It’s a truth universally acknowledged among high school students that navigating the maze of assignments, tests, and endless schoolwork requires a little more than just good grades and hard work. It requires strategy, and for some of us, a well-developed rulebook full of excuses and evasions. As I look back on my high school years, I can’t help but realize that navigating through the endless cycle of assignments, tests, and presentations wasn’t just about showing up, but about strategically showing up. While many of my classmates hustled to do their homework, study for tests, and attend every class, I had my own way of surviving high school, through a carefully curated collection of excuses, sick days, and tactical ditching.

There was the matter of ditching school. Sick days were a perfect way to escape the pressures of classwork. But unlike the average student, I didn’t just call in sick for any old reason. I had mastered the perfect excuse for every occasion. Take Jake, for instance. He was the king of “mental health” days. If he had a test he hadn’t studied for, or a presentation he was terrified of, he’d find the perfect reason to stay home, usually involving a last-minute, “I’m not feeling well.” It worked because no one questioned the concept of mental health anymore. 

I, too, perfected my sick-day routine. A fake cough here, a dramatic sigh there, and suddenly I had permission to stay home. It was about knowing which days were worth skipping. When the schedule promised a boring class or a stressful test, I made sure I was conveniently “sick.”

But sometimes, my ditching wasn’t just about avoiding tests, but rather about prioritizing. There was the time I skipped class to catch up on assignments for another subject I had missed earlier in the week. Instead of wasting an entire period in a class where I knew I wouldn’t learn anything, I made the tactical decision to be productive in a different way. After all, if you’re going to ditch, it might as well be for something that benefits you, right?

It was these little moments, these small acts of rebellion that made me feel like I was taking control of my high school experience.