Why does high school suck so much?

[raccoon]

Maybe you're one of the few for whom it didn't/doesn't, but most people, IME, think it really sucks. It's a cruel caste system, it seems, wherever the school is. Is it just a microcosm of society as a whole, but it's easier to see the cruelty because it's a smaller environment?

[PeaceNikki]

1. It's during a time in our life when emotions are at their highest.

We love harder & hate more.

It's a sucky age. The only reason I'd go back is to kick my ass for stupid choices.

[ThomCat]

24. Don't you wish we could do that?

If we could all go back at 40 and tell ourselves what we need to know at 13, how much better would our lives be? :)

[trof]

39. And the hormonal rush.

Hoo boy!

[MissMillie]

2. well, when you're out of high school, the caste system is gone

but then you have to work for a living....

[Ava]

3. i homeschool

so i haven't been in highschool, but i do know that middle school was pretty sucky. kids are just cruel little bastards when they can be because a lot of them don't think about the consequences of their actions.

[azmouse]

4. It makes you appreciate life after HS that much more.

Hang in there! It does come to an end.

[raccoon]

7. Thanks, azmouse, but my HS days ended ages ago.

Glad I don't believe in reincarnation--I'd hate to have to go thru it again. :silly:

[azmouse]

10. It could be fun though for one day if

we could go back knowing what we know now.
Ohhhh, the things I'd do and the people I'd tell off. :evilgrin:

[Hand]

28. Oh crap!

I DO believe in reincarnation... forgot about HS. :banghead:

[raccoon]

33. If there is such a thing, HS might be the least of your problems.

My worry would be coming back in some Third World hellhole with a tiny shack of a house with a dirt floor, no running water, scrounging for food, no medical/dental/vision care to speak of.

I went on a mission trip to such a hellhole fairly recently, and it made quite an impression on me.

In the USSR--I mean, USA, you don't know how lucky you are, boy.

[The2ndWheel]

5. It's the beginning of the end

[LeftyFingerPop]

6. It does suck. The popular kids either....

call you names, or "ignore" you. But then, as you become wiser and older, you realize that the popular kids are only popular because they are pricks, and others gravitate towards them to try to get on their "non-pricky" side.

Also, whether we realize it then or not, the popular kids tend to need more stroking and ego boosting than us mere mortals.

[ThomCat]

25. I love seeing those formerly popular kids after high school.

Either they've finally learned how to be nice once they get into the adult world, or they're bitter because life doesn't treat them special any more.

Either outcome is acceptable. :P

If your high school was anything like mine, it seems like a high proportion of popular kids who end up being divorced, drunken, out of shape and old before their time.
:shrug:

[LeftyMom]

8. Because it's essentially coed prison with weekend furloughs?

Social animals all seem to have a natural upper limit on how many relationships they can have at once, and that's the largest group they'll form. More than that, and they go nuts. In human groups, you'll see a phenomenon where a group gets real big, people focus on differences that were barely noticeable when the group was small, and the group splits into one or several smaller groups.

In elementary school, classes stay small enough that they're within the limit for healthy social interaction. Kids figure out their places in the social structure with a minimum of fuss, and there tends not to be a lot of jockeying for position. In junior high and high school, suddenly the classes are short and in flux, so the social group is not the class but the whole school. In all but the smallest schools, it's too large a population to maintain a healthy social structure. Nobody's certain of just where their place is. Fights break out. Bullying becomes the norm. Essentially you get prison without the toothbrush shankings.

No other human societies work that way. Large employers, for example, are big on structure. Everybody has a job description, there's a clear hierarchy, you get seemingly nonsensical stuff like cheers and mission statements to keep cohesion in a group too large for it to come naturally. Schools try to do the same thing with sports, school spirit stuff, but they fail where large corporations (marginally) succeed, because 1. they're working with kids 2. adults get paid to cooperate, so they're more motivated to cope with subordinate roles 3. remaining in a job is voluntary- kids who are unhappy in school generally don't get to leave.

[raccoon]

12. Well said, especially the last paragraph. nt

[Jade Fox]

23. Really interesting.....

analysis there.

I think the apprentice system of old had it's merits. Older teens need to be out in the world on their own, but not entirely expected to have full adult responsibilities. High school extends childhood un-naturally, and denies teens a way to transition into the adult world in stages.

[Duppers]

9. it's where the clicky young republicans learn to terrorize other students

and some of the teachers are blind to injustice, even their own.

[Cant trust em]

11. don't take it so seriously

For me it wasn't great or terrible, it just was. I've thought about this a lot. If I could go back in time I would be that loner guy who sits under a tree reading a book. Instead I tried to fit in and play the popularity game even though I obviously wasn't in that scene. Instead I'd rather blow all of those people off and remove myself from the scene.

[Orsino]

13. Hormones.

The government and one's parents conspiring to convince you that there's a single way to learn and to be, when one's body says the complete opposite. Meanwhile, all the other hormone-laden kids also tell one of a single, and different, way to learn and to be.

Conflict is designed into the system, and is inescapable.

[Westegg]

14. When you're a teen, you think you "know it all"...

...and therefore think your judgments (about other people, for starters) are correct. That kid's a "nerd," that kid's a "jock," that kid's a "stoner," that kid's a "loser," etc. You're so comfortable in your ignorance in those years. As you get older, you begin to understand how much you don't know (about other people, for starters). That's the ideal situation, by the way. Too many people don't get over their ignorance.

[mdmc]

15. College will make it worth it

then work will make HS seem nice.

[OzarkDem]

26. But college is soooo much fun, too

Free and fun.

[Alexander]

16. I occasionally have nightmares that I'm still back in high school. Anyone else get those?

High school sucks so much that it haunts me in my dreams.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. Oh, yeah.

And I graduated in 1965.

High school apparently traumatized me permanently.

[lightningandsnow]

17. Amen to that.

Most of the really cool adults I know hated high school. And I don't like it, either. Oh well...only 15 months till I graduate!

[Zuiderelle]

18. High school sucked worse than all the years since.

And there've been 25+ years since.

DU sometimes mimics HS though, but it's not really reality here. People are assholes here because they're anonymous, and don't really realize, in most cases, how much they hurt people with their insensitivity.

It's NEVER as bad as DU or HS in real life. At least in my experience.

[Miss Carly]

19. Don't worry, it will get better

HS sucked for me too, and it was a long time ago. Once I got out of HS I realized people were more mature, it will get better!

[billyskank]

20. Because school is the most conservative place there is.

God help you if you're just the slightest bit different from the norm, whatever the norm is this year. If you dare to deviate, to be a little bit individual, you will be mercilessly picked on.

[Wheezy]

21. It does suck.

When I speak at high schools, people often ask me, why do you write novels for teens?

I answer:

There are two kinds of people -- those who forget what it's like to be in high school, and those who CAN'T forget because it was so horrible.

The ones who can't forget become young adult authors.

Feelin' the pain of high school 20 years later... to answer your question, I think it's especially concentrated in high school because everybody's really insecure.

[Deja Q]

22. Because pregnancy is expensive?

Yeah, it's a caste system... Possibly worse.

But "boys will be boys", which is why nothing is done about anything people complain about. :(

[Hand]

27. Insh'Allah. nt

[OzarkDem]

29. Seems harder today

though I didn't always enjoy it in my day, it seems the kids have a more difficult time today. Much more of the materialism and caste system, and way more drugs.

My youngest is graduating this spring and I'll be glad when its over.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. Because it's full of teenagers,

who are immature and impulsive and make each others' lives miserable without knowing exactly why. It's just the way people are at that age. I graduated in 1965 and I still have nightmares that take place in my high school. :scared: It sucked then and I have no doubt it still sucks. The only thing you have to keep in mind that after high school things do improve, mainly because you and your peers are more mature and less douchebaggy.

[KitchenWitch]

32. Because high school is more of a space holder between adolescence and adulthood

It is limboland.

[dembotoz]

34. If it did not suck you might not want to graduate.

and then if you did not graduate and stayed in high school, george bush could not ship you
or your classmates off to Iraq(Chenny is ok with sending preschoolers-but only if they are from poor or minority families) So In order to maintain the surge, high school has to suck so that there will be recruits.

in other words--Its George bush's fault.

[IzaSparrow]

35. All hs sucks...

and b/c you've observed that it's an unjustifiable caste system, you will become a very well adjusted adult that won't accept class warfare as a "fact of life".

[DS1]

36. the people in it

[bigwillq]

37. I had a great time in HS.

But I can see how it can majorly suck for some people. Kids are cruel and mean and immature. I feel, for the most part, the kids who made fun of other people were the ones with the real issues, not the ones getting made fun of.

It's easy, especially in high school, to shift the attention away from yourself, which is why people made fun of other people.

But people grow, mature, learn about themselves. Even the assholes in my high school, most are very nice people today.

My school was small...I knew everyone, their families, and I pretty much got along with everyone. Yes, I was part of the "cool" group but that's mainly because of sports...I knew all the jocks for a long time because of playing sports my whole life.

Don't worry about it. Everything will turn out ok.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

38. Because it's a microcosm of our dumbed-down, dog-eat-dog, sports-obsessed society

And besides, the teen years are the height of self-centered insecurity.

Put 'em all together and they spell sheer misery for anyone who doesn't fit the community's mold.

High school graduation was one of the happiest days of my life.

[driver8]

40. Maybe that's why I drank and smoked so much pot in high school...

I thought I was having fun, but in reality it sucked!!

As others have said, "College will make it worth it!"