Nalbandian 1

Khatchig Nalbandian

Jon Beadle

English 115

5 October 2017

Project Space

There is no stronger bond in the world then friendship, and I have been able to see both the

good and the bad which this bond brings upon people with my own personal experiences. Social

spaces affect how we communicate, what is said, what is not said and how our messages are

received, understood, and acted upon. (Losh, Alexander, Cannon, Cannon, 2). This social space was

created within my high school. Growing up in a private school, where the middle school and high

school were on the same campus, I have been surrounded with mostly the same friends my whole life.

For the past 15 years school is a space I havent been able to avoid and has defined much of who I am.

Within this space Ive had to face many threatening monsters. Surprisingly, my friends have been one

of these. My friends can be seen as monsters through my eyes because they have been a distraction

throughout my high school. They have also made me question my academic abilities. Outside of this

specific space I consider my friends family and wouldnt trade them for anything. But in the space of

school, friends can be considered as monstrous.

Throughout high school, one of the highest values has always been getting good grades so I

could be accepted into a prestigious university, and ultimately have a successful future. These values

and beliefs are almost universally shared within school as a space. Anything that disrupts or interferes

with these beliefs would of course be considered monstrous. Going to school and focusing on my
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academics was rather difficult due to my friends. As we got older, my friends began to be a huge

distraction for me at school. It would become a daily routine where I would find myself going out late

at night with my friends and either not getting my homework done for class, or I would get home so

late that I wouldnt get enough sleep and would fall asleep in class. In any other space my friends

would be considered a benefit and a gift. Being included in all their activities and being called late at

night to hang out and talk about sports were always spaces where my friends were like a second family

to me. Within these other spaces my friends were an asset to me. However, as the school space required

attention, hard work, and academic achievement, my friends, like real monsters, were always there,

hard to avoid, and dangerous to survival.

It also became apparent that my friends were in some ways peer pressuring me into the wrong

things. I would find myself being convinced that homework was only worth a few points and there was

really no need to do it. Another example was when I was convinced to stop studying for a test I had the

next day and go to a party, because my friends convinced me that it would be easy and that studying

wasnt cool. Even though I knew what I was doing was wrong, it felt like so many classmates agreed

that studying and homework wasnt needed that it almost felt right. After all if everyone agrees with

something thats wrong is it still wrong?

Within the school space I began to question my academic abilities. My graduating class, with

whom I had spent 14 plus years with, was one of the highest achieving in the schools history. This

competitive environment was a breeding ground for monsters. Like zombies, they would come to me

from all directions. Straight As, over 100 percent on tests, extracurricular activities, and even

athletic success. I felt like I was grossly underachieving when I did not live up to the standards my

classmates had set. I often felt like I wasnt working to my own potential. My average grades may
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have been considered adequate in a space outside of this high achieving class, but in this space I felt far

below average. There were many academic clubs my high school had to offer: Model UN, Planet Earth,

CHLA (childrens hospital of Los Angeles), CSF, Chess and many more. It seemed that these clubs

were for everyone else but me, almost like I didnt belong or wasnt smart enough to participate. The

space created a fear of not achieving my goals, not being successful in my future and not being

accomplished.

These monsters found in my space, school, was arguably created by the values and high

standards of education. Society has placed such a high standard on students and family only pressures

it more. Students are taught that only the ones who do the best get accepted into good universities and

from them only the ones who graduate get good jobs in there future which can be argued is very

incorrect. At my high school academic achievements were highly looked upon and given twice a year

and at graduation, which gave my friends even more incentive to strive for greatness. Within this pace

and only this space my friends were turned into monsters.

Even though I viewed my closest friends as monsters at school, these same friends were the

ones who helped me battle all the stress that school would put on my shoulders. We would all lean on

each other for support at the end of the day because no matter how hard school tried to split us apart

and turn on each other we always stayed close and had each others backs. We were a family. My

friends and I would come together to fight another monster, which we would all find in school, stress.

A monster everyone at one point in their lives has felt. Between the standards that are set, the want to

make your parents proud, trying to balance sports, school, and even for some people a job, stress would

get to everyone in school.

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Ive learned that with many monsters people find in the world, people usually create them. It is

we within the space that allowed the monster to be created. I allowed my friendships to interfere with

my learning. I allowed my friends to be monstrous in the views of competition. I allowed my friends to

be a distraction. The existence of school and academics as a space and the constant reach for academic

excellence created a field fertile enough for the monsters to grow. However, I was the one who watered

it with my choices. Are we the reason that the space and the monster is created? I chose, unconsciously,

to turn my friends into a monster of the space.

Even after writing this essay and going over all the reasons my friends can be viewed as

monsters in a space of school. I still believe that there is no stronger bond in the world then friendship.

Without my friends I wouldnt be the person I am today, there are so many goals I would not have

reached with out them supporting me and pushing me each step of the way. I learned that the only

reason I portrayed my friends as monsters was from my own wrong doings. I chose to allow them to be

a distraction, a competition, to peer pressure me, and turned them into monsters. I realized that me

wanting to compete to score as well as my friends was more the problem, and instead I shouldve have

been trying to improve on my scoring capabilities not someone elses. Its important that people

recognize that we create our own monsters. Just as I chose to make my friends monsters at school.
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Work Cited

Losh, Alexander, Cannon, Cannon. Spaces for Writing Understanding Rhetoric

2nd Edition, A graphic guide to Writing pg. 2

Losh, Alexander, Cannon, Cannon. Writing identities Understanding Rhetoric

2nd Edition, A graphic guide to Writing pg. 125