Who I Was in High School

2015-02-24 · letter vlog · John · 3:19 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Finding his poor 1994 report cards, John says he was lucky to get hundreds of chances and teachers who believed in him, and argues that high school is not destiny: a life's course is never decided at once, and people aren't just one thing.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Greeting; an office reorganization turns up old documents: a childhood picture with braces, a 'realistic' drawing, and his favourite 2006 fan mail about Looking for Alaska

• ★ John says his office is undergoing a significant reorganization, and along the way he found documents from his past. — 00:00:02
• ★★ John shows his favourite fan mail ever, from 2006, about Looking for Alaska: the reader felt something that was neither the urge to throw up nor to take a crap. (playful) — 00:00:19 · Looking for Alaska (novel)

00:00:41 — John reads his 1994 junior-year report cards and his teachers' comments

• ★★ John found his 1994 junior-year report cards: C- in Latin, B- in French, B in American history, C- in pre-calc, C in chemistry and C- in English, with critical teacher comments. — 00:00:41

00:01:30 — John on being a terrible high-school student: skipped classes, smoking in the woods, a C student at academic decathlon, while Hank got great grades

• ★★ John says he was a terrible high-school student and is still embarrassed about it 20 years later; he missed classes that were early or clashed with smoking cigarettes in the woods. — 00:01:30
• ★ John jokes that he became the third-best C student in Alabama at academic decathlon by first getting terrible grades. (playful) — 00:01:45
• ★★ John says he underachieved, skipped classes, skipped homework and reading and was always behind and stressed, while Hank got great grades and a college scholarship. — 00:01:55

00:02:07 — What the report cards made him think: he was lucky and had teachers who believed in him; high school (and college, and your 20s and 30s) is not destiny; people aren't just one thing; thanks to his teachers; sign-off

• ★★★ John says he was incredibly lucky: he got not one second chance but hundreds, and excellent teachers kept believing in him though he gave them no reason to. — 00:02:10
• ★★★ John argues high school is not destiny: people act as if it decides the whole course of your life, but that course is never decided; there are hundreds of forks in the road every day. — 00:02:23

• ★★★ John says college, your 20s and your 30s are not destiny either; destiny does not happen all at once but only in retrospect. — 00:02:50

  “destiny is not something that happens all at once. It's something that happens only in retrospect.”

• ★ John says he was a much better student in college than in high school. — 00:02:51

• ★★ John says people aren't just one thing: he thought he was a screw-up in high school, and he was, but he was also a pretty good reader. — 00:03:06
• ★★ John thanks his teachers for knowing he wasn't just a screw-up, even when he didn't know it. — 00:03:11

Humor (significant)

• John reads his favourite 2006 fan letter about Looking for Alaska, which says it made the reader feel something. — 00:00:36

  “Not the two main things I feel: the urges to defecate and vomit, but something new.”

• John reads his Latin teacher's comment on the tailspin behind his C-. — 00:00:56

  “Yeah, that's Latin; that's a dead language.”

• After a C- in Latin, John moves on to his French grade. — 00:00:58

  “got a B- in French, not to brag.”

• John asks how you become the third-best C student in Alabama at academic decathlon. — 00:01:51

  “First by getting terrible grades so you're not an A or B student.”

Threads in this video

• told · John's poor grades and skipped classes in high school, from his 1994 report cards — John reads his 1994 junior-year report cards (C- Latin, B- French, B American history, C- pre-calc, C chemistry, C- English) and says he was a terrible student who skipped classes, smoked in the woods and was always behind. (00:00:41)
• restate · Do people get what they deserve, or do luck and privilege decide? — John says he was incredibly lucky as a poor student: he got hundreds of chances and teachers who believed in him without reason. (00:02:10)
• restate · Is adulthood a destination you arrive at? — John argues high school, college and your 20s and 30s are not destiny; the course of a life is never decided at once and destiny happens only in retrospect. (00:02:23)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John's poor grades and skipped classes in high school, from his 1994 report cards — told 4×; last: retold, 2026-03-03

Mentioned

Alabama · Looking for Alaska (novel) · tobacco smoking · United States Academic Decathlon

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