A Whole New Game

The last time I was in a high school, I was happily leaving it – with grad cap on, a dream of traveling the world and absolutely no clue. 15 years later, I’m back. This time with degrees and diplomas in hand, a wealth of experience from international travel and definitely more of a “clue”. I am the newest high school teacher in Vancouver! Although my education training has been entirely in the elementary school setting, I didn’t hesitate to accept this job (as all TOCs in the Metro know, you take what you can get when you’re a newbie). So I’m back amongst teenagers, teen angst, teen anxieties, teen egos, teen apathies and teen enthusiasms. Like a traveler who has spent years away and is trying to find that once well-trodden road, I’m discovering this sect of society has changed, but not unlike the persistent threads of a recent nightmare, frightening familiar. Their vernacular, always on the move to keep abreast of uncool adults, has mutated and I’m making daily entries to my secret “teen slang” dictionary just to keep up with the conversations. Their hemlines on skirts have shortened to the point of looking like headbands gone AWOL; their necklines on lacy singlets have plunged into embarrassingly adolescent décolletage, their Emos are the modern Mods, their black metal is way heavier than heavy metal, their Starbucks coffee cards have replaced loose change for the pop machine and their in-school plumbing programs are popular electives with girls. While it may be cliché to feel thankful that I’m a teenager no longer and a cliché to believe incredulously that these people are our future and a cliché to write that the more things change the more they stay the same, all of the above are… like, oh my god, so true.

Having survived my first week and glad for the chance to look back with an adult eye, I’m can honestly say, that I’ll enjoy this new teaching position – at least until the end of June!