The following editorial appeared in our last issue of Com-Mini-Cations:
WE ARE INDIVIDUALS
I would like to tell you that I’m sick of hearing the mainstreamers put down Mini-School. I think that Mini-School has a lot of individual people in it. As far as mainstream goes, I think that they’re jealous because they can’t be individuals. Or at least they feel they can’t because they’re too worried about what others think to just be themselves. The girls can’t just wear jeans and a t-shirt or whatever. They always have to look just so. And they all dress the same. You go down the hall and they all look like clones. Well, mainstreamers, eat your heart out because we Mini-Schoolers are all our own person. We are individuals.
Dear Minischoolers,
I read your Com-Mini-Cations and I think it’s very interesting and enjoyable. I resent one thing that you say. You describe mainstreamers as being worried about how they look all the time, and they never can wear just jeans and t-shirts. Well I wear jeans and t-shirts. You say that we judge people even before we know them. Aren’t you doing the same thing to us?
You say that we can’t be individuals. I don’t think it’s possible not to be an individual. We all have different ideas and points of view, and until you meet every mainstreamer and get to know their personalities, I don’t think you should say we can’t be individuals. I don’t mean to sound like we’re better than you because no one can judge if one person is better than another. We do deserve some of the things you say about us, because a lot of us do look like clones, and a lot of us are cliquey. I’m just asking you to be a little less harsh on us, until you know all of us. And then you can accuse us of whatever you want.
Sincerely,
A Mainstream Student
TAMI’S RESPONSE
by: Tami Gerhard
In answer to the anonymous main-streamer, I appreciated your response to my article.
I would like to explain the reason I put down the girls for not being able to wear jeans and t-shirts. And I apologize to the ones that are able to wear them and feel comfortable. But what I was really trying to get across was that if some girls don’t dress to the satisfaction of the other girls and guys, they get laughed at and gossiped about behind their backs. The students give you dirty looks. And don’t say they don’t because the majority of them did it to me and they do it to the Mini-School program all the time.
A lot of you mainstreamers are judgmental. One example is at a pep-fest this year. The C-Squad group was telling the students, “The rules of the Minnetonka High School,” and one of the rules was, “Don’t ever, ever get caught being seen in the pit and especially in the Mini-School hall.” A lot of main-streamers clapped and laughed at it. Whether it was a joke or not I call it being judgmental.
The Mini-School program to me is very special. It has taught me things about myself and what I want out of life. And more important it has taught me of others. The teachers are your friends, they are there when you need them. You know who they are and they know who you are. What really surprises me is that it isn’t just some of the students that put Mini-School down, it is also some of the teachers.
Well, let me say one more thing to you all. The Mini-School program to me is a family. We work together, on the trips, we live together, and the most important thing is that we care about and respect each other. I don’t know where I would be without it. Probably nowhere, mentally and physically. But anyway, I’m proud to be part of this family.