by Lucia Guatney, Cherry Creek High School If you saw things the way I do, you'd think that the title of this article was an oxymoron. High school, from my personal experience at least, is rampant with anti-intellectualism and general ignorance (lamentable considering that it's supposed to be a place where ignorance is eliminated). It seems that only a minuscule minority of students cares about anything other than which friend is dating which other friend, which band just came out with a new album, or anything outside of their social lives.
That's why it seemed so important to me to start a freethought group. Not just because there was a lack of skepticism (though there are quite a lot of creationists), but also to get students to start thinking and caring about the world around them.
I went to my first CFI conference (The Secular Society and Its Enemies) last November in the splendid city of New York. I hadn't a clue that meeting fellow student freethinkers could be so much fun. For the first time since I'd entered high school, I was in an oasis of thought with intelligent discussions taking place all around me. Not only were there speakers with fascinating subjects, but there was also the opportunity to talk to fellow student freethinkers and other attendees. Later that evening, I was in shock to find myself having dinner right across from Richard Dawkins in the Beekman Pub, and conversing about campus activities with all the other students at the conference.
Lucia (standing, right) receives an ovation at the Beekman Pub
About a week after the conference, I e-mailed Richard Dawkins because I felt the need to thank him not only for dining with us but for his books which had helped me appreciate science ("appreciate" being an understatement; more like "love passionately to death") so much. He wrote back telling me that he had remembered who I was, and not only that...he told me that he'd been "bowled over" when I told him that I was fourteen at the time. I looked up the words in the dictionary—they mean "highly impressed". Imagine how I reacted.
If you imagined me falling out of my chair and giggling madly, you imagined correctly.
As proud as I was to have bowled over my own personal hero, I was a bit mystified. What had I done that impressed him so much in those five minutes I'd spent talking (rather incoherently I think) about my attempts at starting a freethought group?
And then I began to remember that the vast majority of high school students didn't care or think about the things that freethinkers tend to value so much. That's when my purpose for starting a freethought group became clear. What I intend to do is make it into something like an everlasting CFI conference or Beekman Pub, where refreshing intellectual conversations occur.
It hasn't been easy.
Though I know that there exists a substantial population of students interested in freethought, my group has yet to gain official recognition because I've had many problems finding a faculty sponsor. But, it's a big school. I reckon that persistence will eventually find me one. And then, I can get down to business making my freethought oasis.
Lucia Guatney is a freshman at Cherry Creek High School in Greenwood Village, CO. She also runs the blog Splendid Elles.
