High School Student's Deal with Rejection

[ekeen]

Awww, and some of them for the first time. Gee, I guess a dose of reality at the tender age of 18 isn't too late of a start.

I wish I could be there to tell them that their college choice won't matter as much as their desire or savvy.

Refreshing to see how our kids handle life's setbacks these days.

With each maddeningly thin envelope, each remorseless rebuff from another top-choice college, Kellen Mandehr died a little death. In search of catharsis, the senior at Newton South High School posted the offending documents on the school's "Wall of Shame," a hallway bulletin board blanketed with dozens of college rejection letters.

With each punch of the stapler, each slam of his fist, Mandehr won a small measure of payback. And a large measure of liberation.

"It was definitely a good feeling," he said yesterday, reminiscing by the mural of rejection letters. "I pounded it pretty good."

High school seniors everywhere have traditionally posted their rejection letters as an act of collective defiance against the high-pressure and hypercompetitive college admissions process. But this year, with top-tier colleges rejecting more applicants than ever before, dejected students say they are especially in need of what amounts to a group hug.​

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[Gatorubet]

That's why I tell my kids that they're stupid little failures who will never amount to anything...

I don't want them to be hurt later.

 

[Buckeye86]

Kids, you tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.

 

[ekeen]

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you. -Woody Hayes

From the article - nobody had ever faced this sort of rejection before? Did anyone in this sample ask out a hot chick and get rejected? Did anyone get cut from a sports team? What a bunch of crybabies. I'm glad some of these folks are getting humble pie - it sounds like it was overdue.

 

[cincibuck]

Sitting here at age 65, contemplating beer gut, sore knee joints and depending on Tivo for any show that runs after 10PM, I am often asked if I'd like to be a teen-ager again. Even with what I know now, the presence of The Pill, computers and HD TV, the answer is a resounding "NO!"

I might settle for 35 or even 40, but to go back to high school takes more than courage.

 

[MaxBuck]

There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you. -Woody Hayes

From the article - nobody had ever faced this sort of rejection before? Did anyone in this sample ask out a hot chick and get rejected? Did anyone get cut from a sports team? What a bunch of crybabies. I'm glad some of these folks are getting humble pie - it sounds like it was overdue.

So who pissed in your Cheerios this morning?

These kids are "crybabies" because college rejections pissed them off. Does that make ekeen a crybaby because these kids' behavior pissed him off? Sounds to me like they found a harmless way to blow off some steam - good on 'em.

Much ado about less than nothing.

 

[ORD_Buckeye]

Did anyone in this sample ask out a hot chick and get rejected? Did anyone get cut from a sports team? What a bunch of crybabies. I'm glad some of these folks are getting humble pie - it sounds like it was overdue.

So what you're saying, ekeen is that by the time college acceptance letters came around you were already pretty hardened from years of being rejected by girls and team coaches?

 

[ekeen]

So what you're saying, ekeen is that by the time college acceptance letters came around you were already pretty hardened from years of being rejected by girls and team coaches?

Hell f'in yes they should be. The examples with sports and asking people out are easy examples.

I always looked (and still look) at a failure as a way to gain fresh perspective and try not to make the same mistakes again. It's part of growing up right? The experience of seeing poor kids selling bubble gum and tortillas in Mexico City versus what constitutes a 'struggle' here in Americais pretty ridicolous. Either one of two things is going on here....we've REALLY lowered the bar on what constitutes pain or the boston.com is printing poppycock.

Nobody likes to lose but it hardens the fucking heart and makes you adapt to succeed. That is all I'm saying.

 

[jwinslow]

These kids are "crybabies" because college rejections pissed them off. Does that make ekeen a crybaby because these kids' behavior pissed him off? Sounds to me like they found a harmless way to blow off some steam - good on 'em.

Much ado about less than nothing.

Or whining about pastor choices and fringe support of a candidate you don't support in the first place...

 

[buckeyefool]

Reading the article the action in actually a good idea. It is teaching the kids a way to deal with rejection, in a pretty healthy way. The school they talk about in the article sounds like it is ultra competitive and many of these kids had always planned on going to an ivy league school. When you "whole life" is getting into one of these schools and you don't it could be crushing to the child and possible make them even suicidal. I think posting the letters shows the kids that they are not alone.

Whining would be them trying to sue the schools to get in, or trying to get schools to change the way they accept kids.

 

[tibor75]

Or whining about pastor choices and fringe support of a candidate you don't support in the first place...

 

[OSUsushichic]

Come on, ekeen, it's "students", not "student's". You would think someone getting an MBA could figure that out.

 

[shetuck]

Come on, ekeen, it's "students", not "student's". You would think someone getting an MBA could figure that out.

That's you're opinion. :p

 

[FCollinsBuckeye]

This surprises me. I figured colleges would be printing rejection letters in purple ink by now.

Heartless bastards.

 

[Best Buckeye]

This surprises me. I figured colleges would be printing rejection letters in purple ink by now.

Heartless bastards.

you expecting another one ?