Back in my day when most o' youse guys were barely knee-high to a toadstool or a gleam in Mommy and Daddy's eye, school spirit in high school was a totally different animal than what it is today. It's amazing what 20 years can do to school spirit and traditions with changing demographics and the like.
Twenty years ago the school population was mostly white and predominantly Jewish, reflecting the demographics of the community back then. Next in size were the Hispanics (mostly Cuban) and the blacks (African-American did not enter the language back then), which also included Haitians, though they never saw each other eye to eye.
Standardized student achievement and basic skills testing (other than the SAT/ACT) for high school graduation was just beginning to rise over the horizon, and teachers had freer rein to teach somewhat unusual subjects within their specialty - at my high school, one of the more popular senior English classes included a quarter devoted to 'death and dying' and how different cultures approached death. Another class, which was a requirement by Florida law was a quarter comparing 'democracy versus communism' in all senior social studies/government classes.
During football season, it was not unusual to have a pep rally (a big school spirit assembly) every Friday. Every May was the senior awards assembly and the annual senior trip to Walt Disney World for Gram - ahem - Grad Nite, all culminating in the graduation ceremonies in June.
Fast forward twenty years later... the demographics have all changed. The school population nowadays is mostly Haitian and African American, with a very small number of Anglos (whites) and Hispanics, reflecting the change of the community. When the school was about to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the principal cancelled all school spirit activities because of low standardized testing scores. Teachers are essentially restricted to preparing students to take the standardized tests for most of the year, leaving very little time for innovative studies like 20 years ago.
And school spirit is quite a bit different now than it was then; most students are bused in from long distances to attend the International Baccalaureate Magnet School on the same campus, and then take the long bus ride back home at the end of the school day. Most students have no built in love for their Alma Mater nowadays like their fellow alumni in the past.
Yeah, my school may have gone to hell in the span of twenty years, but I still bleed my school colors of Green and Gray even today.
