one fun class. Even with a demanding schedule, take that one college prep class in public speaking, or that cooking class that really caught your eye." This is like a break or a relax time. And students who is going to high school need to read this.Love it and keep writing. Happy Writing?



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