History is not really my best subject (this is not because of the teachers, because I know that here at Uni the history teachers are the BEST). It's hard to pay attention when I can't see how what we're learning can apply to the modern world. I realize that is the whole point of history classes, but all the names, dates, and rebellions seem to go over my head.

To be perfectly honest, my history class this year is known, in our teacher's words, as the "most comatose I have ever had." Unfortunately, instead of the students getting better at paying attention, we have broken yet another teacher. Our history class is reduced to telling stories pretty much all of one day, then spending the next day with everyone zoned out as we try to rush through two days' worth of information.

It is on those fun, unproductive days that I learn the most. Sadly, not about history, but it lends interesting insights to a lot of what is going on in today's world as we go on extremely long tangents. Mostly, I realize how different Uni really is from all of the other public schools in Champaign-Urbana.

When my friends and I began to have a side conversation one day in class, we began to debate how free we are. (Although I'm not really sure how we got there.) One of my friends mentioned that she had read something about how we don't really have freedom of speech at school. Now I personally think that at Uni we have so much more freedom than at a regular public school because we are encouraged to speak our minds about whatever we want to.

Then I realized that maybe that isn't the best thing. Heated debates about irrelevant subjects occur so much that I have learned to walk away when I see two people talking about something, even if it is about how to cut fruit with a fork (there was once such argument that spanned two days and two pieces of fruit). I simply walk away, knowing that I won't be able to talk to them for a while.

At my middle school, we were made to stand up every day and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If someone tried to make us do that at Uni, I think that a massive amount of angry e-mails would be sent to them. As for our American flags? They are just little stickers on our blackboards. Our student population is like a "Where's Waldo?" of politics, with the Republicans acting as Waldo.

The question I'm asking is: Do our freedoms entail doing anything we want during our completely unrestricted free periods, even if it's potentially harmful to the school — or arguing about how to cut fruit with a plastic kitchen utensil?

I think that we should all just relax and save our strength for when we have to debate in Congress or something like that. I bet then you'll wish that you had paid attention to the politics in history class. Or paid attention at all.