Aidan Leslie Berkeley High '10

1. my school has been ok in terms of how it has helped with my life's development. i think socially it taught me a lot about the real world and what to expect with the ups and downs of life and made me a much stronger person. but with academics it wasn't as good. a lot of my time spent in classes i felt was pointless because sometimes (depending on the teacher), being in class felt like the biggest waste of time and where i would walk away at the end of class feeling like i learned nothing valuable for the future. oftentimes though, it was beneficial because students at my school get a lot of freedom when it comes to choosing which classes to take which really benefits the individual because they get a little wiggle room to be in a class that they take because they want to (espcially senior year), but in the end it all depends on the teacher, because some really want to be there and some are there because they have to.

2. i learned a lot of life skills while at berkeley high because nothing's sugar coated, the school will seriously make you or brake you, which sounds a little dramatic but if you cant handle the work and the independence then you pretty much fail. it's not the life learning skills that needs to be fixed, its more like the amount of support that's lacking. because if you don't care, than neither do the teachers, and there's no one there who will push you to try. if you do care though and need a little extra support, there are a good amount of teachers that will stand by you.

3. there's a big mix of everything at my school. there are the students that have supportive families, are good students and good with the teachers, and who's families try to be in contact with the teachers and work for the school. the majority of the school doesn't have the support from their families which makes it harder to be a good student, or even care. some teachers really try to give support to those who don't have the support at home, but there's about 3,500 students at berkeley with only so many teachers. having this as a reality at my school is sad for me because i know that every person has a place in the world if they try but a lot of those students dont see it that way. the hard thing to is that berkeley high is for all of berkeley so there are students coming from the bad parts and the good parts. the mix makes it kind of intense and makes it so there are a lot of clicks. not everyone really meshes together, most everyone sticks to their group. the relationships between all the students put together isn't very nice because everyone is just so different and there are a lot of people with a lot of attitude and they make sure that everyone knows about it.

4. only one thing to change about my school? there are a lot of things id like to change about my school. i would say that most of all id want to change the racial separation among students and the support from staff and students.