Simone

Donald Trump will be President in an hour and I’m sitting behind someone who is possibly the most pompous idiot I’ve ever encountered in my school career. (Although, not more of a pompous idiot than Trump. That’d be preposterous.)

I’d always known this kid to be a vocal teacher affirmer, with his vehement “Uh huh”s and “Mmm yeah”s. But things were different in past years. Then, history was taught in our small learning community far more conventionally, with a teacher at the front of the classroom lecturing. There was little time for conversation or student input. Now we’re seniors, mature enough to handle discussion-based teaching. We lead the direction of learning with our thoughts. Well, one of us.

He interrupts our teacher at the end of every thought, finishing his points with names and statistics. Congratulations, buddy! You refreshed your Facebook feed this morning. He’s not very smart, but he does the thing good public speakers do, where he gathers his thoughts silently rather than using filler words. Ideally, someone would use his many pauses to shut him up, but he’s wasting a lot of class time. Most of us like that.

I can’t fathom the immense privilege that allows one to think its acceptable to turn a classroom of 20 students into one’s own self-centered monologue. Amongst the other reasons I dislike him are his smug face, blazer/jean/sneaker combinations, and open admiration for John Mayer.

I speak up when I can, challenging his points and engaging with our teacher. He only gets louder. I don’t have the energy to continue challenging him. I’m almost a second semester senior, and he is, too. I won’t have to deal with this for much longer, nor will anyone else.

Oh god. I realize he’s going to college, and he’s going to continue doing this. White male entitlement is impossible to escape. ♦