Absolutely not.
Nope. It was boring and tiresome, especially as one of the nameless rabble. I only looked back once after graduation, and that was for the 40 year reunion, which I helped organize. It was as tiresome and as boring as high school was, and the people hadn’t really changed much at all, other than those who, like me, left the state and saw something of the world. I’ve connected with exactly two people that I used to hang out with all those years ago, but it had been too many years gone by and there was no spark left.
My first two years sucked, I was a new kid in that town, didn’t really fit in. Then I moved again to a new HS, and the last two years worked out just fine, made friends, met a gal, had fun. I don’t stay in touch with anyone from HS anymore (except for the gal, since I still live with her, almost 48 years after first meeting her) but the memories are good.
Not really. I didn’t fit in with any of the groups, not even the oddballs. I went to the 20 year reunion and basically talked to the people I’m already in contact with. I never went to any of the dances or off-property parties, so basically it was something to endure.
Absolutely I remember it fondly. I was a high achiever and involved in absolutely everything. My parents were always very laissez-faire and I was consequently very independent. So I really did what I wanted when I wanted. It was a very small town, and the school offerings were limited so I was able to complete all of the available high school a academic courses in 3 years. They required you to take Government in your senior year, so that was my only actual class as a senior. Otherwise, I was teachers assistant in science lab classes, I was the yearbook photographer and had my own darkroom in the school, and I acted in and directed school plays. I had a large variety of social groups and friends. Sure, there were insecurities and worries, but there was also hope for the future.
Adult life didn’t quite work out in the same ways, so high school is remembered fondly, especially in comparison.
I have severely mixed feelings. Overall, high school was fabulous but, early in my junior year, my parents were killed, and that was so much more than horrible. I certainly wouldn’t want to relive those 4 years for that reason.
Sure. To this day pretty much my entire core group of friends are people I knew or met while I was in high school, even if they didn’t necessarily go to my school. I met my wife there.
We were not the “popular” kids, rather we were the “cool” kids that almost everyone wanted/needed to be friendly with because we were sort of the go-betweens; the popular kids needed us because if you wanted to get drugs (mostly just weed), you had to get them from the scary brown kids who we were also friends with (that they were afraid of), so they had to go through us. Everyone else wanted to hang out with us because we could get them into the popular kids’ parties.
We didn’t discriminate; we’d pretty much hang out with anyone, provided you could find us. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time in class, especially in 11th and 12th grade.
I had a pretty good time in high school. I do regret having to switch schools due to a move after my sophomore year; I wish that I could have finished with my lifelong friends at public school in Hendersonville, TN! But my junior and senior years at a private religious school were still okay; the new people that I met were pretty nice. Graduated in 1979, in Nashville, TN.
High school was a big waste of time for me. I don’t know what I would have otherwise done, but it wouldn’t have been that. Stuck inside an all-boys school for 4 years. (well, 8 years really, but we did things differently than you do).
The only times I enjoyed myself there was when I wasn’t there - on school camping trips or rowing or things like that.
A few people have mentioned how bad high school was for those who moved around a lot and were the “new kid.” That sums up my whole childhood, compounded by likely undiagnosed ADD and Asperger syndrome.
In 13 years of K-12 schooling, I attended 13 different schools in seven different towns in five states and two countries. I was always the new kid, and by the time I made any friends, we were moving again. We did at least manage to stay put for three years at my second high school after moving again between my freshman and sophomore year.
So high school wasn’t great, socially speaking. I did join the swim team, and worked hard at it, making the varsity team, but I never really fit in and was rarely invited to anything outside of school. Like I did throughout my childhood, I read a lot of books. Other than that, I don’t really have that many fond memories of that time of my life.
Later in life, I made a conscious decision to not saddle my son with what I dealt with growing up. (He has actually been diagnosed with ADD and Asperger syndrome.) So right around the time that my son reached school age, I resigned my commission in the Navy instead of staying in the submarine force, which if I’d stayed in would have entailed a lot of moving around (and a lot of absence from my family). It seems to have worked out for him. I think he’s done much better socially than I did growing up.
I miss carefree life as a high-school student. I don’t miss the particular school I went to, nor the people in it. The few I still have occasional contact with I already knew from before.
Absolutely not. I was fat, wore glasses, was bored, didn’t fit in, got picked on, and was generally miserable. My father insisted that I stick it out and graduate (and I’m glad I did), but I would not want to do it over.
I didn’t go to college until I was in my early 30s. That was a most wonderful time! I wish I could do that again!
I remember spending too much time trying to be cool, funny, liked and not succeeding.
I remember spending most weekends by myself in my room, then hearing about the awesome parties on Monday.
I remember having a crush on a different girl every time someone would be nice to me, then driving them away by trying too hard and coming across as weird or creepy.
I was never bullied, just never felt like I fit in. I would not want to go back.
No, I can’t say I do: but it did give me a good education. I was in basically the top of the bottom third of the smartest class. I did “ok” in English; I liked the reading of and studying about various books, but found the grammar part tedious. I just got by in Math: it was sheer drudgery of mental “heavy lifting” for what I could see as little relevance to the real world. Science and Social Studies I did well in: it was interesting.
Not very athletic and we had PE every day. I just went through the motions, but in the last 2 years they had more options like ultimate frisbee, weight lifting ( a nice ‘Universal’ set ), and archery, and golf: so I participated with interest in those.
Most of my friends were in one or two grades below me. I wasn’t popular, I wasn’t a misfit: I was just there. With all the attendant lack of autonomy that marks those years, HS was just basically a grind that had to be endured as part of a stepping stone to adulthood and it’s rewards if one makes an effort. Plus, I was never a morning person ( to this day ) and having the first class begin at 6:45 AM was brutal. I never began a day of school without a huge feeling of grouchy resentment.
I mention the last statement because I always shook my head and chuckled when seeing some movies depicting HS kids having all these adventures and socializing before school and having a good ole’ time. Of course many of them seemed to have the freedom, autonomy ( and the finances ) of people in their early 20s.
What a kind and thoughtful reply! Thank you so much. I like to think young women today can deal with sexual assault better, as we’re more open about it, but attitudes in general haven’t changed much. Your sisters and daughters are blessed to have your compassionate understanding.
My high school was so big and so tracked that I got to spend all my time with a group of smart nerds. I wasn’t even the weirdest. This was 1966 - 1969, so no internet to waste my time. I read a ton, and I even dated a very early Trekkie.
Plus, I learned to program, in machine language, back when if you didn’t code it you couldn’t use it.
Not that I wouldn’t do things differently, but it was a pretty good experience over all.
I never think about it. I preferred university but did not think that high school was particularly difficult or dreadful. I remember it fairly fondly, I guess. I was moderately popular and athletic, pretty smart, somewhat social. I had a few tough times, but could count the bad experiences using one hand.
I don’t know… on one hand, I don’t remember high school with the same sort of sense of anxiety, fear and despair that a lot of people seem to. I was fairly popular, an athlete, and had a lot of friends I went out and did stuff with.
On the other hand, I do sort of look at it with a certain frustrated “If only I had…” kind of viewpoint. I got hurt and didn’t keep playing football, I went to an all-boys school and didn’t really meet any girls. My parents were fairly strict, so I felt like I was under their thumb constantly. Never had my own vehicle. And so on. Lots of missed opportunities that in a lot of cases I knew about and couldn’t take advantage of for one reason or another, and I saw my friends and peers doing these things.
So overall it’s kind of a neutral feeling, or maybe bittersweet, as it was definitely fun in parts, but also not as fun as it could have been.
Some of the best four years of my life. Loved the school, loved the people, loved that I wasn’t being bullied for once… the only downside was having to get up so early in the morning.
I went to a Catholic High School in a white and fairly affluent part of Ohio. I had a hard time fitting in because:
- I wasn’t into sports.
- I was poor. I was being raised by a single mother with three children. The only reason we could afford the tuition is because my mother volunteered at the school, and we got a tuition reduction for being so poor.
It was pretty miserable for me.