0588: "Pep Rally"

[vviipp]

I live in Canada and my HS doesn't really have these over-the-top pep-rallies. Our school sucks at pretty much every sport imaginable (football, lacrosse, hockey, baseball/softball, volleyball....etc), basically, you name it, we have it, and we stink royally at it, so when there are "assemblies" to talk about sports achievements and the organizers are trying to get our spirits up, it's usually only the people on the teams that get pumped up the most, the rest of us just face-palm. What's EALLY, REALLY, REALLLY painful that nobody has mentioned however, are the "motivational speakers" that come by once in a blue moon. They clearly use the same old bag of tricks for every school they go to, most of the things they talk about aren't even relevant to us (last time someone spent 30 minutes on the harm of drug abuse.... when we're the best behaved school in the whole area and I'll be damned if out of 1400 students there is even 1 active drug user), and using exaggerated stories to instill false hope. I'm not if it's sadder if they believe in what they're telling us, or if it'd be worse that they don't believe in what they're telling us. In any case, I've had to sit through 4 of those in 4 years now, I'm graduating this year *knocks on wood*, and that's not something I'll miss.

Woot! Canadian Power!

I'll agree, I get pretty bored during pep rallies; in our school, each school team and club just go on stage and the one performing with the most spirit gets a free pizza lunch. 'Cause the only things good about these are that we get to skip class, and they're usually on civies days, when we don't have to wear our uniforms.

I mean, the last rally on Cinco de Mayo, one guy mentioned the swine flu (Otherwise, Mexico's a great place).

[firinne]

Class of 2011.

...Are you from the future?

The year in "Class of ___" refers to graduating year.

[Delass]

Well if cheerleaders like to sleep around, which they obviously do according to other posts here, but they don't sleep with *you*, isn't that reason enough to hate them?

But if they did sleep with you, its good reason to defend them and future generation of them.

Not quite. Having not slept with any cheerleaders, its still bullshit to stereotype people because they play a sport. Honestly, im disappointed by the ignorance in this thread. Hey guys, try getting to know people rather than just accepting rumors or bad porn scripts, because we all know how accurate those are, as fact.

[Nyktos]

I just keep wondering what would happen if they tried to hold a pep rally at my school. The teachers tend to have trouble convincing students that it isn't the worst school in the city.

Was I the only person who had to read this comic four or five times before realizing that he was talking about a porch and not a Magic: The Gathering deck in the second panel?

I thought the same thing at first.

[Killa B]

My high school made pep rallies mandatory. It was cool to skip two periods, but it was still boring as hell.

You're not allowed to leave, but I always did. And what did they do about it? They gave me detentions, which I also didn't go to. As long as they didn't deny me credit, I could give a shit less about their disciplinary actions.

[Snowdream]

I didn't mind the pep rally's in our High School... they got us up and moving around, which was nice.

And also they gave us free candy! How can you not love that?!

However, I feel no pity for the current students who must go through this. Why? -- Try being >in< it as a teacher...

It took me two months to grow my hair back

[Sprocket]

Nothing about high school made sense.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03 ... gh-school/

High school for me was like midlife crisis for most people. one gigantic rut that made me wonder what I was doing on this planet.

[Kalos]

My high school made pep rallies mandatory. It was cool to skip two periods, but it was still boring as hell.

You're not allowed to leave, but I always did. And what did they do about it? They gave me detentions, which I also didn't go to. As long as they didn't deny me credit, I could give a shit less about their disciplinary actions.

Awww shit, skipping class. You're so fucking hard.

[Trombonastics]

What's EALLY, REALLY, REALLLY painful that nobody has mentioned however, are the "motivational speakers" that come by once in a blue moon. They clearly use the same old bag of tricks for every school they go to, most of the things they talk about aren't even relevant to us (last time someone spent 30 minutes on the harm of drug abuse.... when we're the best behaved school in the whole area and I'll be damned if out of 1400 students there is even 1 active drug user), and using exaggerated stories to instill false hope. I'm not if it's sadder if they believe in what they're telling us, or if it'd be worse that they don't believe in what they're telling us. In any case, I've had to sit through 4 of those in 4 years now, I'm graduating this year *knocks on wood*, and that's not something I'll miss.

Our school didn't have much funding after the county brought in Friends of Rachael (kid who died in Columbine whose (is that the proper whose?) parents decided to make a nonprofit group to "create a chain reaction of kindness and compassion in your school, and in your community). But we did still have some...

Near the end of of my senior year the seniors supposedly had a surprise, we just had to get on the buses out front and they would tell us where we were going after we were on the buses. Being me, I decided to 'opt-out' and not show up.

Turns out they went to our rival high school to hear a motivational speaker. And partially because of the pep rallies instilling a hatred for people based on their zip code, about a half-dozen fights broke out almost within the first 10 minutes. When the fighting finally subsided, the speaker talked mostly about building courage to ask someone out to the prom (which the percentage of people who were already registered for the prom at that point was 98%, a figure that includes those who already had chosen not to attend). He also talked about how alcohol would ruin your life permanently if you laid your eyes upon it, and GOD HELP YOU if you ever consumed any amount of it in any form. They were then informed that the speech was sponsored by Budweiser.

[TikiTikiRumba]

I'm a freshman in high school right now and I hate pep rallies. Every pep rally this year, they allowed the kids to sit in the cafeteria. We were not allowed to leave school, or even go to the bathroom, as the bathrooms were all locked in case some kid would be hiding in the bathroom to skip the rally. Which made no sense because everyone knew they could just hang out in the cafeteria.
There was one rally, though, that everyone was forced to go to. It was the "Drug Free" pep rally and it basically involved some 6th graders they had taken from other schools doing the limbo with the Whore Core, I mean the Drill Team, for an hour. And that was it. Oh wait, the football team ran out in a circle.

[Troy Martin]

My HS only does this creepy stuff during championships (we kick ass at basketball) and at the beginnings/ends of years. It happens a lot more for the juniors than for the seniors (no, that's not juniors as in grade 11 and seniors as in grade 12, that's juniors as grades 8-10 and seniors as 11+12.)

[Kaijyuu]

There are a lot of things in life in the same vein as pep rallies. I despise things that promote superiority of groups based on illogical and arbitrary stuff (like school districts).

The one that really bugs me is bloodlines. I'm not sure why I should be interested in my great grandfather, for example, over anyone else's great grandfather. They're all human beings I never knew.
This is extended to cousins and such. Yeah I understand being introduced to them because my parents/whatever would like me to meet them, but when I'm expected to spend time with someone because "they're family?"

[booyabazooka]

Nothing about high school made sense.

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/03 ... gh-school/

Does the blog author think that non-white people somehow have it easier in high school? I just remember it sucking no matter your genetic composition.

I realize you're probably just trying to argue with people, but I'll bite: The blog is called Stuff White People Like. It pokes fun at "white people" culture. The article's point is that one thing white people tend to like is bitching about high school, not that people with problems in high school tend to be white. And my point was just that everyone has things to bitch about from high school *

* smiley face: afterthought attempt to disperse any potential animosity

[zaqwithaq]

We'd have Pep rallies...which were mostly skits before our big crosstown rivalry game...which we always lost....

the rallies tended to suck. mostly lame stuff....

but then we had <insert name of crosstown school here> Week. Dress up days, school spirit themed newspaper and broadcast, and LOTS of posters....covering everything...and then the death march where the football team march around with an effigy of the opposing team and the band plays the funeral march...I can't wait till senior year when i get to go and just play LOUD...

also: cheerleaders=sexual...you haven't been to a modern high school football game and seen their "dances" if you think otherwise....

[Jorpho]

The one that really bugs me is bloodlines. I'm not sure why I should be interested in my great grandfather, for example, over anyone else's great grandfather. They're all human beings I never knew.
This is extended to cousins and such. Yeah I understand being introduced to them because my parents/whatever would like me to meet them, but when I'm expected to spend time with someone because "they're family?"

I'm told it's something that becomes readily understandable once your parents and elderly friends start dying off.

Memento mori!

[Fougare]

Considering my geek/nerd status in high school I did not take much satisfaction in class being cut short, then again being an over achiever with 13 AP tests in my high school career I don't suppose I fit the stereotypical jock who does anything to skip class. Plus I was in cross country, and the cheer leading squad had some sort of rule that they had to attend at least 3 "matches" for every sport, so 3 times a season we would get half the squad all to ourselves (though if you think about it, how much can you ogle while you are running near full speed along a non-redundant 3.1 mile course?), and football games offered longer staring sessions as well, so there really wasn't a good reason to like pep rallies... other than watching the "scotty 5" (the small group of male cheerleaders [5 of them]) who where the "popular" kids make total idiots of themselves... yeah, that was the consolation prize...

I did have some sort of school spirit, I just didn't enjoy being sardine-packed with a bulging backpack on old wooden benches in a hot smelly gym.

[Tachyon]

None of our cheerleaders were attractive....so I guess we were never supportive.

We all hated our highschool anyway.

[Dibley]

Still, it sounds substantially more appealing than mandatory public showers, another seemingly-mythological high school phenomenon that I am grateful to have avoided. (Or is it completely mythological? Please tell me it is so.)

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by mandatory, but we had public showers, and they didn't have stalls or anything. Still do in college for that matter.

The thing is, no one gives a damn I mean, we all have the same bits, right? Is it that big a tragedy if someone sees your penis?

[GamerWiz]

I just registered just because of this comic.

I'm currently in High School and I can't believe how awesomely true this comic is. We have a couple pep rallies a year, I hate each and every one of them. Our sports teams aren't even that good.

Some people get really enthusiastic about it though. To give you an idea of how far they'll go to entertain us and get us full of 'School Spirit' here's a few examples. Each rally is an hour to 90mins, which is a really long time to be sitting in bleachers with everyone yelling. We always have 'games' which usually involve some sort of mess, and just serve to embarrass whoever participates. We have an asshat of a mascot, who goes around acting over flamboyant. Its not even something cool too, its a 'Titan' and it has a chin bigger than Joe Biden's mouth. And a skirt.

Now, ridiculously, we usually have rallies whenever we're playing our rival, which happens to be the other of 2 high schools in my city. Not even a different city. Our names are only one word difference, [City] High North, and [City] High South. And since there's 3 middle schools and some split between high schools, most people will know quite a few people from the other school. And the colors aren't even that different. Navy Blue and Purple.

I remember one time, during a pep rally, the principal came out with his walkie-talkie-radio-thingy(Which every person of importance Principal, Assistant Principals, Counselors, etc. to communicate) and got on with the prinipal from the other school. Then he made us all(That's at least 1k students) yell 'Go Titans!' or something so that they would hear it.

Its all just incredibly stupid.

[haliblix]

Not very many things I remember about the functions at my High School but I do remember the rallies and how hard they sucked. In high school I was the story you've already heard a million times before; unpopular, awkward, couldn't fit in and then college change all of that yadda yadda yadda so you can imagine how much I really wanted to go to the rally in place of the only class I liked going to.

I still remember sitting there watching them honor a bunch of giant morons because we had our first shot at the finals even though half of them were going to repeat senior year. Hilarity ensued when we lost the very next game and were out of finals.

[philsov]

Does anyone else feel sorry for the cheerleader? I mean, I hated the pep rallies at my school as much as everyone else posting here, but she's all alone in front of an uncooperative crowd and looks really down in the fourth panel. It just makes me feel kinda bad for her.

Really, this is how most of my pep rallies went, on either of my high schools. The majority of the students (moreso upperclassmen, a nice chunk managed to just leave school in their cars come rally time) really didn't care for em, and the cheerleaders would be all:

cheerleaders: "when I say WE you say RULE!"
cheerleaders: "WE"
crowd: (feeble) "ruuuule"

Sometimes I'd just pitch in out of pity and etiquette >_>

The only people REALLY pumped up were people on the current xxx sport team or the people who felt obligated to be so (student council, etc).

[Jorpho]

Still, it sounds substantially more appealing than mandatory public showers, another seemingly-mythological high school phenomenon that I am grateful to have avoided. (Or is it completely mythological? Please tell me it is so.)

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by mandatory, but we had public showers, and they didn't have stalls or anything. Still do in college for that matter.

The thing is, no one gives a damn I mean, we all have the same bits, right? Is it that big a tragedy if someone sees your penis?

By "mandatory", I mean people who are not comfortable showering in public are forced to do so anyway under threat of some penalization.

[Kadzar]

Still, it sounds substantially more appealing than mandatory public showers, another seemingly-mythological high school phenomenon that I am grateful to have avoided. (Or is it completely mythological? Please tell me it is so.)

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by mandatory, but we had public showers, and they didn't have stalls or anything. Still do in college for that matter.

The thing is, no one gives a damn I mean, we all have the same bits, right? Is it that big a tragedy if someone sees your penis?

By "mandatory", I mean people who are not comfortable showering in public are forced to do so anyway under threat of some penalization.

Well, you don't actually have to; you can just change your clothes and wait around until the class is over. I don't really like being around wet, naked men, so that's what I did.

[EnderSword]

I guess I feel bad that you all had such sad, cynical childhoods where cheering or participating in something was so terrible and oppresive.

Lot of hatred in these comments towards people who did participate too, they must be morons or sluts or whores or jerks for taking part in sports and activities provided for them.

I often find the people who claim to have been the mostp icked on by these big bad popular kids were the real assholes who alienated the people who picked on them to begin with by bashing everything they did. Reminds me of a 30 Rock episode.

[fresh]

I think ingroup loyalty in an individual only appears to the degree that that individual feels they are part of the group. if you're not on any sports teams, and if you hang out with people from other towns/schools, a pep rally is gonna seem fucking stupid. but then, ask yourself what your reaction would be if someone called your family fucking stupid. or some other group you're a part of. ingroup loyalty is sort of atavistic, but it's a part of us.

also, didn't randall go to a mathematics high school? I didn't think math high schools had pep rallies?

[Snowdream]

I guess I feel bad that you all had such sad, cynical childhoods where cheering or participating in something was so terrible and oppresive.

Lot of hatred in these comments towards people who did participate too, they must be morons or sluts or whores or jerks for taking part in sports and activities provided for them.

I often find the people who claim to have been the mostp icked on by these big bad popular kids were the real assholes who alienated the people who picked on them to begin with by bashing everything they did. Reminds me of a 30 Rock episode.

I noticed this too. To be honest, I think it just really highlights that they don't have school spirit because of the environment. Additionally, the rallies just bring together and then celebrate everything that lessens their spirit in the first place. You also don't have pep rallies where they celebrate the non-sport clubs. Go Drama Club go!!

[Ghona]

I guess I feel bad that you all had such sad, cynical childhoods where cheering or participating in something was so terrible and oppresive.

I like my sense of hearing. I see no reason to lose it for so trivial a reason.

[EnderSword]

Whether you're part of the group to begin with though often originates from your buy-in to that concept to begin with too. So I think that's somewhat circular, You feel like you're involved because you belong to a community, but you won't belong to a community if you don't get involved.

Most schools has stuff beyond sports to do as well, maybe Randall was a Mathlete like Cady Heron or Kevin G.

[philsov]

You also don't have pep rallies where they celebrate the non-sport clubs. Go Drama Club go!!

You don't even have pep rallies for the lesser sports, either; golf, cross country, track, swimming, soccer, etc. At least, here in Texas. It's football rallies in the fall and basketball rallies in the spring. Everyone else be damned, because those are the two sports that actually get fans to come to the games.

In retrospect, I'm going to call the whole concept a marketing conspiracy.

[EnderSword]

We certainly had them for every team, and a Club Fair day for clubs to set up tables to recruit....no random cheering for that, but still was a mandatory assembly type thing.

I think again comes back to particpation though if Football was the only thing everyone cared about, and therefore everyone skipped it 'cause everyone thought it was stupid...that's too many everyones.

[philsov]

I think again comes back to particpation though if Football was the only thing everyone cared about, and therefore everyone skipped it 'cause everyone thought it was stupid...that's too many everyones.

What?

[EnderSword]

I think again comes back to particpation though if Football was the only thing everyone cared about, and therefore everyone skipped it 'cause everyone thought it was stupid...that's too many everyones.

What?

The conflicting claim that Football is popular while simulataneously no one likes it. If people who dislike pep rallies or want them different were the majority, odds are they would be different.
Similar to the claim that no one likes the popular kids...by definition untrue.

I've often found the popular people, or popular things were popular because people in general did like those people and things. The picked on kids were the people who were jerks or snotty enough that they eventually got picked on.

I never found that a quiet or non-insulting 'geek' ever got picked on. Passed over or not invited sometimes, yes, but not actively picked on.

[Iridos]

I don't mind the Americanized comics, but I think the humor is lost on me.

Agreed...and I live in America. They never did anything like this where I'm from.

Well, see, that's the difference - I wasn't born in the US and I never heard of such a thing or would ever have imagined such a thing exists :)

A comic doesn't need a punchline to be good.

Uh, sje46, are you actually *defending* a comic? Are you ill? Lemme check for fever... ouch, hot.
So let me help you and prompt you to your text: "Not cool, not funny, and not a good comic".








I

[Chfan]

To be honest, forcing students to do a pep rally is a waste of time. It's the sort of thing that if they didn't want to go in the first place, they probably won't get much "school spirit" from it anyway.

[Grave]

Wow, my school's pep rallies don't seem so bad any more. All we ever did was have the freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors compete against each other in a bunch of stupid games. It probably helps that our school was small-town enough that there wasn't really another school to compete against. We could also leave early, which meant that only about 10% of the senior class ever showed.

Anyway, I also read deck in the "Magic: The Gathering" sense at first.

[EnderSword]

To be honest, forcing students to do a pep rally is a waste of time. It's the sort of thing that if they didn't want to go in the first place, they probably won't get much "school spirit" from it anyway.

I completely disagree, my high school made me go see Les Miserables on a class trip, and no one wanted to sit through a dumb musical, and in the end pretty much everyone had changed their mind.

A lot of people don't know what they'd like and aren't willing to try. Who's to say that you don't inspire a kid to join one of the teams or something when they hadn't thought of it before.

Given the choice people would skip everything, including their classes.

[SocialSceneRepairman]

Yeah, well, there's a reason Boublil never wrote cheers.

[Killa B]

Awww shit, skipping class. You're so fucking hard.

I think you missed my point. I never skipped class. Pep rallies weren't class, and thus they couldn't deny me credit for skipping them.

I appreciate the sarcasm, though. You actually managed to piss me off a little bit, so well done I guess.

Edit:

By "mandatory", I mean people who are not comfortable showering in public are forced to do so anyway under threat of some penalization.

Hahaha, oh wow. The way you phrased that is unintentionally hilarious.

[Jorpho]

Aie! I suppose he who uses a word like "penalization" is just asking to get sigged.

[katethegreat]

Our school doesn't have pep rallies... I believe it is due to the fact that our auditorium and gym are very small. Or, because we don't have any school spirit in the first place.
We don't have group showers either. We have individual showers, but I don't think anyone has ever used them. Our school fails stereotypes.