Comparison and contrast as a writing strategy

¶ … high school, the way it used to be and the way it is now. My high school has changed since I graduated, and it doesn't seem for the better.

My high school seemed huge while I attended it, but for some reason it doesn't seem so big or imposing any more. Maybe it's because my college campus is bigger, and was more daunting on the first couple of days of classes. I think it's because my high school has changed, and one of the reasons it seems smaller is because it is now more closed and less welcoming.

When I attended high school, vandalism wasn't a problem. The campus was open, and other than a fence surrounding the entire field and parking lots, the buildings were open and accessible too. My school had a good feel to it, safe, but welcoming at the same time. Now, an iron security fence separates the buildings from the street. Although they painted it in the school colors, it is still ugly, imposing, and unwelcoming. It makes my high school seem very different, and it makes me sad to see it. I remember the good times in high school, but the fence brings out the bad memories, like the fights after school, the graffiti that we removed as seniors, and the ugly side of high school life, like cliques and gossip. Without the fence, the school seemed to be my friend, but now, I'm clearly not welcome, and so I feel like an enemy.

Twain's essay "Two Views of the River" also shows how people feel differently as time passes, and Twain attempts to show what people learn from time and experience. My high school taught me just about everything I knew in my short life, but that didn't last long. As soon as I graduated, I was learning new things, even before I started attending college. I learned about freedom, about responsibility, and about moving on with my life. As a high school senior, I was the "top of the heap." Starting out in college reminds you you're back at the bottom, and there's nowhere to go but up! I think I have learned some humility since high school, but I also think that simply comes from growing older, and learning more about the world around you. The world can never look the same as it did in high school, because the world changes, and so do we.

Another thing I noticed was that my high school looked shabbier somehow. Sure, it's gotten a bit older since I left, but there's something more. It seems like the paint has faded, the weeds are taller, and some of the fields out behind the school aren't used as much, so they are less manicured and scragglier. I don't know what it is, but the school looks sad and neglected somehow. Some of the buildings look neglected too. The band room doesn't look like many students practice there anymore, and the doors are faded and the glass is cracked. When does a school begin to deteriorate, and what can you do to stop it? When do we get old enough that we begin to see things as they really are, and not through the "rose-colored glasses" of youth? When did I get old enough to see my high school as it really is?