What was your status in high school?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

If you can still remember high school, that is.*

I’ve long since realised that status in high school isn’t even remotely important when it comes to “real life”, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t make a nice IMHO poll.

For me, I was a loser. Not the kind of loser that sits alone at lunch with no friends though, because I did have a group of friends who I’d hang out with at lunch at our designated spot. (By the stairs in a quiet hallway), but they weren’t as much “friends” as “aquaintances”. I think I only hung out with two, three tops, outside of school. And of course, I only keep in touch with one of them. The “popular” kids didn’t know I existed and had their nice little exclusive group. My school was a little weird because the popular kids were also the stoners. Then there were the theatre people, and the honours kids, and the skaters, and the losers who were more loserish than me who had absolutely no friends at all, not even one.

So, which one were you?

And if you prefer to break away from the sterotype, then feel free, but explain yourself! :stuck_out_tongue:

  • My apologies if this sounded snarky to the… ahem… “older generation”…
#2

When I began high school, I was among the least popular kids in the entire school. Frequently humiliated, tortured and bullied, I soon developed the sense of self-mistrust and self-loathing that would follow me for the rest of my life. By the end of my high school years, I had improved somewhat, and was at least recognized by the so-called cool kids as a human being.

#3

Nebulous.

I had good friends in just about every one of the cliques (jocks, nerds, metalheads, cheerleaders, drama club, preppies, etc.), but I was never really that close with any one group. I was outside, but not one of the outcast. I was more or less of a loner, anyway, so this was fine with me.

As it turns out, the only ones I kept in touch with after graduation were the ones who went to the same college.

#4

I was recognized by my (somewhat) friends from middle school as being very intelligent and freakishly good at Latin when I started high school. I soon stopped talking to most of them, mainly because most of my old friends had no classes with me, and most of my new friends were a lot nicer.

My situation was identical to dantheman’s in elementary school, with the main differences being that I was the least popular kid in the school, and that I’m slowly healing. I haven’t been to my old elementary school in about two and a half years, and I hope I never have to go there again.

#5

For my first two years, I had a few friends, but a core group of us really formed around junior and senior year. We didn’t have a lot of cliques, at least in my school. I’d be partly with the freaks, partly with the stoners, and mostly with the everyone elses.

#6

Went to jesuit boys h.s., so the social dynamic was very different from what i understand from both my public school friends and my h.s. sweetheart - who went to a catholic girls school. cliques didn’t seem to divvy up the same way- nerds v jocks v bad boys v popular kids- though the football team did eat together at their own table [team rules]. And from what i can recall through the fog of years, what groups there were were fairly loose.

There was a fair amount of brutality though, by both the students and the teachers. The film Heaven Help Us was fairly representative of my experience, if off by a few years [i ain’t *that* old!].

#7

I was once described as a “loner by choice” by several people. I think that works great actually.

I hug out with the artsy crowd, dated one of the “hot girls” and partied with everyone else. The only people I didn’t get along with were those idiots who thought they were gangsters. Those guys got quickly beat down in my higshchool though, and became much less of a problem. You see, pretty much anyone who you would think of as easy to pick on (smaller, skinny, really smart, etc) generally knew a lot about martial arts. After one of the biggest guys in the school had the shite kicked out of him by one of the smallest, things cooled down a lot.

I lived with the hot chick for 2 years and was roommates with one friend from HS for 6 months or so and other than that the only time I’ve talked to anyone from HS was when they were serving me drinks or food somewhere. I always thought that was amusing.

I’ve always found it extremely sad when I meet people where highschool was obviously the pinical of their social achievement. They keep on reliving it instead of growing up.

-n

#8

Nameless, faceless rabble.

#9

I was in the A/V club for all four years.

Draw your own conclusions.

It has been close to Thirty years and I can still thread a PV 1970 Video Tape Recorder and a Kodak 16 mm film projecter.

#10

Well, I was generally a geeky loner, and got picked on sometimes, but after the Columbine inicident I started wearing a black trenchcoat to school, and everyone left me alone.

#11

For two years I was the next to the bottom of the pack; my best friend was at the bottom. For the remaining two years, after she had a nervous breakdown, not only was I the bottom of the pack, I felt guilty because I hadn’t been strong enough to support her. What did “bottom of the pack” entail? Well, in addition to eating lunch standing up and riding the bus home standing up if I wasn’t quick enough because no one would let me sit next to them, When I was in 12th grade, I would get insulted by 9th graders who didn’t even know me. That’s why I’m still vaguely surprised when I’m not insulted by strangers. It’s also why I’ve been known to mutter “murderous bastards” in reference to most of my former classmates.

There must be a more pleasant thread around here somewhere!

CJ

#12

1977 - 1981

I was a mix and somewhat of an enigma. I made straight As because school was easy, but I hated the geeks and preps. I played some football for the school, but didn’t like most of the jocks. And they thought I was a violent unstable psycho.

I sang in a Mexican band, I hung out at the few punkish clubs there were, I dabbled in the occult, I joined VICA and DECA and competed in the finals, I won scholarships based on my ability in advertising.

What I really was was a chamelean. I could appear to fit in with whatever group I choose. Till I got what I wanted. Remember those personality tests that say to beware of an intuitve empath on the dark side? That was me. I did drugs with the stoners, I drank with the rednecks, I lied and cheated if I could away with it and have some fun.

And, I was sometimes violent, maybe a little unstable, and extremely manipulative.

But, to my 'rents, to the church, to the teachers, I was a golden boy.

Thankfully, my early 20s beat the shit out of me, forcing me to change to a nicer life style.

#13

Started out in hanging in the goodie-too-shoes group, but even those girls, it turns our can be be backstabbing witches.

So I spent my senior year hiding in the bathroom after all my “friends” ditched me. College is being much better :wink:

#14

Between 7th and 12th grade, I changed a lot. Jocks tended to be a subset of the jets (from “jetsetter”) and the ropers (from “goatroper” - the FFA group), but while I did play football and soccer, and ran track, I wasn’t of those two groups.

While I didn’t date a lot of girls, I did date. And I had a core group of friends, several of whom I remain in touch with today. I also knew a few of the loners. But I was able to interact with the jets and, to some degree, witj the ropers (well, the ones who were bright enough to interact with).

As my hair got longer, my grades wandered, I wrote articles for an “underground” newspaper and followed the path of my core friends, several of whom went to other schools.

If I had to characterize us, I’d say we were the folks who kinda ran with the hippies and the surfers, and with whom several other kids were not allowed to consort.

Yeah sigh we were the “bad boys” who went to the drag strip and the beach a lot. We hung out at the Pieces of Eight (a poolhall). I got suspended a few times. I was the first one ever to get caught smoking between classes at my first high school. They didn’t have a penalty, so I got a detention. It subsequently became an expulsion offense.

We stayed out all night and partied in the model homes in the subdivisions or built campfires out by “the lake” (completely covered in homes now). We could always get booze, and when we had girlfriends, they tended to be “fast” (although I doubt too many got to home base - I sure didn’t).

While we were rowdy, illegal, and believed in maximum fun, we didn’t mess with the vulnerable ones. As I said above, I had talking acquaintance with some of the loners, and my group didn’t countenance picking on people. We could defend ourselves, but we didn’t fight for fun, as some groups did.

Okay, we had one good thing. Otherwise we were junior criminals.

I’ve attended my 5th, 10th 20th and 30th high school reunions, and had a great time at all of them.

#15

The eccentrics.

I hung out with a dozen or so people, none of whom could’ve been called “popular.” But at the same time, everyone knew us. Nobody disliked us, and we were never more than on the fringe of the cliques. In my own tenure, I was on the wrestling team, the debate team, sang in the chamber singers, and debated a little. Another of my friends lifted weights and was in AP physics.

It was a pretty good arrangement all around.

#16

I was feared and somewhat revered - my best friend said I was “abrasive.” I was a 40-year old in a teenage prison. I’m only 27 now, but I still think the description fits.

#17

Trip down memory lane, circa 70-74.

Straight-arrow superjock for the first three years, played varsity b-ball and footy, broke some records. Very popular but something of a loner all the same. Had dreams of greatness in sports, never did pan out for reasons too numerous too list – to this day I still think I had the talent and it hurts to think about the next few years and the derailment of that dream.

Fond memories all the same.

#18

The freaks (potheads), jocks (athletes) and straights (nerds, the smart ones) - ah, yes, the Dallas school district, circa 1977 - 1980. I hung out on the smoking porch and skipped every other class. I kid you not, my mother wrote up a stack of “please excuse my daughter for missing class” notes.
I wasn’t popular, but the group I hung out with was; sort of odd! They were “freaks” and I was a “nerd.”

#19

Ours was a weird school. Or maybe I was just blissfully unaware of what was going on.

It was much more stratified by “intelligence” than by anything else. My core group of 40-60 people took the same Honors or AP classes. For pretty much four years straight. So you were pretty good friends with all of them regardless of whether they were cheerleaders or jocks or what. Which was nice.

Also, I took a lot of shop classes, pretty much for the hell of it. So that got me in pretty good with those guys, who were pretty much on the other end of the spectrum from the previous group.

To sum it up: I was never picked on in high school.

#20

I graduated high school about five years ago. Even though we had the cliques at my school, I never fit in to any of them. I wasn’t popular, but everyone always knew exactly who I was. I wasn’t one of the Goths (they hated me) but a lot of people were freaked out by me. I had all the nerdy classes and was friends with some of them, but I wasn’t a nerd. Many of my friends were hardcore stoners, but I didn’t really smoke that much. I sure as hell wasn’t a jock. I lack the coordination needed to walk. No one could really ever describe me to fit into a certain group.

It’s kinda funny now, whenever I visit my hometown and go out, tons of people recognize me and know who I am. Not just the people in my class, but the people in the classes above and below me. Most of the time I don’t have a clue who they are.