Reviews & Comments
Everett, WA
Archbishop Murphy School Review -
9/5/2016You will be ready for college if you put in the work. That is the end result of this school, and that is what I will start with here. This “review” is to just ask yourself, “is it worth it?” before you sign that dotted line.
If you want to be disrespected and babysat, this is the perfect place for you. You are treated like a child here. You have no authority or say about your life; only your parents do. The only time you represent yourself is when you are punished; then everything is your fault. Don’t forget, though, that most of the kids that get in trouble are the ones whose parents aren’t giving a huge amount of money or have the most connections with the school. Many teachers make fun of their students and push them past their comfort zone (and not in a good way). I've watched many students cry from a teacher saying something that had gone too far. In some classes, you have to beg to go to the restroom, and even then you may be told to sit back down. Most classes do not allow food or even water the entire class time. AMHS advertises how their students have a certain GPA and all go to college. Don’t be fooled. That's just because those who are not meeting the standards are simply kicked out. Don't be impressed by the statistics of this school. It's staged. Not to mention the classes that they pride themselves in offering do not include life skills classes. There are only AP and honors classes to challenge you; not any classes to help you learn how to be a human outside of schooling.
The claim that this is a Catholic school is questionable. Its mission states a rounded approach to faith. This approach is nonexistent. AMHS always speaks about how all faiths are welcome, and that the students learn about other faiths as well. Any faith aside from Catholicism gets one paragraph in a text book probably just your senior year. Donating money here is a competition, not something they do out of the good of their hearts. They bribe classes with prizes and awards for their service. Anyone who does anything remarkable in the community is shown in an assembly to the entire school and praised. “A Catholic school inspires all”, or so they say. Catholicism should be focused on doing things out of the good of one’s heart, and to keep good deeds to one’s self. While faith may appear to be the focus of the school, that’s certainly not the case. The arts have no funding while sports are seeping in fundraising money to improve already impeccable equipment. It is all about sports here. Academically, if a student is not the best at science or math, their academic talents mean nothing. All recognition is given to those who are good with numbers.
The dress code is the most degrading part of the handbook. Girls are hounded by teachers putting note cards against their legs and staff telling them they have to change into something dirty and over-sized they found in the old portables, or call their parents to bring them something. They cannot wear anything that does not cover their shoulders. They cannot wear anything above the knee. They cannot wear yoga pants unless it is very rarely a spirit day. Men get away with a lot more, rarely getting a dress code violation on even the most blatant offences. Students have challenged this, and all the faculty responds with is that the dress code makes the environment "less distracting" for all. Really, I just see it as a test to see who is willing to challenge them so they can have someone new to pick on and punish. I saw a girl receive a detention for wearing a sweater, boots, and jeans to school. She received the detention because she stretched, and her sweater showed a slight amount of skin in the process. Several students were harassed by staff members every single day. It was clear it was not because of the student’s behavior. The staff simply just did not like them. Because of this, they would receive snide comments and detentions when they did nothing wrong. The staff accuses students of many things, and even with evidence that the student is innocent they are punished. This is because the staff is creepily all very close. They talk about the students. They share gossip about them between each other. They discuss who they like and don’t like. It spreads. If one staff member doesn’t like you, soon enough, no staff will. I’ve seen it over and over again.
Regarding the school in general, there is no central heating system in the school. It's either freezing cold or boiling hot. You cannot leave campus hardly at all. If you just want to go to your car you have to get a pass. The school is no longer big enough to fit their students. There are hardly any clubs and the ones they have are beyond negligent. Teachers take on too many classes and are constantly stressing out and letting it out on their students. Students end up watching movies the whole class or being lectured when they did nothing wrong. The school is run like a business. Bad press= hush hush, and this was certainly evident many times in my four years. Gossip spreads like wildfire in a small school. The staff and the students know everything about everyone. This causes the staff to ask personal questions about the lives of their students (sometimes in front of a whole class) which have no effect on their education. If a student wants to voice their opinion or stand up for themselves when the staff makes them feel inferior or insults them, they are immediately threatened for detention, suspension, or expulsion, and the teacher or staff member is never blamed. The. Staff. Gets. Away. With. EVERYTHING.
More specifically than the staff, the teachers preach respect, but fail to give any to the students. They tell you what to do, threaten you before you do anything wrong if you don't follow directions, and treat you like a caged animal in classrooms. If one student does something wrong, all the kids get yelled at. The teachers, I assure you, are not perfect human beings. They sit at their desk texting, and some are late to their own classroom almost every day. The staff in general are THE MOST passive aggressive people I have ever met. There are advanced overreactions to small issues that can be handled easily. For example, parents are emailed when students innocently attempted to turn off their phones during class and had their device taken away. Because of these overreactions, students are crying in the bathroom because a teacher cornered them after class. There is a bias with grading. If you are a favorite, you will always be acknowledged by the teacher or given the better grade. That’s just how it is. I have seen teachers pick on the quiet students with social anxiety to answer questions in class they do not know the answer to. I have gone through the rounds with coaches and their rigorous strategies but hardened hearts. I had a particular coach who bothered me late into the night about things that did not need immediate attention. The coach worked me constantly and hunted me down around the school to talk to me. If I just made the wrong face at them they would pull me aside during practice to talk to me about attitude. This school is full of HYPOCRITES big and small, running deep into the administration. There are a few gems here. Good people who mean well. Unfortunately, most are not like that. Most will make you feel like you do not matter, that you will never be good enough, and that you just simply are not smart enough to be in their presence. The kids are told they are lucky to be at AMHS over a public school. There are teachers who talk about how awful public school is, when many kids came from public schools and are often insulted by this. Many of the teachers advertise how they are available to help after school, but then double as coaches or leave as soon as the bell rings and cannot help those who are struggling. The lunches are nowhere near healthy, and are redundant beyond belief. They always advertise making it healthier, but stick with the less expensive side of things and go with pizza and food court meals. Healthy meals cannot dare to take the money away from the football team and new chapel.
Respect from student to student is just like the movies at AMHS. The big shots are high and mighty. The regular kids are just trying to get by without a teacher bugging them or an athlete or academic star making them feel down about themselves. If the kid’s parents are made of money, the kids enjoy no punishments- essentially ruling the school. Many regular students who do not have a lot of money in the rich Snohomish County area are belittled and pushed aside in most activities. They are blamed for things the "favorites" did. People talk about you behind your backs, including the staff (sometimes it's the staff and the students gossiping together). If you are late a certain amount of times, you get a detention. It mostly never matters what the reason is (not that they would believe you anyway). Instead of teaching students that when they are late they are the ones missing information, they try to discipline. This just results in anger and more students saying "whatever". I knew a few students who were miserable by their senior year because they could not go a day without being picked on by the front office or a teacher.
If you can, just go to a different school. They take your money and never let you forget it. They remind the students every day that their parents are paying for every second they are at school, so they better be productive. High school is tough. Not just in academics. Socially, too. AMHS does not help with this for so many kids. I was told to keep my mouth shut for so many years about what happens behind those bricks. I can finally speak out for all the students who did not appreciate a lot of the unnecessary things they faced at this school. The small halls can become home if you look at it as a safe haven. But it's up to the student to make good memories to cover up all the bad ones, because I guarantee the school will not be the ones helping with most of the good times. Proceed with caution, and don't forget to stand up for what you believe in and appreciate those special gems who are at Murphy. To those people, thank you. To those who gave so many a hard time, especially those who I saw with my own eyes, you know who you are. Think about your actions. They may be just teenagers now, but in a couple years they will be adults and parents themselves. Don't cause yourself to regret how you treated them before they were legal or still binding to your school. One day they’ll be just like me, and ready to speak up about the truth.
-just another student in the books.