...is High School in America anything like it's portrayed in TV shows? Like with the football team and cheerleaders being the head of the social pyramid and all the bullying and locker pranks etc?
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...is High School in America anything like it's portrayed in TV shows? Like with the football team and cheerleaders being the head of the social pyramid and all the bullying and locker pranks etc?
I think the kids look nothing like the actors on tv, except maybe for Michael Cera.
Yes, although IMO the worst bullying happens in middle school.
Mine was nothing like that.
I wondered about this the other day, when I watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Do they really shove you into a locker for completing your essay ahead of time? Really?
Furthermore, why are lockers that large in american high schools? The ones we had in high school and now in the uni library can barely fit a backpack. Were they designed to fit nerds? :colbert:
Yes, and no. Well, it was kinda like that back in the 90's, but I have no idea how it is currently, so I have no say on the subject. As for the lockers, at my high school, they were big enough to fit jackets, books, and maybe a small kid. Though, I doubt they were specifically designed to have a nerd fit in them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aulayna
Yeah, I could climb inside my jr. high and high school lockers.
In my experience, TV high school was more like jr. high. Everyone was super cliquey then when everyone's hormones begin to fly around. Kids were bitches and cared way too much about passing notes in school and popularity. Things mellowed out a lot once we got to high school. (but that didn't keep me from hating it)
YES. Although I live in the South so yeah... hardly setting the American standard. :|
Agree with those who said that it was more like Junior High/Middle School than High School.
Well, the first high school I went to was in a very small town. We'd all been together since elementary, and people were so cruel. No matter what you did to change your image, once you were in a certain group, you were there. I got bullied up til my junior year. I can't say that the football players and cheerleaders were top of the social pyramid, though, although they usually were in the more popular cliques.
My second high school was awesome. I love that place so much even now. Which is weird to say. It was a really large school, but everyone intermingled with everyone. I guess there were cliques in the sense that certain people hung out with certain people with their same interests (drama kids, choir kids, sports kids, etc) but that doesn't mean it was exclusive. I had friends in all of the groups. And in that school, there was a lot of cross-over. There were so many football and cheerleader girls in choir, choir kids who did drama, drama kids who were in Science Olympiad, Science Olympiad kids who did sports...
Everyone was open, and so it made the last two years of my high school experience mostly pleasant.
Yes. A lot of the popular kids in my high school were impressionable especially by the media so they fufilled the jock cheerleader stereotype. Also a majority of the cheerleaders were pretty hot. I would say most the popular guys though were ugly, but they were football players so whatdya expect. Some of the other popular kids played soccer or were just rich. There was also some huge racism going on in our school.
The popular kids still hang around eachother to this day but none of them are really do anything interesting. I only bothered friending a few and even those people I can barely stomach. Nerds weren't shoved in to lockers though. A few of them were teased for being socially awkward, but they were placed in special classes so were hardly in the same ones as the jocks. And yes, I agree that the worse bullying occured during middle school.
Ouch. :/
I mostly asked this as it was a weird conversation we had at a bar the other night about if we'd grown up in America what would everyone have been like at school. Which got me thinking, the stuff in TV is very different to the stuff I experienced going to a comprehensive school in the East End of London. I can imagine as Shiny said a lot of it is very self-perpetuating due to the media.
After reading this though. Gee, no wonder people make anecdotes about highschool being hell. I can't even imagine what that would've been like to grow up in.
Keep in mind that America is a big place with a lot of different influences and cultural biases that shift based on the location. Growing up in the north east is not the same as the south nor the midwest nor the west coast, and even in those areas there's a certain amount of gradation between the local cultures. You also have to account for class sizes and socioeconomic make-up: poor rural schools are not the same as poor urban schools and neither are going to be the same as rich suburban schools. Even year over year the composition is different based on whatever is currently trendy.
Movies and TV heavily cherry pick some common stereotypes (bullying, hot chicks, jocks) to play out in a fabricated environment but the social dynamics between each school vary wildly. Some places there's more intense bullying than others, some have almost no bullying. Some have strong sense of cliques, some are wholly integrated. Some even value the education experience significantly more than others.
So the answer is yes and no. There's some common threads between the fictional representation and the reality of it, but it's more like writers are taking inspiration from their high school experiences rather than writing verbatim what they experienced. Which is good, because a direct account of high school would most likely be incredibly boring for a large proportion of people who went through it.
What was your experience in school in London, Aulayna?
Well to put in perspective we were in year groups - with about 3 seperate classes ranked based on achievement with about 20-30 in each class, for years 7-11. So that's roughly only 300 pupils. Our school was relatively small campus wise.
There was a bit of bullying around the year 8 (so 12'ish when everyone was getting hormonal) but the majority of it tended happen outside of school. London has a lot of schools and you often got bullied based on what school you went too (which because everyone wore school uniforms it was pretty easy to determine).
There were a few who got involved in drinking toward the end of year 11 but beyond that most people got a long, and you knew pretty much everyone in your year group - either as friends or just acquaintances.
We didn't really have a lot in the way of after school groups etc so whilst there was some cliqueyness and people who were more popular/known than others it never really resulted in any clashing - especially as due to the achievement ranking which meant you rarely crossed paths with people you might normally have butted heads with.
There were some fights which were usually the result of silly disagreements.
I guess I was kind of in the right place at the right time though as I moved there not long before the end of middle school and the high school I went too wasn't one of the better ones in the borough but the faculty were doing everything they could to improve it and our year group was one of the first for all the new changes to be applied too.
High school was actually fine for most people. It was middle school that was more like Hell. I guess most people by high school matured enough.
I can say that my school is probably not like a lot of schools, but every stereotype you can imagine was fulfilled. Theater geeks, jocks, cheerleaders/mean girls, nerds, arty kids, punks, emos, skankers (ska kids) sassy black girls, etc. etc. There were also the druggies who would sell in school to a lot of the popular kids. The black popular kids would do weed and the white cocaine...I'm sure when writers write about American high schools it' a lot like my high school was.
See, my high school had all of this as well, but people intermingled and they were all friends with everyone. It was pretty cool, actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
God, middle school was the worst. Sixth grade was the worst of the lot because everyone was terrible and cruel to each other, I dunno why... kids were 12-13ish so I think it's just that age. People mellowed out a bit in seventh grade but then you had to deal with the eighth graders picking on the "sevies".
The cliques were really pronounced in high school but it didn't result in bullying so much as it resulted in just... who you hung out with, I guess.
So yeah middle school was the worst.
In agreement.
Pretty much this. Middle school was awful to me but in high school no one really cared about singling people out and just stuck to their own groups and I made friends from all kinds of groups. I mean, there are cheerleaders and annoying football jocks and the "I'm sooo cool, look at my hip clothes" kids but no one really cares enough to bother each other.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
It took four years of therapy to undo middle school.
My high school experience was weird. I definitely agree that more bullying happened for me in my middle school years, especially seventh grade. In eighth grade I turned thirteen and became a bad bitch. I wasn't mean, I just stopped taking trout off everyone. When I went to high school I had my friends and wasn't involved in any extra curriculars, so I stuck with just my group of smart, slightly awkward people. There were the jocks/cheerleaders and the rednecks. Those were pretty much the only cliques. They didn't usually bully people, but when they did I was usually like an interceptor. I didn't stand for stupid trout. I have some good memories and bad from high school, and I kept all of the friends I wanted to keep.
Sometime later this year will be the 10 year reunion for my graduating class and I don't really care at all. I have no intention of going and reminiscing with people I didn't care about then and don't care about now. Some of my closer friends from that era are annoyed with me about it, but I'd rather just have a relaxing night with friends than wear a dress and stand awkward and silent as people talk about their kids and how great it'll be for them to go to Madison.
The only thing I usually hated about high school was lunch period, especially during Junior and Senior years, I didn't really have a group of friends I could sit down with, so I usually ended up eating alone or with a group of guys who didn't mind me. It was a bit depressing at the time, so I spent most of my time after I ate in the library or waiting by the stairs for lunch to be over.
Glad to see that many EoFFers were bullied horribly in middle school. I say good because we managed to find each other on the interwebs to share experiences. You are not aloooone. :sing:
Middle school was definitely crap. High school wasn't much better. I mean it was fun and I had a great set of friends during that time, but that reunion can smurf right off. I don't actually harbor any bitterness to anyone, but I can say that many of them are still probably annoying. I find it funny how some people who were straight up dicks in high school have friended me through FB, but out of curiosity I friended them back only to see that they're pregnant, or a college drop out working as a cashier at some troutty Dollar Store/Hooters/some other troutty place. Success really is the best revenge.
My ten year high school reunion was last year and I didn't go. Yeah screw that, I'm not gonna show up and be all "I'M WORKING OVERNIGHTS AT TARGET :hyper: " Almost all of my good high school friends moved away and wouldn't be going anyway.
I'm hoping I'll have more books published in another ten years and will feel a bit less like a failure xD
I went to a very good high school with mostly well-off kids, if I were to attend a reunion there wouldn't be anyone to mock for being a failure. :| At best I could look down on them for having boring careers in law or business or whatever. Good thing there's no reason for me to ever attend a reunion. :monster:
I'll chime in and say that middle school was the worst in terms of bullying. Kids are just all full of hormones and turn into monsters.
Jowy's post about therapy to undo middle school is pretty similar to my story.
It's pretty much exactly like that. We even randomly break out into song.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aulayna
Yeah I mean we had the jocks and stuff but they weren't dumb. Most jocks were also the smart kids. They were just active in everything sports, academics etc. Personally our cheerleaders were not "hot" and only wanted to be cheerleaders to try to become popular. All the impressionable girls who thought because of the media that that would happen. It didn't.
Middle school did have the most bullying wise. I'll agree with that. My town was really into sports but a lot of the non sports kids could careless so we weren't bullied or anything over it.
It wasn't like that at my school. There were no cliques or groups or outcasts. Everyone hung out with different people. If you were friends with them, you would spend time together and if you weren't you would say hi and ask how they were doing in class or in the hallway. There were a few rude people but they didn't bully and it's like that as an adult. The cheerleaders and jocks were not the most popular (heck I don't even know who was a cheerleader or a jock) and there was no social ladder. Two of the biggest nerds I've ever known were very popular with most of the ladies and one of them had a new girlfriend every month or so, which is not at all like in the shows. Lunch hours were usually spent at restaurants or at the park across the street. Sometimes kids from the other nearby high school would come hang out. Sometimes a few of the teachers would come hang out.
Overall, nothing like they show on TV.
Yeah but didn't you go to school in Canada? It must be like the most polite school in the world.
I see your point.
Middle school is indeed the smurfing worst.
What about SCHOOL SPIRIT and having random dances every five smurfing minutes and THE FOOTBALL GAME being the big thing that everyone gives a smurf about?
Honestly, these influences very much shaped my views of Americans being smurfing weirdos who take themselves way too seriously. Having known such fine Americans on EoFF I don't think that's true of all of you now, but god damn it still weirds me out. Tell me it's not real. Please!
I don't think my school was like that. Of course, my school's big draw wasn't the football, it was the hockey and even then I don't think the kids who played hockey were very popular. We didn't win many games. XD
Sorry, it's all true. In fact, this is much more true than what Aul posted.Quote:
Originally Posted by Del Murder
Just to be clear, we're talking about suburban high schools right? Inner city high schools are a whole different ballgame. You're lucky to get home each day without a fleshwound.
School spirit rallies were the worst. My friends and I ditched them to smoke pot backstage in the auditorium.
Oh I live near Clemson now which is apparently a college football town and my goodness is it obnoxious. It's like the Clemson Tigers or something and EVERYWHERE around the town is stuff like "Tiger Accounting" and "Tiger Ice Cream shop" and "Tiger Boats". There are orange (the teams colour) paw prints made into the road. People have it on their license plates and they go around wearing the gear when there isn't even a game going on. A lot of the fast food restaurants like Pizza Hut and Cookout just have GO TIGERS!!!! All over their walls. It's kind of annoying. I can understand people getting into the spirit during the season, but its everywhere all the time. On the roads is a bit extreme, I mean really.
Are you from DA STREETZ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
Hellz no.
LET'S GO TIGERS!:jess:Quote:
Originally Posted by shion
My schools weren't really like that. There were bullies occasionally, but it seemed to boil down more to the classic "big person with family issues/lack of self confidence taking it out on the little person" type of thing. The closest the grouping came was that some people were "known" for their interests. Like band, drama/theater, football, etc. So that meant they probably socialized more with other people in that group, because due to hours of practice, they spent more time with those people. Even so, everyone pretty much hung out with who ever they wanted, and there was not a lot of bullying or cliquishness going on. I had friends from all over the spectrum, and that seemed to be a the case for everyone else too.
Some females had their "cliques" so it might have been worse for the ladies who weren't in the cliques? :confused: I didn't hear a whole lot about it.
heyyyy my high school were the tigers, too! :love:
https://si0.twimg.com/profile_images...Tiger_Logo.JPG
I hear schools in the mid-west are more like TV high schools. My high school experience was pretty chill--there were jerks, sure, but people of every "type" were nice to me; I didn't feel like I had to stay in a clique or something. Parties were similar to those on TV, I guess.
I had a friend who moved to the mid-west during their sophomore year, and when they got there they immediately started getting trout for not wearing Tommy Hilfiger. I don't remember Tommy Hilfiger ever being cool, but apparently at that school you got mocked if you didn't wear the "right" clothes. Meanwhile in Southern California, I wore whatever I wanted (usually a t-shirt and jeans, maybe fishnet shirts and old army jackets) and no one ever said anything mean to me.
America is a big place.
It's been a long time since high school but some of the attitudes in those shows are there but not to the extreme. I heard of this one geeky dude getting canned by some jocks when I was in school. The kid had a serious superiority complex so I'm pretty sure he brought it on himself. :p
Other than that, it was pretty tame. I remember being called a snob for having a Jansport backpack but that's small potatoes compared to what you see in these shows. Oh, and lockers were only half size so you'd have to be a midget to get thrown in a locker. :p
There was this kid in my Algebra 2 class that was so long and lanky that it was ridiculous, and he had this giant shnozz to boot. Everyone called him Birdman and I felt really bad for him, he caught so much flak for that smeller of his.
Mine was nothing like it. Everyone generally got along. The popular kids were jocks but the cheerleaders were all the theater girls so not really at the top of the social pyramid. Most of my school liked to party so that brought us all together :p
As for shoving kids in lockers, I did that in elementary school so basically I was ahead of the game there :smug:
No.
It was basketball, not football.
I have to second the mentioning of middle school being the worst. My high school was nothing like TV and relatively non-cliquey (though I did go to a smaller school), but middle school, especially 6th and 7th grade, were filled with awful, awful people.
Shlup also makes a good point about mid-west schools being more stereotypical like on TV, at least from what I've heard. I think it has something to do with sports generally being a bigger deal there in high school.
Worst I got someone glued my lock.......before that some guy started reaching in my locker and I shut the door on his hand but he proceeded to throw papers out of my locker after.
And I had a locker near those two people who'd yell and scream at each other and somehow still stayed together.
Yeah this was my experience as well, and I went to school here in Blighty in the Midlands. :monster: Middle school was a vicious pit of psychopathic little sadists who absolutely reveled in causing pain and misery in their fellow students. High school was a hell of a lot less severe in that regard, there were still problems but it was more like wiseguys throwing insults around trying to look clever rather and didn't do too much harm. Likewise if you did something dumb or were awkward you'd get some trout for it, but I'd definitely class most of it as teasing more than bullying. I never contemplated suicide or murder in due to HS, but I sure as trout did both in middle school.Quote:
Originally Posted by I'm My Own MILF
Although we didn't really have cliques, just groups of friends who hung out together. But for the most part those were happy enough to let people come and go as people drifted around having different interests and whatnot. I ended up being damn good friends with a guy who had always been ready to take the piss out of me when we discovered we both liked the same videogames.