This is a little letter to the editor I sent Mrs. Stumpff, who does the school paper, about Mr. Craven's Bitch-Fest. She said she couldn't print it, so I decided to put it up here.

The morning of Wednesday, November 12, 1998, I, along with the rest of the Upper School, witnessed the most unprofessional, uncalled for, and hypocritical outburts ever seen from a student, let alone an administrator.

Mr. Craven announced his Rant-and-Rave Assembly of 1998 at the last minute. He said it would be short. Obviously, he got carried away. I have a feeling that that assembly will live on in the hearts, minds, nightmares, and mental "What To Never, Ever, Ever Do" lists of the student body well into its alumni years.

As some of the Class of '01 knows, I got into a lot of--well, if Mr. Craven can say it, I guess I can too--a lot of crap with the school last year, over an outburst of mine on Shoreline at a teacher. It got me a talking to by our illustrious principal on the right and wrong ways to express oneself. These rules on polite behavior seem not to apply to Mr. Craven himself. The hypocrisy of the very assembly was compounded by an episode that would be humorous out of context: even as he scolded us for not helping out those who lost everything in Hurricane Mitch, he stumbled whilst remembering where, exactly, those people were.

There were several disturbing messages in the subtext of the assembly, but the most dangerous was stated near the end. It lumped "being different" in with negative attention and immature teenage rebellion. Shorecrest has been telling us since Kindergarten that "It's good to be unique, you should stand up for what's right, even if you're alone, don't succumb to peer pressure, be yourself." One has to wonder if, possibly, the uniforms creeping up the grades are only the first step in a plan reaching towards utter conformism within the student body. That unlikely idea scares me. That our principal would tell of the evils of being unique goes up there with it.

Politically, that assembly was the worst move Mr. Craven could take to bend students to his will. Those it didn't alienate, it angered or drew the disgust from. I'm avoiding the issues Mr. Craven spoke--no, slash that--the issues Mr. Craven shouted on. Perhaps more people do need to throw their trash away at lunch. Perhaps people aren't trying hard enough academically. Perhaps people should think before vandalizing school property. Perhaps people should drive more carefully on campus. Perhaps people do need to make more of an effort to get to school on time, and with the supplies those in Honduras so desperately need. Perhaps people need to behave a bit more, and get fewer detentions. Perhaps the dress code should followed more closely. (Though that might work for those enforcing it as well. Equality is good. Real sweaters don't look like t-shirts, so teachers shouldn't have to ask girls if a shirt falls under dress code and then acquiesce when it turns out to be supposed winter garb.) Perhaps. But that assembly was clearly the wrong way to go.