I attended a public high school in rural North Carolina, and I hated it. The people sucked, the guidance counselor was a bitch, there was way too much emphasis on sports, and the place was severely lacking in courses. They didn’t offer a single physics course while I was there, the AP Calculus course was taught by the girls’ basketball coach, and trigonometry consisted mainly of the teacher telling us “Here’s the sine and cosine, but don’t worry about those because you’ll never need them.” I’ve spent most of my time in college making up for my pathetic math background thanks to that high school.
I did have a few outstanding teachers - the AP US History, 10th grade English, and biology teachers especially. When I go home, I typically see them around town.
I haven’t been back to the high school since I graduated. If I see any of my former classmates in public, I try to avoid them. Occasionally I’ll be forced to talk to one of them. The ones I’ve talked to haven’t changed much in appearance or attitude.
I have no truly bad memories of high school aside from the inevitable Teen Angst Soap Opera that seemed to permeate every aspect of life there.
But it was high school. A stepping-stone on the way to real life. Oh, I did the extracurriculers. I wrestled, I was on the debate team, I was in Chamber Singers. But it was always just high school. It never really meant anything to me.
I haven’t gone back and burnt the place to the ground so I guess I’m not all that bitter.
There is a great National Lampoon parody of a HS year book. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever read and my favorite part is the ariel photo of the school and on it, the owner of the book has placed an 'X" and a “Drop H-Bomb Here!” instructions.
Catholic bys HS here. I was giving money for a while ($25 or $50 per year), and I’d read the newsletter every quarter or so. I don’t give money any more, and reading the newsletter makes me laugh. I have never understood the great appeal of the idea of “Family” in such a place. I certainly never felt that way. My 20th will be next year, and if any of my slacker classmates co-ordinate it, I’ll probably go. My class was famous for its underachievement, and more than one teacher said so, so I doubt it’ll ever happen.
My school and the other big Catholic boys HS have a huge rivalry, the football game between them draws 30K+ regularly. I think it’s sad that grown men still take part and really get into it. Geex, guys it’s high school. I went for few years after I graduated, but that was just to drink beer . And that got old after a few years.
So, no, I don’t feel loyal to the school. High school wasn’t painful or anything, but I don’t have any great fond memories.
Went to a selective public high school that was also a boarding school. Really enjoyed my high school day.
But i’ve actually grown up since then, and changed quite a lot—for the better, i think. Never been to a reunion, and i only really keep close contact with one person from school.
I was all set to to go my ten-year reunion some years back, mainly because it seemed that “everyone” was going to be there. Then i thought, “Well, there’s a reason i don’t stay in touch with these people—i’m just not that interested.” I had a whole bunch of friends that i had made since school, and saw little need to hang out with people that i happened to sit though science and English lessons with.
And “loyal”? I can barely even work out what that means in the context of discussing my high school.
I’m not sure how I could be loyal to my high school. It was okay and all, though not a very good school, and I had fun at the 10-year reunion with the 5 or 6 people I cared about seeing (and also I just love to see how everyone turns out, 'cause I’m curious about that kind of thing), but I’m not sure how I could be loyal.
I don’t live there anymore, I own no memoribilia, and if I’m going to wear a school sweatshirt, I wear one with my college on it. I did go back a year later to say hi to a teacher and do a little presentation in his class–he was happy that I went to his college and was a favorite of mine.
I think it’s pretty sad if high school is the greatest time in your life. It’s supposed to suck. If high school was the greatest experience in the world, we would all be a bunch of hick/jock Al Bundy stereotypes. Pining about the “good old days” while your life turns into a living joke.
I can’t grasp the Midwestern concept of the giant sports stadium for the high school football or basketball team, nor can I take high school sports movies like Coach Carter or Hoosiers seriously. It’s high school for christs sake. From the point of view of a 30 year old that final game against Shelbyville has about as much relevance as that final in Algebra. I guess whatever gets you through your 12 hour day at the autoplant.
It’s amazing that a 4 year period in a persons life (or 4 year college for that matter) should have such a significance.
I’m another one who is having trouble grasping the concept of “being loyal to a high school.”
I went to a good public high school, known for the fact that most of its graduates go on to university. In addition to classes, it had sports programs, music programs, drama productions, and clubs for most disciplines (math, physics, chess, French, etc.). I learned a lot in class, took part in some extracurriculars, made a lot of friends, and generally had a good time over the years I spent there. I do still keep in touch with a few friends from those years, though I’ve never been to a reunion.
But “loyal” to a public high school I attended over twenty-five years ago? It was a school and I was a student; attending school was what I did during the day when I was in my teens. If I hadn’t gone to that school, I would have gone to another–and probably done the same things and felt the same way.
I have no loyalty to my high school. I had a miserable time there. It’s two thousand miles away, and I will never have a reason to go back. I doubt anybody from back then knows what happened to me, and I’m not too keen on telling them. I only have one friend from those years, but I’ve known him since we were 8 or 9. So I have no interest in what anybody I used to know is up to these days.
For 30 years my high school had a reputation of graduating overachievers one year and underachievers the next. We were the underachievers, and we knew it.
15 years after I graduated, my high school was “merged” with another school. Just like a corporate merger, only one group actually survived, and it wasn’t my school. 15 years later, the merged school was merged with another school. Out of curiosity, I checked the alumni web site. They don’t list everyone in my class who graduated, they list people from other years, people who transfered out, etc. They even listed some dead classmates as still alive.
It’s a little hard maintaining loyalty to an institution that a) isn’t there anymore and b) can’t keep its records straight.
I had three high schools. One of them I hated; if I learned that it had burned down I’d fly back to piss on the ashes, and I guess that’s loyalty of a sort. The second was all right, but I can’t imagine feeling loyalty to it, any more than I’d feel loyalty to a grocery store. It was just school.
The third one I still recommend to anyone who’s got the right age and interests; it was a magnet school of a sort. But it makes sense that I’d be loyal to it. After all, I had to submit to arcane tortures, and even write an essay ( :eek: ) to get in, so it’s natural that I’d want to justify that with good feelings after the fact.
Heh. My HS was doing fundraising to SAVE NAMECHANGEDFORPRIVACY HIGH SCHOOL! called Namechangedforprivacy High School Lives!! and asking people who had kids coming up on HS age to commit to sending their kids there. All I could think was, if it does end up being razed, can I pay to be the one that depresses the explosives plunger?? PPPLEEEAAAZZZE or I’ll keep making this whining noise??!?!??!
aka I hated high school with the fury of a thousand suns and will go back only to view the rubble
Hated high school and have very few nostalgic associations with that time. In a graduating class of 800+, I can count the number of people I’ve kept in touch with on one hand. Will never go back to visit, and will never attend an alumni event.
Couldn’t care less (though I am glad to hear when the band shows up in the Rose Parade periodically).
Loyal? I was second in my class and they screwed me out of a dipolma and a senior year. Leaving was the best choice I ever made (not that I had many options). I went to prep school (Catholic). People look at me and ask I how I could still be a fan of private education, but I know many, many people who went to public schools like the ones I would have gone to that not only got screwed over, but also didn’t receive much of an education.
Ditto. My sister went there after I did, so I stopped by a couple times when picking her up and said hi to an old teacher, but haven’t been to homecoming or anything like that. I’m not sure what at much. No hatred or bad memories, just would rather use my vacation time anelse I should do to be loyal. We don’t have an alumni newsletter, AKAIK, and my class hasn’t had a reunion yet - my ten year will be next year. Okay, feeling old now. Anyway, I don’t live in the area anymore, and unless I happened to be there for another reason, it’s highly unlikely I’ll go. I just don’t care all thd money on going somewhere new and interesting.
Oh, I still have my old t-shirt and sweatshirt from high school tennis. Does that count as loyalty?