A day as a Regent sparks new pride

A reader emailed this article: Verona High School Student Kristen Zubke visits Madison West High School for a day [April 2006: full student newspaper 25MB]:

On Monday, March 27th, I took it upon myself to shed a little light on our neighboring rivals, the Madison West Regents. I was shadowing a friend, but I guess you could say I did a little undercover investigating just to see if I really felt the Wildcat shame as I previously professed. My day was in one word, shocking. Overall I witnessed a school that strongly resembled an outrageous metropolitan school such as that seen on the television show, Boston Public. Despite its many obvious downfalls, there are indeed perks to being a Regent, yet in the end, my appreciation of Verona went up after seeing the chaos at West. I may not openly be proud of Verona’s reputation, but our education morphed my shame into pride.

Let me just start off with saying that as much as any actual district administrator would like to deny it, most of the rumors you hear are true. West was just as wild as I imagined, only dirtier. Considering outward appearances, Verona is the epitome of clean compared to the hardwood floors of West that were drenched in paper airplanes, trash and lint-like dust. I seriously wondered how the janitors accomplished anything in a school that big, not to mention that most students just don’t seem to care about their alma mater’s appearance. The windows looked like they hadn’t been cleaned this century and most of the walls were completely bare compared to the inspirational messages that plaster all corners of our educational institution. All the tables and chairs were mis-matched, and all came from different decades. Too often I hear my fellow Wildcats complaining about how “ghetto” our school is, but it’s time our students were grateful for the countless labs of flat screen computers, televisions in every classroom, and relentless janitors that make our school so clean that it’s more like a home than the uncomfortable mess I found myself in at West.

Yet despite its low-budget appearance I must say, that West has much more history and stronger story than the one you’d find here at Verona. You can see the “vintage” 1930’s black chalkboards with dark oak boarders and its genuine antique appeal that adds much more culture than the Pentium 4’s here at Verona. However, sometimes culture isn’t so great. It seems like the blasé attitude many West students project slanders their culture, because “bitch” and “f*** you” were scribbled all over their age-old desks. Similar to the way the desks were treated, the whiteboards, which were ink-stained and dirty, had fist holes punched into them. Samuel Henter, a sophomore at West said “I kind of just treat this school like the piece of s*** it is.”

I tried to remember that appearances aren’t everything, though, because it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. However, as much as I observed, I couldn’t get a sense of community. Hall monitors and teachers were few and far between. They have so many students to attend to, most teachers were too busy inside their dungeon-like classrooms to supervise the wild activity in the hall. It was clear the students there could practically do whatever they pleased; hardly any students took the teachers seriously. Students also talked incessantly while teachers tried hopelessly to teach the students something.

I’m not saying that the education West receives is a total joke, but compared to Verona’s perfectionist reputation, West hardly stacked up. The average grade for chemistry is a "D"according to the grade reports my shadow received. However, from my outsider’s view, I believe the students would be completely open to learning if not for their un-motivated teachers. For example, in 3 of my 7 classes, if the assignment was turned in on time, students received extra credit. Even some of the teachers' attire wouldn’t pass our school dress code. Throughout the day I was thinking and comparing West with Verona -the teachers, the building, the supplies, the friends- and realized I’m more grateful for Verona than I thought. We definitely do benefit financially, and our smaller grade sizes make for a more unified group, in the sense that everyone knows each other, not that we’re all friends. On the contrary, West provided a diversity I’d never seen and I will admit I am jealous of. As we gathered outside during the fire, (yes- a West student actually ignited a trashcan) I looked around
intently and saw very few racial separations. Everyone was comfortable with their skin and with sharing their individuality. Diversity and racial unity is something Verona seriously, yet more devastatingly, lacks.

In the end, I wonder how Verona would treat an incoming “Western.” I find it hard to believe that we would openly make fun of them to their faces like West so freely did to me. For example, first hour I was welcomed by sophomore TR Reeve who said, “Verona? Verona is a bunch of whores.” I can’t say that I was surprised and it definitely was not the only “Slutty Verona” comment directed toward me throughout the day. However, I think West may be insecure knowing their education doesn’t compare to ours. Even if some of their accusations were just, people deal with their problems by making their rival next to them look worse. Even though Verona may not openly cuss out a Regent, there’s no doubt that we certainly would talk behind their backs because we are just as insecure are they are. Therefore Verona, don’t just be proud of the advantages we have, but be proud of how you use them.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at May 10, 2006 11:38 AM
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