Eye of the Editors: GLC messaging invalidates student experiences
Opinion: GLCs are not doing enough to support seniors during the pandemic.
As the end of the school year draws closer, attention has once again shifted to the graduating seniors, the class of 2021. Rather than acknowledging that our highly awaited senior year has been taken away, we are being told to “stay positive” by our GLCs as they downplay what has been undeniably the worst school year for many of us.
There is no doubt that this year was a major letdown for all seniors. We have been working toward this final year of high school since we arrived at Diamond Bar High School, only to have it go down the drain. The anticipation for our last homecoming, senior sunrise, grad night, senior breakfast, senior ditch day and prom was all for nothing in the end. So when we’re told to not “get caught up in feeling sorry for yourself,” it’s only fair that we might be frustrated at the lack of understanding from those around us.
Guilt-tripping seniors about how “not everything is terrible” and that we have “a lot to be grateful for” while we miss out on an irredeemable milestone in life serves only to invalidate and alienate the feelings of the senior class.
While the class of 2020 received countless amounts of sympathy and efforts from the staff to make up for the few months of their senior year that were lost, the class of 2021 is sent messages such as “smooth seas don’t make skillful sailors.” Instead of recognizing that our senior year has been even worse, class of 2021 GLCs say that it has been “an unpredictable senior year for us.” I would counter that “awful” is a much better word to describe it.
I understand that the GLCs only have our best intentions at heart and want us to finish our high school career strong, but what they need to realize is that at this point, seniors have little attachment to DBHS. With nothing to look forward to—given that most senior events have been canceled—the motivation to “keep our foot on the gas” is nonexistent.
It is difficult to keep pushing forward when there is no incentive at the end of the road. We are mentally exhausted, staring at our computers day after day with nothing to break up the monotony or to look forward to, just trying to escape this year with passing grades and a college acceptance letter.
Although the efforts from our GLCs to uplift our spirits with inspirational quotes and letters of encouragement may help some, most seniors are in need of a different solution. It would be relieving for faculty to concede that this year was a major disappointment rather than pretending that free donuts and senior spirit days are a replacement for every lost experience. The strong push for optimism and to “just get through these times,” makes it feel as if our senior year is just another obstacle for the faculty to push past and forget about. While for the staff this is just another year at work, for us it is a year of missed opportunities and irreplaceable memories that we won’t have the chance to make up for.
While there are numerous claims that the school is doing everything possible to make this year an unforgettable experience for seniors, as of now, they are all just verbal promises with nothing to back them up. Despite knowing ahead of time that this year would most likely be entirely virtual and not in-person—unlike the sudden shift the class of 2020 experienced—the only senior activities that have passed the idea stage are a virtual Senior Olympics event and a senior Minecraft server that can only accommodate for less than half of the senior class.
Aside from this, seniors have only been vaguely told of plans that may or may not be in the works, but little else is known. If the goal is to get us enthusiastic for the end of our senior year, let us know what ideas are up in the air. Give us hope that we have something to work toward and get excited about because just mentioning the chance of a graduation ceremony is not the most comforting statement.
This article is not written with the intention to accuse or insult the class of 2021 GLCs—its purpose is to offer insight into what is going through the minds of DBHS seniors. We hope to communicate that the constant message to be positive is not an entirely effective solution for the senior year we were robbed of, and to offer suggestions of how to better approach the situation.
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Class of 2020 parent
Mar 28, 2021 at 2:11 pm
Dear Editors,
Mr. Desmond wrote that the February 23, 2021 Eye of the Editors opinion article, “GLC messaging invalidates student experiences” really “missed the mark,” but I think it was he, and anyone else who felt offended by the editorial, who missed the point. The author(s) clearly acknowledged the adults’ good intentions but were simply expressing pain and disappointment that can no longer be alleviated by inspirational quotes and free donuts. Yes, those efforts are appreciated and better than nothing. Yes, these past 2 years have been disappointing all around. But the “missed opportunities and memories” the adults experienced cannot compare to what the teenagers lost. Yes, the students will get through it. Yes, adversity can and should build strength. But I wonder if Mr. Desmond remembers his senior year? Not the senior years he has experienced as a GLC, but HIS senior year? The Class of 2021 is in the middle of suffering a loss. Students have a right not to whine, but to grieve. Those of us who have suffered a major loss have loved ones who said all the wrong things. By feeling uncomforted, were we blaming them for our pain as Mr. Desmond suggests? Of course not. But platitudes often make the person expressing them feel better than the person hearing them.
The editors took a survey, drew the readers a picture, and yet were attacked for expressing their views. Isn’t an opinion article the correct forum in which to express opinions? I always found the Eye of the Editors insightful and refreshing and applauded the paper for allowing free speech. At a time when knee-jerk cancel culture threatens the ability of our young generation to think for themselves, it concerns me to witness the admonishment of young people who actually put research and thought into what they say and write.
Does the administration know what it was like for students and parents to be told to stay at home last spring, only to log onto the WVUSD and DBHS websites and see photos of staff and volunteers out and about, on campus and off, not social distancing, and enjoying each other’s company while distributing lunches, passing out yard signs, and spreading cheer? We appreciated their efforts, their time, their good intentions, and it was wonderful to see. But it also hurt to sit at home and watch. Likewise, logging on to the websites and seeing photos of previous years’ graduations was rather “in your face” of what the Class of 2020 and now the Class of 2021 will not experience. Last year, seeing the word “unprecedented” in administrative correspondences elicited the same visceral response in me that nails on a chalkboard do. It became a useless adjective, a word administration seemed to hide behind during negotiations and an empty, hackneyed expression. As an adult, it doesn’t matter how difficult my job is; I’m paid to do it. For high schoolers, just being a senior on campus was the payoff they had been taught to anticipate.
The authors were right – this is another work year for the adults. Or are none of the staff coming back next year? The adults will have other years as high school (insert job titles here). They’re not in the same boat. The students have listened to the adults all year. We should allow them to speak freely, without fear of reproach, to open discussions and help everyone learn, as long as they do it respectfully, which they did.
Sincerely,
A Class of 2020 parent
Mr. Desmond
Mar 1, 2021 at 12:54 pm
I’m afraid this editorial really missed the mark, and I’m so disappointed. I know the seniors are hurting, I know this has been a terrible year, but lashing out at two people who have done so much in the name of their seniors is so wrong I have trouble even putting my thoughts into words. The editorial authors criticize the GLC’s for trying to relate messages of positivity and resilience during this incredibly difficult time, and then fill the editorial with phrases like “worst school year,” “major letdown,” “down the drain,” “awful,” “nothing to look forward to,” etc. Am I to understand that hearing similar phrasing from DBHS staff would somehow make this very difficult situation better? The assumption that this is “just another year of work” for the DBHS staff is incredibly misinformed and discounts the reality that this has truly been “a year of missed opportunities and memories” for all of us. And as far as that feeble attempt to claim this article was “ not written with the intention to accuse or insult the class of 2021 GLCs,” I can’t speak for them, but I’m insulted on their behalf. Did you ever pause to think that perhaps the reason they are foremost in your mind for blame is because they have spent so much time getting in front of the senior class, making any and every effort to help their class through an incredibly difficult year?