Op / Ed

By: Miles Cloud 09-11-26

High school has four years. How concerned is each grade level about things like graduating or going to college? To graduate, you are required to have four credits of English and math, three credits of science, three credits of social studies, 0.5 credits of physical education, one fine arts credit, and four credits of electives. To demonstrate readiness, Ohio requires two seals, and one must be state-defined, according to the Ohio Department of Education’s website. 

Freshmen starting high school can be working on getting those credits and seals 

because if students slack off, then they’ll fail those classes. Failing means students didn’t get the credits they may need. That can make them have to retake classes and possibly have that work to worry about later on their senior or junior year. A student named Peyton Cloud is a freshman this year. Peyton Cloud stated, “No, not really,” when asked how worried she was about graduation. Understandably, she isn’t too worried about it. There are four years of school to get it. 

Sophomore is year two of high school. By now, students most likely have all of their fine arts credits. If not, it is fine because you only need to take an art class, choir, or band for two semesters to achieve this. As a sophomore, most students weren’t worried about graduating or college. They still weren’t sure what they wanted to do. That is still a problem with some seniors now. Not all of them know what they want to do after they graduate or what majors to apply to college for. 

Junior year is when students start to think about graduation. Especially if they are going to places like the career center, which helps them get job experience for after graduation. This is their second-to-last year of high school, so they are running out of time to achieve all credits. If they did their work and stayed on task mostly throughout Freshman and Sophomore year, then they should be on track to graduate. People going to the career center are also thinking about graduation and receiving the classes they need either at the career center or at Lisbon Dahs, depending on whether they are half-day or not.

Senior year is the last year of high school. This year, if students don’t have their credits already, they have two core classes: English and math. Most of Lisbon's other classes are just electives. A lot of seniors are applying to or have already applied to colleges. Not everyone wants to go to college after they graduate, so those students are most likely more focused on graduating and finding job opportunities. DAHS’s Seniors at the career center will be receiving the credits and seals the career center offers. 

How concerned are seniors with graduating? Some students have started taking extra classes to make sure they will have all their credits and seals. This may be because they didn't care in the previous three years or didn't receive information about the extracurriculars they needed. For the seals, a lot of students were able to get two before starting junior year. Seniors are graduating, so it makes sense that they would be worried about graduating. Milo House, a full-day vet tech student at the career center, was asked if she was worried about graduating. “No, I am not worried “. Then a full-time student at Lisbon, Karver Burkholder, was asked the same question. He stated, “I’m not really scared of graduation itself. I’m more worried about college, debt, and the financial impact that it will bring me.” It’s not really graduating that is the concern; it’s more about what comes after adulthood.

Graduated Students Throwing their Caps in the Air

Photo Credit: Brookings Institution 

By: Miles Cloud 10-15-26

In some study halls, you are only allowed to do schoolwork or a quiet activity. What would you do if you didn’t have any work? For a lot of people, it is reading. One book you could read is The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. The original novella came out January fifth, 1886. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, came up with the idea of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from a nightmare. When his wife woke him, he told her he didn’t want to wake up because it was a “Fine bogey tale.” 

You may have heard of Jekyll and Hyde before. Many characters are based on Jekyll and Hyde. For example, Jackson Jekyll in Monster High, Marvel’s the Hulk, DC Comics’ Two-Face, and Marvel’s Green Goblin. In the Hulk, Bruce Banner is a seemingly normal scientist who can turn into a monster-like creature. That is the same in Jekyll and Hyde. Though Hyde doesn’t look monstrous or green like Hulk. In the book, Hyde is described by Mr Enfield to be “He must be deformed somewhere; he gives a strong feeling of deformity, although I couldn’t specify the point. He’s an extraordinary looking man, and yet I really can name nothing out of the way.” 

Jekyll and Hyde has a musical, a show, and some movie adaptations you may have already seen. Sadly, those adaptations do not do the book justice. The idea is relatively the same, but portrayed incorrectly. They portray Jekyll and Hyde as a split personality. In the original novel, it was stated by Jekyll himself that after transforming into the appearance of Hyde, he felt “Lighter, happier of mind and body.” Also, with the appearance and alias of Hyde, Jekyll is in control. He makes purchases and owns property in Hyde’s name. Jekyll also was the one to name his alias Edward Hyde. In the book, there are certain lines that make it sound like split personalities, but it is not. Lines like “It was Hyde, after all, and Hyde alone, that was guilty.”

The story is about the duality of man, but also repressed selves. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde follows Gabriel Utterson. Mr Utterson is a lawyer and close friend of Dr Henry Jekyll. One day a man by the name of Edward Hyde appears and begins causing problems. Hyde commits numerous terrible things. What shocks Utterson and others is that Jekyll always pays for Hyde’s misdeeds. Throughout the story, Utterson tries to figure out just who Hyde is and if Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll. Prior to Hyde’s appearance, Jekyll was known to be a very good man.

To further go into the theme mentioned earlier, Stevenson had a few queer friends. One named  John Addington Symonds wrote to Stevenson, “viewed as an allegory, it touches one too closely.” There are many other moments in the book which also hint at Victorian shame causing Jekyll to repress parts of himself. In the chapter, Dr Lanyon’s Narrative, it is stated by Dr Jekyll himself, “There was never a day when, if you had said to me, Jekyll, my life, my honor, my reason, depend upon you, I would not have sacrificed my left hand to help you. Lanyon, my life, my honor, my reason, are all at your mercy; if you fail me tonight, I am lost.” Following that sentence, Jekyll refers to Lanyon as “My dear Lanyon” a few times. After Dr Lanyon and Jekyll are stated to no longer be on speaking terms because Jekyll told him that he is Hyde, Jekyll seemed almost heartbroken by it. So, given the fact that Stevenson wrote this book about suppressed identities and had several queer friends, it is possible that was factored into Jekyll’s character.

Just about everyone knows the twist at the end of the book, so it does ruin the original surprise that Jekyll was Hyde all along. If you think about it, though, knowing Jekyll is Hyde while every character doesn’t, excluding Jekyll, creates dramatic irony. Some people who have also read the book have differing opinions. Karver Burkholder, a senior at DAHS, was asked for his opinion on whether or not the well-known spoiler ruins the experience. “Yes, because keeping that twist would have added a whole other layer to the story and made the reader ask more questions.” This is a valid argument to have. The twist was what made the book so good when it first came out.

Overall, the book wouldn’t be bad to pick up from the library or to buy cheaply from websites like Amazon. If you are into mystery or books that involve topics of duality, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde could be right for you.

Book cover of Jekyll and Hyde

Photo Credit: Core Knowledge Foundation