otoh

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate. Often translated as “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” These are the words inscribed on the Gate of Hell in Dante’s The Divine Comedy.

I think that many students imagine that the classroom door is the gate to hell. And, even though I’m sure the literary reference is lost on most of them, they duly abandon hope as they enter. It can, after all, be a pretty horrific place. But, it’s still a lot safer generally than the real world.

We gave the last of our final exams today. The graduation ceremony was last Friday. (Seniors took their exams two weeks ago.) We always hear this time of year about the fact that graduation is referred to as commencement, which means a beginning. We have unleashed another generation to begin making lives for themselves.

But I think the ones who believe high school is hell have it backwards. I wonder how many of them will come to believe that the inscription was meant to be read when they leave high school, not when they enter it. They become dull automata working at jobs they hate leading lives they despise. For how many will high school be the high mark against which the rest of their life pales in comparison? They aren’t entering hell when they come in to high school, but we may be the gate to the hell that is the real world.

Or not.

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