“Literally less than an eighth of each graduating class goes to an actual college while the rest all go to DVC.”

Feel insulted yet? (This person is talking about us…) As a student (or a teacher), hearing anyone talk badly about you and your school can be annoying and frustrating, especially is the bad mouthing is based off of stereotypes, generalizations, rivalry, or just pure spite. When someone insults your school, in a way, they’re insulting you, your friends, and also your teachers.

Many claims in this negative review of our school is obviously all opinion and bad, inaccurate statistics. Such includes;

→ “Many people at the school are fake”

→ “The teachers are either extremely good or extremely bad.”

→ “Most of the students listen to crappy pop music because its the ‘in” thing to do.”

→ “Most of the students are stoners who will smoke week or to to parties on the weekend and will post on Facebook how drunk or stoned they got.”

And,

→ “The girls that think they’re hot are usually anorexic.”

Many, if not all, of these accusations are hateful, and very judgemental. While some may find truth in a few of the claims, others will find these comments to be extremely offensive and insulting. While there are positive reviews floating around about our school, this particular review has nothing positive to say about the school or the people in it. Those quotes above were taken directly from a review on Urban Dictionary.

More negative reviews roam the Internet, influencing parents of the area and students of the towns. Some focus mainly on the students and how “animal-like” they are, while others bash on teachers, saying they lack passion, accountability, and teaching skills. Some even go as far as insulting principles, complaining about how they operate and the decisions they choose to make.

Disagreeing is one thing, but disagreeing then spitting out insults at the person further is simply unnecessary.

We all have our opinions and experiences, but no one should be insulted like some have been on these hateful reviews that can be found on various websites. Many of the claims, espeically about students, are sterotypical and generalized, and obvioulsy doesnt apply to every single student in this school.

→ “San Ramon is one of the best schools there is. The academics are amazing and so are the sports and music programs. I would never switch schools and the staff is very supportive. No one is left alone and everyone is like a family. SRV is full of spirit and learning and everyone loves it there.”(Posted 4 years ago: http;//www.zillow.com/danville-ca/schools/san-ramon-valley-high-school-9603/ )

→ “Great school. Has amazing sports and art programs as well as phenomenal educational opportunies. It has an amazing record of sending kids off to reat colleges, it has very minimal bullying, and it was teachers (many great, some not so much) that do try their hardest to connection with you and fet you ready for your post-high school life.” (Posted in 2013: http://www.yelp.com/biz/san-ramon-valley-high-school-danville)

These reviews (some recent, others not as) exhibits a positive few years at the school. While obviously every claim does not apply to every student, others do. But times have changed, and so has our school. What we as students, and teachers, do will impact our school and how others look at us.

➜ To read more about this issue, how it affects our school and the people in it, and what you can do to help eliminate hateful reviews from the Internet, keep your eyes open for the continued half of this article in the San Ramon Valley High School Newspaper.