Dearest Lakewood High School Principals,
As I sit in school I listen.
I listen to my teachers talk about בין אדם לחבירו.
I Listen to my teachers talk about treating others with respect.
I listen to my teachers talk about how we should get to know someone before judging.
As I sit in school I hear,
Stories about girls who reach out to help a fellow classmate.
Stories about people who expand their circle.
Stories about girls who look out for another girl.
As I sit in school I get inspired.
Inspired to include.
Inspired to look out.
Inspired to connect.
But then I stop and think.
Think of the girls who didnt get into school.
They call.
They ask.
They beg.
But you all say no!
Why?
Because they dont’t fit “in the box.”
Too different…
Too dumb…
Too out of it…
As I sit in school I wonder. ..
I wonder how it is that the same place that is teaching me to accept. is not accepting.
I wonder how it is that the same place that tells me not to judge is judging.
I wonder how it is that the same place that is building, is destroying!!
Signed,
A tenth grader
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Not sure what people don’t understand. Not every girl belongs in every school. If it’s not good for the girl then why put her in that position?
spot on, nailed it, she’s on target nuff said
Very powerful! You expressed yourself so well. I totally hear how it can feel like a contradiction, but I think the message is that we all have to try our best – schools and individuals.
100% correct if a high school girl can recognize how crazy this is then there should be no reason the rest of lakewood, Tom’s river Howell and jackson cannot!
This wasn’t written by a student, it was written by someone that’s not yet in school…
very nice but you are not a tenth grader… I’m sure of that!
WOWOW
Wow so well written! I could not agree more ! Hashem yerachem! I wonder if all these school owners would have the same answer when they have to give a din vcheshbon achar meah v’esrim.
Just like in business I can decide if I want to hire you or not, so can a school decide if they want to except you or not. No one owes you anything.
the issue is that almost every school wants to be the top school and no one cares about the less then top kids. So instead of complaining go open a school for them.
incorrect. as a business you are not destroying the neshama of a person when he/she gets rejected by one HR department after another. he /she will find a position and the couple will work out their finances.
the letter is written to the high school system as a whole that has collectively left this girl on the street which is murdering her yideshkiet in 2026. they don’t have a right to do that, someone should and must step up and take her in!!
to open a new school is daunting and extremely difficult as you know all the logistics that go into it. so who are you exactly talking to when you say “you” should open a new school. heres a rule: The people that are financially capable or well connected due to name recognition and can open a school. are not the people with kids out of school. the people with kids out of school have zero ability to start a school so its completely not a practical and frankly an insensitive notion
The issue is that people only want to send to top schools. They’ll send their really needy child there but not their regular kids.
Well written, short and to the point.
Beautiful true words
imagine a grown adult cosplaying as a 10th grader…
This is an amazingly mature letter for a young person to write. She is absolutely correct in what she wrote.
Her parents and school should be very proud of her.
I am not sure if this will be posted. However, I do not believe it is the place of a 10th grader to publicly condemn a school administration in such a fashion. This 10th grader has no idea of the cheshbonos and why the school did not accept students. In my day (and I am not 70 years old) this would have been considered real chutzpah. I do not work for a school, and it is possible that some schools could do more. But in general this new trend of giving non-adults a forum to criticize older people in public is in my opinion very much kineged the Torah. If there needs to be improvement on the part of schools, that is for Rabbonim, parents, and other adults to deal with. If the non-adult is wondering about it and really wants an answer rather than just to criticize, he or she is entitled to respectfully and privately ask someone about it. Not to criticize in public.
I feel that the students input is valuable to a certain extent. In the day and age of AI it’s often hard to discern.
Sometimes students are mistreated by the brass, and there is no one who is willing to stand up for them. In those instances, the students must summon within themselves the courage to call out those in charge when they are hurting others, otherwise the unfortunate students who’ve been dealt a cruel and unfair card will suffer. Sometimes a public venue, when no specific names are mentioned, is the best place and most convenient place to reproach, instead of personally seeking out the mistreaters and reproaching them to their faces. And sometimes there is no need to seek out an answer for mistreatment and hurt, because, truthfully, there is no answer, just plain, old, corrupt middos.
When the adults in the picture are not accomplishing and getting the job done, a teenager should be allowed to speak, especially if the situation involves themselves. I don’t think this letter was written out of chutzpa. I think it was written out of pain. Even if it wasn’t written from a 10th grader, the person who wrote the letter can very much feel the pain of teenager. I have a hard time saying that about you, @FSM. So, shut your mouth and open your ears to the cries of 14 year-old girls. YES! TEENAGERS, not ADULTS as you call them, who are sitting home because they are just a little bit different or because no one can look past the outside and see a neshama inside each girl that was not accepted. If we should all be emulating G-d, we should all be giving everyone a second chance. These girls aren’t even given a first. Let that sink in.
In you day, youngsters were not permitted to question adults. That doesn’t work so well nowadays.
When adults can act responsibly and in line with the Torah and rachmanus of a yid, then we can tell our kids what to say. When adults act need of what they preach it’s hard to tell kids that the adults are right…
It’s the children who have to live with what the grown-ups do; don’t you think they should be allowed to express themselves?
🤔
I really appreciate the sensitivity of this student! My hope is that whoever it is becomes a HS principal one day bec we need brave, compassionate and sensitive leaders
this young lady expressed her thoughts and feelings beautifully. She should have signed her name,IF the author is really a 10th grader.
And get kicked out of school?
This is an issue for the ages. Rules for thee, not for me. How many schools refuse wonderful girls from wonderful families, only to accept someone else for the money they bring in. Then they teach their students that Hashem is the Provider. Etc. etc.
Some will agree
some will disagree
some will question who the writer actually is
we live in a generation where the youth need truth. They will question what looks unaligned with honesty some will call this chutzpah
our neveim and Torah call this geulah energy
do your own research you may be surprised by how our great sages predicted this in very positive ways
Every word this girl said!! Every word!!
I remember thinking the same exact thing’s when i was in school. (After not being accepted for a year and a half)
They should be ashamed!!
Shout to the judgemental people in the back!
Look around your classroom. Perhaps it’s a room that was designed for 25 girls, but now holds close to 50. How long do you think it will take you to get to know the girls on the other side of the room?
Look at your teacher, who wants to get to know her students. But she teaches such large classes, and so few times per week. When will she even have time to learn their names, much less who they really are?
Do you really think there is room for another girl?
What I can’t understand is why the oversized classes aren’t divided into smaller classes. And why teachers can’t teach more subjects to the same class, so at least they have more of a chance to connect with the girls.
While your letter is poignant, it doesn’t take the facts into account.
This letter was written by an actual 10th grader in a good high school with real NORMAL healthy (and now hurt) friends not in school.(No AI was used) It wasnt chs”v intended for “advice” to adults. Rather to share a students feeling and perspective on this very painful reality.Hoping it would perhaps have some positive effect.
She wrote this poem privately , not to publicly post anywhere . It was my (maybe silly) idea to post it publicly.
The message is proper regardless of who wrote it. And surely it is in the thoughts of many young ladies in school even if it would be considered chutzpah for them to verbalize it…..Additionaly keep in mind many of the unplaced girls are not applying to the wrong school or have the wrong haskafos etc it is just a setup that fails many. Addressing the person that said the school is their private bussiness to do with as they please they cannot take tzedaka money or maaser money from people to run their bussiness…..
Go read the voice article from this past week it explain how things work , in short sometime the school stretched themself too much and a class of 35 + is not a class but almost a factory at this point so yes we need more school to open
I went to public school when I was a kid. You went to the school in your district regardless of who else was there. We had all kinds of kids in our classes. We turned out fine. It’s time to stop being so spoiled and exclusive.
While you may have some good points you’re in Tenth grade and you’re only seeing a fraction of the picture.