What Were You Like in High School?

[Lanolin]

teens these days are really amoral

They dont think anything is wrong with stealing, lying or cheating. I am shocked and horrifed, but then they probably dont have good role models themselves. Even parents can be the worst...!

I had a library monitor ask me why dont I just steal a doorstopper from someone else when mine went missing.

Um because I dont steal other peoples stuff? Its wrong?

 

[Lanolin]

My high school years come back to me. I remember when got to senior year, and the seniors where allowed their own common room or pavillion. It was upstairs overlooking the sportsfields. Basically an empty room with not a stick of furniture in it. We all just sat on the floor with our schoolbags.

I remember there being a microwave in the little kitchenette and we would microwave anything as it was so novel we microwaved our apples.

There was never anything to do at lunchtimes except gossip and eat our lunch, and nowhere to sit outside so we just sat on the concrete or grass. Its like the school never had any benches or picnic tables cos it thought students never ate or got hungry, though I do remember a tuck shop that had iron bars to line up customers, like we were cattle.

When I got to university I liked it because it had actual hot food available and tables and seats so you could actually eat lunch like a civilised person and not have to scavenge.

 

[Karlon]

i was knavish, waggish, mischievous, sometimes a loner, lost, a follower & not to smart. however my english teacher told me once that if i didn't score at least 93 on the final exam, i would fail! i studied and scored a 97!!! but it took too much studying for me, i believe i had a.d.d. then. my brother who partied more than anyone & never studied , graduated 5th in his class!!! he always got 95's & 100's!!! i was a very good football player, was a knee hunter when tackling. in baseball, i was a super pitcher, thru 90 mph on flat ground! girls didn't like me. but i was not a trouble maker, wise guy, flirt or a ladie's man. i ended up majoring in vandalism!!!

 

[zeroturbulence]

Hey Everyone,

This is something I've wanted to ask for a while:

* What were you like in high school? What groups/clubs/cliques did you belong to?

* Who were your friends? Who were your favorite teachers, and why?

* What were your favorite subjects, and what did you intend to do after high school? (Did it go as planned?)


My church denomination had several local lower-level schools in the area, so our Christian high school was kind of like a big community center of all these schools combined. It was a curious thing because once we all got there, some people were already "famous" because they were sports stars, had well-known musical talent, or were the offspring of someone famous in the church community (a pastor or teacher, etc.)

And then there was the rest of us. (My Dad didn't become a pastor until I was an adult and had moved away, and, seeing the pressure other pastor's kids went through, I've thanked him for that quite often.)

I've often said I'm an introvert who can occasionally masquerade as an extrovert, and my freshman year I was eager to meet new people and try to reinvent myself to some extent. Within the first few months, I found myself a part of nearly every activity you can imagine (student body, volleyball, yearbook, choir...)

By my senior year, the reality of typical teenage despair and angst had set in and I had withdrawn from almost everything. The popular girls had given me the title of "The Nerd Magnet" (because they said I'd talk to any nerd within a 10-mile radius), and I embraced their label and all its negativity wholeheartedly. I could talk to most anyone fairly easily, but conversation does not equal inclusion. I have always felt most at home with others like myself who don't really fit under any label.

My best friend in high school was a guy who was nearly 6'4" (seeing as I'm 5'1", we were quite the duo), had long hair, and always dressed in black, including sunglasses (he wasn't even trying to be cool or mysterious, he just had extremely sensitive eyes) and a black trench coat. (I, on the other hand, had fully embraced the "neon colors in every shade... all at the same time" fad.) Jocks only talked to me when they wanted answers to their homework or dates with my friends (I'm not trying to stereotype here--I'm just speaking from my experience), while everyone at school people whispered that my friend, because of his appearance, surely worshiped Satan (one of the things that drew me to him was how well he knew the Bible.)

What were your high school years like for you? (Everyone is welcome to answer, including marrieds and those who are still IN high school.)

For me, high school seems like just a blip now, but back then, it was everything. Sometimes, when I get tired and frustrated with this life, I can hear God telling me that someday I'll look back, and this life will be a lot like high school--it seems like such a big deal at the time, but someday, it won't really matter.

My first year in high school, I joined the football team. It was a mistake. I didn't have a problem with the grueling practices but I soon became the target of bullying from several players because of my ethnicity and some of them were in my classes too. One of them even put a knife to my throat while we were on the school bus. I know some kids had it much worse, but this was pretty horrible to me. I didn't have any friends except this one kid on the football team who was also bullied because of the color of his skin. He seemed to laugh it off though and I always wished I could do that, but I probably couldn't because I've been the target of bullies since the 4th grade. Being the only asian-looking person in all my schools was never a good thing.

Anyway, one day at lunch I met this kid who was drumming on the cafeteria table and I asked him if he played because I was always interested in drums and it turned out he was a drummer in our school's marching band and he suggested I try out for it, so next year I quit the football team and tried out for the band and the band director started giving me one-on-one lessons so I could join the marching band. He said I was a fast learner and I not only got in marching band, but also the school's concert band (orchestra) and jazz band. Joining the band was the best decision I ever made. Everyone in the band was nice to me and I made some great friends. Our band director was a lot like Richard Dreyfuss' character in Mr. Holland's Opus. In fact he even looks like him. He was tough on us but we all loved him. So luckily I did end up having friends in high school, but none outside of band.

 

[Lynx]

'Cause music cats are cooooool, man!

 

[Lanolin]

I ignored teachers a lot of the time, I didnt make friends with many of them in high school. Some were cool but most were teaching the same thing all the time cos thats what you do in high school, though I rarely remember anyone who was passionate about their subject except for maybe one math teacher and a geography teacher. I liked teachers who were funny and could laugh.

I think because of expectations I had a lot of pressure to do well. I had come dux of intermediate school but kinda nearly flunked out of high school because of the piecemeal way it was taught...we just got taught random things from outdated textbooks that seemed to have no real connection with the real world that we actually lived in...?!

Now am at a year 1-13 its kinda interesting although the high school part of it I dont have much to do with as everyones on their devices or studying for exams. Its not really a social school in high school though Im sure that it will have its own cliques and clubs and couples who try to sneak around and cut class to be together. I think some children because of their birth order in the family are natural born leaders and some are followers. By the time every reaches their teens they seem to have found their place in the student heirachy.

The school system tends to prize captains, prefects and house leaders. It becomes quite obvious what your 'ranking' is in high school I cant imagine what happens to those who come lower down how they feel or cope, most of these would have dropped out by that time but nowadays by law you have to stay in school until you are 17 so it does become a bit of a holding pen for some.

some kids are ready for university or college level learning earlier than most, others are more suited to vocational style learning.

As for music, the teachers for some strange reason at my new school like to get their students to practice their trombones to 'I believe in miracles' you sexy thing ' so we hear it every afternoon as the music room is above the library. It is driving me and everyone else nuts....

 

[BrotherMike]

anti social ... if I were to do it over again.. I would have been more social. I had a small clique of friends and didn't talk to many other than them.

 

[Lanolin]

I found out that the school I work in doesnt have gender specific leaders anymore its just Head students not head boy and head girl. So they have two female head students.

The high school I went to had the nominal head boy and head girl (though I dont remember who the head boy was, I was friends with the head girl) and there was a prefect system, though I was not part of it. I avoided politics for the most part in high school. I think I wasnt engaged in the high school I went to, like I didnt belong, as it wasnt really my choice to go there and it wasnt the local one, so coming in at age 12 then having to make totally new friends with people who hung round with friends from primary school and already knew each other was more of the big adjustment to make.

At that age navigating friendships are probably the most important 'learning' you can do but high school seems set up in such a way that it doesnt happen for a lot of teenagers. Suddenly school isnt fun anymore it gets serious because you are faced with deciding which subjects to take which would ultimately decide your future. A huge pressure. I do recall I had to take certain subjects to pass exams and 'easy' subjects were looked down on. Teens are very early on streamed according to ability, but not everyone can fit into that box

 

[Gojira]

I was a good, hard-working student, but I was small and therefore picked on a lot. That didn't help with the masculine ego development. But, I also had an interest in sports, developed a 'street-level' competence in them, and that helped to generate friendships I have to this day.

 

[Lanolin]

I have left school

well basically I got axed.
By the principal because I disobeyed her.

Also there was a fight in the library (not with me) between three year four boys who dont like each other. I sent them to her office but I had emailed her the morning to ask for help and she refused. I was like, dont expect me to be their teacher.

They all got detention, but I was given my walking papers.

I am still somewhat processing what happened. I can see why parents homeschool their children now.

 

[Lanolin]

I returned 'A history of Rome' to one of the history teachers
It was a huge textbook with over 600 pages.

I emailed him if I started reading it I would want to return to school, attend classes, sit exams and even do a book review.
I dropped it at reception for him to pick up.

He wrote back, you can always borrow a copy from the Public library.

 

[Grizz44]

a hippie,into hot cars

 

[Gojira]

a hippie,into hot cars

That seems rather oxymoronic.

 

[Lynx]

a hippie,into hot cars

That seems rather oxymoronic.

Nah. My dad was a hippie back in the day. He appreciated a hot car too. You don't have to be a jock to like a sweet ride.

 

[Grizz44]

That seems rather oxymoronic.

not at all

 

[Gojira]

not at all

Hippies usually are against anything that pollutes or uses fossil fuels.

 

[Lynx]

Hippies usually are against anything that pollutes or uses fossil fuels.

Tree huggers were somewhere between yuppies and hippies. The lines get blurred a bit. But hippies are not by definition against hot rods.

 

[Lanolin]

Im heading to this girls high school on Tuesday
Please pray nothing bad happens and the principal or admin are not bullies like they were at the last school I was in.

The last school the Principal boasted that his office manager was a bully and made the tradies cry.

 

[Joshua_783]

Im heading to this girls high school on Tuesday
Please pray nothing bad happens and the principal or admin are not bullies like they were at the last school I was in.

The last school the Principal boasted that his office manager was a bully and made the tradies cry.

My prayers are with you Lanolin!! ❤️ Why would the staff be mean?!?

 

[Lanolin]

My prayers are with you Lanolin!! ❤️ Why would the staff be mean?!?

aw thanks
I have no idea, they just seem to like being mean. It gets things done at school? Makes them feel powerful? I dunno.