The underclassmen are as chaotic and wild as they have ever been

By Kayla Garcia

Underclassmen are immature. It may be an over-used notion, but it is still true.
     Generally speaking, the upperclassmen are far more mature than the underclassmen.
     As, a senior in Chinese I (yes, I am a senior in Chinese I), I have seen the difference in maturity level from the freshmen to the upperclassmen.
     Now don’t get me wrong, the freshmen in my class make me laugh at times, but the screaming and boyish horseplay gets obnoxious when you actually want a peaceful environment.
     The kids, guys especially, are constantly not listening and throwing stuff at each other. Even the girls are annoying.
     Were the current seniors that bad? I don’t doubt it. It’s just the way freshmen are.
     So let’s face it, the underclassmen are generally cocky, stupid, and just immature.
     The typical ninth grader comes into high school  shy, but then they quickly become outgoing. They crowd the hallways and go above and beyond to get attention.
     “They are coming from middle school where they are the top of their class to the bottom,” said World History teacher Brad Aney.
     It isn’t just freshmen either. Some of the sophomores can be just as bad, if not worse. Maybe it’s the fact that they aren’t at the bottom of the food chain, so to speak.
     Even if they don’t realize it, the sophomores are pretty bad too. It is easy to see in a study hall which age is which.
     Shannon Phillips, AP Psychology teacher, has both a sophomore study hall and a junior and senior study hall.
     “It is a totally different experience,” said Phillips. “The sophomores can’t stay quiet, they poke each other, throwing things, and laugh at things that aren’t funny.”
     But the junior and senior study hall is much more relaxed.
     According to Phillips, the sophomores are “more giggling,  more poking, and they chase each other around the room.”
     Now I am not saying all underclassmen are immature, but a definite majority of them could use a trip back to the first grade.
     “Are upper classmen more mature? The answer is yes sometimes,” said dean Dan Farlik, “I believe that maturity comes with age.”
     Sure, when you take the maturity level of an individual it is different from every single student.  There are some students that make bad choices every single time.
     Whether you are a senior, junior, sophomore or freshmen, there are those who make immature decisions.
     However, when you look them as a whole, it’s clear to see—simply by where you are in the school—which age group is more mature.
     So if there are underclassmen more mature than the juniors and seniors, it is hard to tell considering the general underclassmen don’t know how to act their age.
     The upperclassmen know more about how to act now than they did when they were freshmen and sophomores.
     So maybe the underclassmen can learn something from the typical mature upperclassman: they can mature from learning from the junior and seniors.

Despite the upperclassmen’s pompous self righteousness, they are just as immature as they were four years ago

By Megan Wilson

 Walking through the freshman hallway is not an easy task for someone who is trying to get to class on time without being stopped by PlascoTrac. Stopping in the middle of the hallway to chat with their friends and trying to walk at the same time may be too difficult of a concept for their naive minds to handle. When will they ever grow out of this phase?
     There will never be a change in mentality for these ignorant students. Those who do not care are certainly not going to care going down the road of their Huntley High career. I figure that there are a few ways that prove how the whiny little freshman will never become the sophisticated senior that they think they will be.
     The ones who think they are boss are really just hypocritical. At the downstairs intersection, there is hardly any one group to blame. Most people say it is always the fault of the freshmen. But who is accusing them? Oh, possibly their ‘superiors,’ the upperclassmen.
     Where were these upperclassmen three or four years ago? They were freshmen. The same freshman group of students who worried about being pennied on their first day of school or being pushed into a locker.  Just because the upper class thinks they rule the school doesn’t mean they need to be complete jerks towards a ‘lower’ class.
     You would think that as students get older they could see the right and wrong in things they do, but senior year apparently is a magical year.   They can completely disregard what happened a couple years ago and treat the incoming class just as they were treated, inferior beings to the all-mighty senior class. Especially to those seniors who had a rough time freshman year, shouldn’t they be helping them and not making snarky remarks? Please, find a conscience.
     Defacing things that do not belong to you is a kindergarten lesson, yet happens here at Huntley. When a supposed to be happy day, such as celebrating a birthday, turns to be a dreadful one, there is something wrong. Like when the wrapping paper on a student’s locker is defaced or ripped to shreds. I know during my freshman year it was a recurring theme.
     The system of learning and growing a conscience isn’t working. Because when the driving students of Huntley High school walked out of the building on Homecoming Friday, the cars that used to symbolize freedom were now despairing. Some of the senior class had written the classic “Class of 2013” on the cars with window paint. Or my personal favorite,13ITCH.
     Not only did the ones that were who vandalized have to walk out to this surprise on a supposed happy day, but it was also raining. Raining plus paint equals a car covered in an array of colors. Sorry, senior class. Just because it is a supposed tradition, doesn’t mean you have  others’ days be train wrecked when they have other places to be, so they must drive around with graffiti on their cars. Treat others how you want to be treated. Didn’t that ever sink in?
     What I really do not understand is why students risk it all their senior year. The seniors are throwing away three years of hard work just because they have already been admitted to college or have a job lined up.
     Thus creates senioritis. It has always been a problem and yet no one sees a problem with it. Classes are disrupted consistently by those who do not seem to care. The ones who do not care to learn cause the others who do actually care to not be able to. It isn’t a good scenario for anyone. All those involved have to deal with the nuisances who disrupt everyday learning. Those who complain that the district spends too much money on non-necessities? It takes more time and money to deal with the senior problem.
     That money spent can be used to benefit the school rather than try to shut down the people ruining it.
     The behavior of upperclassmen is unacceptable. Little things can ruin people’s days. It seems it is too hard to ask people of any age to keep their hands to themselves and not say anything if it isn’t nice.