Boring Work Article

Warning note: This post will probably bore everyone aside from me. If you read it anyway and find yourself bored, you brought all that on yourself.

I'm working on an interesting piece for the paper that employs me. Normally, I don't write about work here or on social media at all, because I love my job and would not want to risk losing it because I made a dumb dick joke or something.

This is different, because I think this work is important. (I mean, I think all of my work is important; it's just that this piece reflects the human condition better than anything I've ever written, and I haven't even written it yet.)

It's a series focusing on the expectations and pressures high school students face today compared to their teachers, administrators and parents, which began as one article about my personal experience sitting in on a few high school classes. Fortunately, the principal of one of the schools I visited offered me the opportunity to talk to students. From these interviews, I decided to write a three-part series. The first article will be from the perspective of administrators, with the second describing the experience of teachers and the third focusing completely on the students. This structure, I hope, will provide excellent juxtaposition between kids and those who were once kids.

I'm going to speak with the superintendents, principals, teachers and students from three different school districts in hugely disparate income brackets. I think this is really important because we're all a product of our family and location; I could see these variables setting a kid from a low-income family apart from a child in upper-middle class. (That said, I really hope the differences aren't a determining factor on the kids' future. I'd really like to believe that we aren't simply a product of our circumstances, but I say that as a person who grew up in the middle class. This reminds me of one of my larger fears in doing this article: realizing that I can't ever resonate with other classes because of my - albeit suppressed - economic bias.)

Starting with the lowest income bracket, I initially feared going into this project without concealing my identity. I felt it would be difficult to get a genuine reaction out of the kids if I approached them as Samantha the Reporter. This fear was partially confirmed during my interviews, but I quickly found that you can tell a whole lot about a person from what he or she doesn't say. And those interviews, just so you know, were heartbreaking.

I don't want to divulge much about my research so far, since I'm less than a third of the way done with all my interviews and haven't even conceived an angle to write the first part from. I will say that talking to these kids has already altered my perception of their generation.

I told myself that I would go into this article without any preconceived notions but found myself surprised every time one of the kids said something I didn't expect. I'm only 23 years old. I thought I knew these kids.

I'm beginning to think I don't know anything at all, and I'm happy about that. After all, that's how I know I'm learning and evolving.

I'll keep you guys updated on this article as it progresses if you'd like that sort of thing. If not, I'll continue telling stories about my cat and my wayward love life (B.G. - Before Gideon).

As an awkward closing, I'd like to ask that all of you treat everyone you meet with kindness. Just because you can't see someone struggling doesn't mean it isn't happening.