Extra year of high school? Where’s the victory in that ‘Victory Lap’?

When my biology teacher started talking about a victory lap during class last week, I figured she must be talking about race cars. Or maybe the sound her cat makes when it drinks. But apparently ‘victory lap’ can also be directly translated to, “A grade 12 student that stays behind for an extra year because, well, they can.”

I’m staying open-minded though. I’m sure there are some valid and compelling reasons for staying behind in the public school system for an extra year. I just haven’t figured them out yet. And until then, I admit, I’ll continue to think that willingly staying behind for an extra 200 days of high school is (nearly) the dumbest idea on the planet. Of course, nothing is more dumb than Toby Maguire having been cast as an action hero.

I mean, it’s not like my school offers “Basket Weaving 101” or “Why Star Wars is way Better than Star Trek” courses. You know, to artificially inflate my grade point average to look better on my university applications.

So isn’t calling it a ‘victory lap’ sort of like calling a house with a roof that’s been peeled back by a tornado “open concept” ?

scott.dobson.mitchell@gmail.com