The Power of Words. M.J. Andersen: The addressing of high school students

8.5.98
M.J. Andersen: The addressing of high school students

       My impulse to write about high school graduation grew partly out of a conversation with a friend who had been asked to speak. But my recent ringside experiences with actual high school students were probably a stronger factor. (I've been helping coach a debate team for the past two years, as those of you who have fielded my press releases are tediously aware.) I basically didn't do much planning with the column, just wrote.
       The material emerged as I moved back and forth between memory and my own fresh emotions at seeing kids I have become attached to leave. I am seriously in love with at least half a dozen, and was realizing I probably wouldn't see or hear from them again, which may account for the emotional quality of the piece.
       The writing process was actually somewhat similar to the teaching/coaching process, which pretty quickly turned into a more or less constant impulse to give Advice about Life, followed by an answering impulse to stifle it. I found out that with high school kids, even when you are not giving advice, you are thinking advice. In fact, advice intrudes on your thoughts daily, if not hourly, in the form of long boring soliloquies that would sound gaseous to anyone who actually heard them. They are mainly about: you.
       The column was a chance to slough off some of this thwarted elder stuff, without actually unloading it on real kids. At the same time, it was a chance to make fun of the impulse to advise. The essential thing I have learned about high school kids is that they're cool and you're not, so you just shouldn't even try to tell them anything. They notice stuff though. And that's probably enough.

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