Julian Lemke: ‘Way of pain’ offers unity, strength

I would love to tell you that the Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy’s class of 2007 is completely unlike any other graduating class. That we are somehow better, somehow unique in a perfectly original and profound way.

But the problem with that is that all the students who graduate from this school have a lot in common. We’ve all been through the horror and, literally, the torture of getting a Charter-certified, grade-A education. And the fact is, in spite of how much we’ve all whined about how much homework we have and how Charter is stealing our souls, we have all loved it.

Some of us may never admit it, but we’ve had plenty of chances to leave and go to Lake City High School or Coeur d’Alene High School. And we, the graduates, are obviously still here.

Some of us dodge this by saying we didn’t have a choice because our parents wouldn’t let us leave Charter. This is because it would be much too awkward if we were proud of our school. However, the truth is that secretly, very deep down, we actually liked it here and didn’t want to leave. Now we are the few and the proud, because we chose to stay.

This is important because choosing Charter fundamentally makes no sense. Going to Charter and suffering through agony just to earn a paltry GPA is pure insanity when you could be earning the same GPA taking AP woodshop and remedial algebra somewhere else.

So why, in the words of ‘Saruman the Wise’, would any of us “elect the way of pain?” Here’s why: Charter makes no excuses or substitutes for real work. At Charter, you have only three options: You can do the work, leave the school, or pretend to be dead. This is the difference between Charter and other schools, besides the fact that we have no money. At most American schools, if you fail, then the bar is lowered to accommodate you. At Charter, if you fail, you fail. You have to do every iota of work to earn that diploma, so when you finally get it, it means something.

And that’s why we, the graduating class of 2007, should be proud. Even if you have earnestly hated every second of every day you’ve spent here, which you haven’t, you have gotten a real education. Whether you wanted it or not, whether you fought it tooth and claw every step of the way, you got it, because you’re here.

We have all done the work and shared the horrifying experience of a Charter education, and we have all, with a few notable exceptions, lived to tell about it. Oscar Wilde once said that “education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” This is not a veiled message to any of the teachers at Charter, because we have learned plenty in class that is worth knowing.

But in the end, our experience here has been far more valuable than all of the knowledge we’ve gained. We have all shared the hardship, like Washington’s shoeless army at Valley Forge, and we have emerged strong and united. Yes, we, the class of 2007, have emerged victorious.