Chapter 7

Write about something in the story you wish you had (or had more of) in your own life

Okay so I’ll skip chapter 6 cause literally nothing interesting happens, Jus got accepted into Yale and cause of the excitement stuff happens with SJ and he realises that he might be attracted to her. Romance makes me vomit and it’s really boring and unnecessary in my opinion so I ain’t gonna write a whole blog post about that chapter (it wasn’t THAT important anyway). Okay so when Justyce enters his Societal Evolutions class everyone already knows that he got accepted into Yale, news travels fast. Well, as expected, Jared is not happy about it (he is PISSED, cause he also applied and got deferred) and he wants to talk about “how affirmative action discriminates against members of the majority”*. He thinks it’s somehow unjust that Justyce got into Yale but he didn’t and that “I know for a fact that it’s because I’m white and he’s black”**. He assumes that his scores in the ATC and the SAT (standardised tests used for college admissions) are higher than Jus’ but the college still picked him, rather than Jared. So the two start comparing their scores, and Jared did a lil better in the SAT (fifteen-eighty to fifteen-sixty) but Jus did a lot better in the ATC (Thirty-four to thirty-three). Jared can’t BELIEVE that JUSTYCE did better than HIM!! There’s no way!! Everybody thinks that he’s overreacting but SJ knows what’s up and she says “it negates his assumption that because he’s white and you’re black, he’s more intelligent than you are”*** BOOM! Hell yeah! She saw through Jared’s bullshit IMMEDIATELY and called him out on it. That’s what I wish I had more of in my life, smart and intelligent people like Sarah-Jane who don’t let racism slide, who speak up against injustice, not keep their mouths shut. In my daily life, when someone says something offensive, the most common reaction I see is that other just chuckle awkwardly and try to ignore that comment. They rarely say “Hey, what you said is not okay because…” and I think that’s very unfortunate. If we had more people like SJ who aren’t afraid of confrontation then people wouldn’t say “Oh that’s so gay” if they don’t like something or make a sexist remark (for ex. girls can’t play video games) or use “Jew” as an insult. And yes, I’ve heard these before in THIS EXACT class I’m in right now. And they were all said by the same people. Did someone call them out on it? Nope, everybody just let it slide. Every single time. They even made fun of others trying to BREAK the habit of saying offensive comments. That’s why we need people like Sarah-Jane, then I wouldn’t have to worry about comments like “Oh you’re not good at this game cause you’re a girl” or “Don’t do that, it looks gay” ON A DAILY BASIS. But anyway, after SJ called Jared out and destroyed his arguments, he starts a hissy fit and shouts how unfair it is that Jus got in, they both should’ve gotten accepted, Jus stole his spot and it’s all his fault and all that good stuff. SJ comes to the rescue and knows exactly what to say, AGAIN! Ma girl can’t be stopped! She explains that (I’ll try to sum it up as best as I can) parents who have a better income can afford to send their kids to better schools, where the kids have a better chance of getting a good score on the admission tests. Parents with low income don’t have the same luxury, and their kids have to attend a school that’s not as good, and so their chances of getting a good score are worse than the richer kids. (And unfortunately, on average, POC have a lower income than white people) Their test scores are lower, and so it would be unfair of colleges to JUST look at that when they choose who gets in. And we should consider someone’s starting point before we make any assumptions. I was blown away at this point, if we had this way of thinking in our society, marginalised groups would be WAY better off. Anyway, after her amazing explanation, Jared was STILL pissed and he just HAD to add this: “Whatever. All I know is that no matter what college I end up at, when I see a minority, I’m gonna wonder if they’re qualified to be there.”**** OH… MY GOD. That sums his character up PERFECTLY. He’s so used to his privileges he gets jealous when other people get picked before him. Everyone was shocked, and I still wonder how he got away with that comment.

*Page 59, row 4-5

**Page 59, row 12

***Page 60, row 6-7

****Page 64, row 1-3

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