Central
Sometimes, I get nostalgic. Ok, I’m always nostalgic. I’m just like that.
Some random email reminded me of high school today. Most of my friends know that I really, truly loved my high school, Central High School of Philadelphia. One of the things I vowed when I graduated was that I’d one day give back to the school in some way.
The first four lines of the school song goes as follows:
Let others sing of college days,
Their Alma Mater true,
But when we raise our voices,
‘Tis only High, for you.
Sure, it’s cheesy, but it’s true. All CHS alums remember the song, and most feel it is true.
What made Central High so great? There are a lot of things.
- It’s a college prep magnet school, so everyone specifically applied to be accepted into the school and is motivated to achieve.
- It’s big. Each graduating class is about 500-600 people. So it’s easy to find someone to be friends with.
- It’s diverse. “Central students reside in every area of Philadelphia and represent the widest variety of racial, ethnic, geographic and economic groups. The student body is 33% African-American, 21% Asian, 5% Latino, and 41% Caucasian, making Central one of the most diverse schools in the nation. They afford each other multi-cultural opportunities in a rare atmosphere of cooperation and interaction.” — Wikipedia entry. That sounds about what I remember.
- “Central High School holds the distinction of being the only high school in the United States that has the authority, granted by an Act of Assembly in 1849, to confer academic degrees upon its graduates. This practice is still in effect, and graduates who meet the requirements are granted the Bachelor of Arts degree.” — Wikipedia entry. Yup, I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from high school.
- It has a dedicated, motivated staff. “99% of Central’s 130+ teachers hold a Master’s degree or higher.” — Wikipedia entry. About half of my teachers who taught my AP classes (and some not) had Doctorates in their fields. And it showed in their passion for their subjects.
When I hear about other people’s high schools, I see a huge difference in the culture of CHS. There was a desire to achieve, there was confidence that nothing was insurmountable, there was political freedom to cultivate and exercise our budding beliefs and skills. There were tons of clubs and teams to join, for everything from the math to the wrestling , from debate to francophilia, from Pro-Life to Pro-Choice (they set up moderated debates for the two clubs), from SALSA (Spanish and Latino Students Association) to KSA (Korean Students Association). We spent money renovating the gym, but we also spent money renovating the library — apparently, “[Barnwell Library] is now one of the most advanced public school libraries in the United States.”
We give academic credit to be in the orchestra. You could replace your physical education class by writing research papers or by volunteering to tutor a peer — but you couldn’t write a paper to get out of health class (at least, I never did, but now that I think on it, maybe you could? Someone correct me). And they taught sex ed and allowed the distribution of condoms.
And there is a enforced commitment to community service. “It is one of the few public high schools that has a yearly community service requirement that needs to be fulfilled before graduation. 30 hours of community service need to be completed and verified by academic personnel before the end of each school year.” Yup, I remember doing community service, but I think it only kicked in in our junior or senior year. Again, my memory is a little spotty. There was a pretty big range of things that counted as community service, and I think I might have done tutoring and some tree-planting related thing for my requirement.
I think the biggest, lasting impact was diversity. I think about my college, and I think about my current work situation, and frankly, I work with a bunch of white people and Asians and that’s it. In high school, everyone had friends of every race. You didn’t have a lot of time to spend mulling over stereotypes, because in every class, you’d be surrounded by people of different races, and being in contact with so many individuals, you didn’t have time to be juggling stereotypes along with actually getting to know people.
There was an emphasis on discussions and asking questions. There was an emphasis on respect for teachers and learning. My history teacher used to joke that we were little trees in the “Grove of Academia”. He also joked that we were all brainwashed with “liberal orthodoxy” and that’s probably true too. 🙂
There were a couple of randomly competitive kids, but it was never, ever cut-throat. Being a nerd was not a problem. I was a big nerd, but no one teased me. I never felt like I wasn’t “popular” or that popularity was an issue, period. Sure, some people may have, but there were enough people who didn’t care that it didn’t matter. There was no dominant hegemony of bullies or athletes. Almost everyone took the subway or the bus, because hardly anyone lived around there. Some kids probably had cars, but most kids didn’t. I never had to worry about someone beating me up for earrings, at least not within Central.
Damn, I loved my school. I miss the sense of community, of support, of limitless potential for growth (that’s just me feeling older though), of never forgetting that we were there through hardwork AND fortunate circumstance, which not everyone was lucky to have. I miss the sense of liberalism and equality that was pervasive in those halls that I have never experienced since.
I had considered myself a Republican because I didn’t understand quite what the platforms for both parties were.
I had all the same ideals back then as I do now, but just know better what labels I “test” as. *cough*progressive*cough*socialist*
“I had considered myself a Republican because I didn’t understand quite what the platforms for both parties were.”
Apparently this school isn’t so hot in the social sciences, history, and the like.
:p
Wow my high school was nothing like that. I wish it was. 🙁 My high school was typical surburban Detroit. It was not very diverse, in the four years I was there we had one black student and about 5% of the students were middle eastern and that was it. They did not emphasize the “learning” aspect of school, it was all busy work and memorization. They specifically tried to limit open dialog on issues. And if anything was too controversial it was banned. The students were far more interested in self image than social issues, learning, the world outside, and basically anything that actually matters. I was in all the AP/Honors classes and people were still like that. I was apart of the “popular” crowd and I was considered to be a bitchy cheerleader and i probably was but I really cant recall anything specific. I was nothing like the mean cheerleader types in teen movies but I wasn’t exacty a pushover either.
It wasnt until I got to college that I really developed a social conscience and awareness of the world around me. I’m just happy I was able to shed that bitchiness and self involvement that my high school inflicted upon its students. After I graduated, I coached there for years and I would try to teach my cheerleaders to not worry so much about image and cliques and gossip but I think it all probably fell on deaf ears.
That *does* sound like the best high school ever. If there is an opposite to your high school though, then it’s the one I went to. I *hated* high school, and the city I lived in at the time.
– I’m certain that not very many people from that school ever go to college.
– My high school was also large, but it tapered off in the higher grades. Out of a freshman class of over 400, 138 people actually graduated in 1994.
– Diversity? HAAAHAHAHAHA! I can name all three black people who went to school in that city while I was there. Mind you, this is in a city which borders Detroit, which had one of the largest black populations in the country. A few times we even received white supremacist flyers on our porch. Classy.
– We had like three AP classes, and they usually had about 10 students in them.
– Doctorates? Pfff. I think most of the teachers were just locals who “knew stuff”. They didn’t all suck, but I think there were quite a few teachers who did more harm than good.
Steph’s high school, in the district we live in now (and which my youngest brother currently attends), is much better. They have the community service thing too, but only 40 hours to be completed sometime before you graduate.
“Apparently this school isn’t so hot in the social sciences, history, and the like.”
No, it was, I just fell on the right of center compared to the average at my school. 😀 And somehow thought I was Republican as a result. Seriously, I was the only confused one.
Stephanie: I think it’s awesome that you tried to teach younger people how to think beyond their walls. I hope it stuck with at least one person.
I forgot to add that the diversity factor included socioeconomic diversity as well, not just racial diversity.
This was great because you saw all sorts of people “get out” of their possibly crappy neighborhood to make a life for themselves. There was a visible contingent of kids from relatively well-to-do families, but students were mostly from lower and lower-middle income class families, with a lot of kids on the free or reduced school lunch program and getting subsidized for bus tokens.
I would even guess that a majority of the kids were the first in their families to go to college, at least when I was attending.
That’s the shit that the American Dream is really made of, not the sappy flag waving, lame bumper sticker, chest pounding crap.
The other big thing I forgot to mention is a lack of a sense of entitlement.
I feel like a lot of people, whether they are rich or poor, well-educated or not, have an instilled sense of entitlement that they should get whatever they want, because they deserve it.
That was decidedly lacking. CHS fostered a sense that you should definitely work your hardest at whatever you do because no one was going to just hand whatever it was to you, but acknowledged that there are hurdles that keep even the hardest working people from achieving success, and therefore, we should not assume that people who did not succeed were not hardworking or less worthy.
It’s weird, it wasn’t like people didn’t think they didn’t deserve the best life had to offer. We were clearly all striving for it, for advancement, for fulfillment. But we didn’t think someone should just give it to us. And we thought we should always be turning around to make sure that we help those coming after us, just as we had been helped, not by a handout, but by the presentation of opportunity and tools to take advantage of that opportunity.
I think Chad and I might have gone to the same high school.
I’ll copy and paste his comments with my edits:
“- I’m certain that not very many people from that school ever go to college. [most, not all]
– My high school was [smaller], but it tapered off in the higher grades. Out of a freshman class of [I number I don’t recall], 138 [give or take] people actually graduated in [my year].
– Diversity? HAAAHAHAHAHA! I can name all three black people who went to school in that city while I was there. Mind you, this is in a city [near Boston], which [has a large] black populations …. [the only black students were bused in]
– We had like three AP classes, and they usually had about 10 students in them.
– Doctorates? Pfff. I think most of the teachers were just locals who “knew stuff”. They didn’t all suck, but I think there were quite a few teachers who did more harm than good.”
And despite being pretty small, it was incredibly cliquish. And those cliques were cast in stone. You were a loser/”burnout”, “one of the smart kids”, an athlete, or “cool.”
Nobody ever successfully transitioned from one group to another. The constituents of the groups hardly even mingled with one another.
My town was pretty wealthy so: “I feel like a lot of people, whether they are rich or poor, well-educated or not, have an instilled sense of entitlement that they should get whatever they want, because they deserve it.” That was most of the people in my school.
A friend of mine from high school is still fascinated by what people are doing and that shit. When he brings up our classmates, I usually just say, “oh fuck them. I don’t give a shit.” They’re almost all assholes that failed at life.
The only reason I didn’t go crazy was I had an art teacher who didn’t give a fuck that my friends and I hung out in his classroom all day when we should have been in class or whatever. Indeed, he actively helped us cover our tracks by writing us permission slips or making excuses for our absence.
And despite being pretty small, it was incredibly cliquish. And those cliques were cast in stone. You were a loser/”burnout”, “one of the smart kids”, an athlete, or “cool.”
I’ve found anecdotally that the smaller the school, the more cliquish it was — to a point. I mean, if the school only had 30 kids, it’s hard to even have a big enough group to have a clique. But then again, you could still have the one supposed “loser”, who, you know, then goes out and shoots up the school. 🙁
It must be harder to shift out of your perceived clique when there are not that many groups of people to begin with, as everyone knows your label and your history, and you don’t have a chance to make friends anew with a different group of people who don’t have preconceived notions of you.
“It must be harder to shift out of your perceived clique when there are not that many groups of people to begin with, as everyone knows your label and your history, and you don’t have a chance to make friends anew with a different group of people who don’t have preconceived notions of you.”
That may be what was happening in my school because it was no place for “new starts.” A person had maybe a week before they were cast into a group, never to extricate themselves.
That’s not entirely true. Between 8-9th grade, a friend of mine sprouted up and became the best football player of our class. All of a sudden he was in the “athlete” clique, and had nothing to do with us in the “smart” group.
I should revise “athlete” though. It was only football players. I played baseball, soccer, and basketball. I was not in the “athlete” clique, and neither were any of my teammates.
It’s interesting that the school A_B went to was so similar, even though that town was more affluent and the town I went to high school in is one of the poorest in the county.
I, also, have high school sob stories. Before my 8th grade year my family moved from a larger city in a different state to a 3,000 person town in the middle of nowhere upstate New York. Graduating class of 75 people, only a handful of non-white kids, one AP class (Art), cliques, bad and indifferent teachers, etc etc. I hated it.
But I am completely dedicated to providing the kind of atmosphere Ei-Nyung describes to my kids. I would move states to get them a school like that. I also want to live abroad for a few years when they are old enough to appreciate it, but young enough to be influenced by it.
There go my visions of lil’ Eingy being a tough kid from Phillie. *fwoosh* right out the window.
😀
*Every* kid from actual Philly (and not the burbs) is a tough kid. You learn not to make eye contact on buses and trains — and if you do, you better be ready to back it up with fists. You learn to give people room on the sidewalk, but not walk TOO far away from them, lest they take offense. You learn not to wear flashy jewelry, or to be ready to fight to keep it. You learn to walk like you mean it and not meander, so people don’t see you as a target.
My area was not terribly crime-ridden, but it was pretty upper-low income — like, almost everyone on the block was employed, but almost everyone made less than minimum wage.
And *everyone* is sarcastic by default. I’ve largely lost it, but it’s in me somewhere. 😀
But I was still a sweet, dorky nerd who believed in a good world and good people and that I was gonna get somewhere. 🙂
Take all of what angry Chad wrote and that’s basically both of the high schools I went to. Although my first school was very diverse I(but no one mingled), while my second high school was all white hillbillies.
I hated high school.
Oh, and the teen pregnancy rate at both was VERY high while the the college attendance rate was VERY low.
…and that was back when you considered yourself a Republican. 😀