I know what you’re thinking. Wow, ANOTHER opinion about discrimination. How interesting! I’m going to stop you right there. This is an opinion revealing discrimination that has and is happening in our high school, incidents people you look up to are causing as you read this.

There is a teacher here who is afraid of poor people. This teacher wipes objects in their classroom after what they consider to be a poor person touches it. And, no, they do not wait until after class to "clean." They think people aren’t looking. Here’s a news flash: those "poor" people see you and it hurts their feelings. How is this acceptable?

It’s blatant discrimination because someone looks poor. Maybe you shouldn’t have become a teacher in a school where we have a diverse population of students because our administrators understand the importance of an equal education for everyone. Maybe you would have been better off at another school where people have to be rich to pay their way in. That’s the life isn’t it, being around the same kind of stuck-up people all day?

I’m assuming this teacher judges students based on appearance. This isn’t fair to anybody. The way we dress is an expression of our personalities. It shows individuality, not poorness. Just because someone likes to wear sweatpants every day doesn’t mean they are poor. Maybe they like how comfortable they are or it’s all they have time to put on in the morning. Who are you to judge? What if they are wearing them because that’s all they can afford? You need to get off your high horse and evaluate someone based on character, not money.

Another faculty member in our school tore down the Gay-Straight Alliance posters before a sporting event. This person went around the school before a home basketball game and got rid of every poster that promoted GSA. Someone confronted this person and asked why. Their answer was something along the lines of "I don’t want people thinking we’re that kind of school." What kind of school is that exactly? One that is not afraid to show pride in our gay, lesbian and bisexual students? Because of this incident, all signs and posters must now be signed by an administrator.

I thought we had come a long way in homosexual rights until last year when various faculty members, students and parents voiced their opinions about Jacob Clausen being on homecoming court. The same faculty member who tore down the GSA signs also shared his thoughts on this subject. This person told students they couldn’t wear Jacob Clausen for homecoming king shirts.

They walked into the music kids’ float-building area and told them they couldn’t wear those shirts with no explanation as to why.

Why did this change now when in previous years students have been allowed to wear their homecoming court shirts with no problem? The obvious answer is because this faculty member has a problem with openly gay students.

How can they still be against homosexual people? At least one student was brave enough to stand up to this person and talked them into allowing the Jacob shirts.

I want you as a student or faculty member at this school to start fighting and standing up to these people. You may not know who they are but you can still identify those who act like this. Don’t let discrimination continue here. Find them and let them know they are wrong.