I didn't go to high school. What did I really miss?

[Anonymous]

For me, it was fine. I enjoyed my time there but I'm glad it is in the past. There were highs and lows - and the lows could be pretty rough. A lot of drama, but also some silly adventures and good stories. I didn't really like prom and rarely went to a football game. With my circle of friends, there weren't any "parties", alcohol, drugs, or sex. We hung out in someone's basement, went ice skating, and watched movies. I talk to my best friend from high school every 6 months to a year and don't keep up with anyone else.

Sure, you missed out on a typical American experience, but you have no way of knowing if it would have been better or worse than your experience. Agree that you're romanticizing the whole thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you weren't home schooled for grade school, just picture hs being like a continuation of grade school. Lots of fun parties, social events, hilarious stories, lots of shared experiences, trips to the mall, fun clothes, jokes and in-jokes, trips, infatuations with boys etc. You also start to be 'self and others' aware enough to see cause and effect in peoples choices and behaviours. You see what it takes to be a 'winner' or to be a 'loser' in life. You get exposed to other perspectives on how to do things, or how to think about things. Like a less mature university experience, lol.

More than anything, I think all the socializing hones your BS detector and you learn to avoid idiots and assholes.

You absolutely do not learn this in freaking *high school.* You are completely overstating the value of high school.

[Anonymous]

I hated high school. I’m introverted and found the experience overwhelming, I guess. The only thing that kept me from dropping out was being able to play softball in the spring and the social stigma around dropping out. I guess there’s a certain something to be said for being forced to be around people you may not like all day long. I probably would have been better off in a work skill setting where i was learning something useful vs sitting in a math class with 45 other kids. I think whether high school was a good experience depends a lot on your personality and how big the school is. Mine had over 2300 kids and was built for about 1500. Classes regularly had 40+ kids. The school was designed in such a way that half the classrooms had no windows. It was pretty miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you weren't home schooled for grade school, just picture hs being like a continuation of grade school. Lots of fun parties, social events, hilarious stories, lots of shared experiences, trips to the mall, fun clothes, jokes and in-jokes, trips, infatuations with boys etc. You also start to be 'self and others' aware enough to see cause and effect in peoples choices and behaviours. You see what it takes to be a 'winner' or to be a 'loser' in life. You get exposed to other perspectives on how to do things, or how to think about things. Like a less mature university experience, lol.

More than anything, I think all the socializing hones your BS detector and you learn to avoid idiots and assholes.

You absolutely do not learn this in freaking *high school.* You are completely overstating the value of high school.

I definitely don't learn who the "winner" and "losers" WHILE in HS. If anything, I learned that AFTER high school. The ones who seem to be winners are actually the big losers from my HS. High school is like Lord of the Flies.

[Anonymous]

I liked most of my classes and many of my teachers. I thought much of what I learned was interesting. I think that's what I would say you might have missed, depending on what high school you would have attended. A variety of materials taught by a wide range of teachers. But, you got that in college so you didn't totally miss it.

As you can probably guess from my first statement, I wasn't the most popular. But, I did have friends and went to prom and did high school sports, etc. None of that is terribly interesting to me now. While I'm not at all close to my high school friends, either geographically or emotionally, I still have some contact and like them as people. I'm 42 for reference.

[Anonymous]

I went to a small Christian school that my mom and our pastor started after my dad died in 1984. I attended from 7-11th, but I went to a local community college to take biology when I was 15 because our school was not equipped with a lab. Before my senior year began, I refused to attend the Christian school and put my foot down, informing my mother that I was going to graduate from the local high school. I did. I was the choir pianist for two choirs and two youth groups, so I didn't attend any football games. I had too many prior engagements. My experiences were very different from most of my peers, but I learned a lot. I think life is what you make of it. Don't dwell on what you didn't get to do as a teenager.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was home schooled for high school. My mom was extremely paranoid about the many social ills that supposedly filled high schools in the 90s and led me to believe it was the best choice for me, which I believed at the time.

While I actually got a decent education (combination of a very good home schooling program and being very self-motivated), as the years go by I feel like I missed out on so many experiences by not going to a high school. I never got to go to the prom or football games and when I got to college I struggled to fit in at first because I didn't know teenager lingo/slang. As time goes by I feel like I missed such an important part of life as I see friends who have great HS friendships to this day, reminiscing of teenage antics and rites of passage. DH gets it but thinks I'm romanticizing the whole thing...he remembers HS as being bullied and stuck with teachers who didn't care. Who knows what my HS experience would have been like, but I've been thinking a lot about it and feel like I missed out on so much.

So for all you who went to high school, was it a great experience? If you had those 4 years erased from your life, would you feel like you missed out on something important or would you be content?

Your mom was right about the social ills...at that age, teens associate with other teens and get into a lot of trouble experimenting etc. You should be grateful for having a mom who cared enough about your education and well-being. So stop whining.

Ok, so at least she didn't want you to do drugs...isn't that caring ?

OP here. Caring or concern had nothing to do with it. My mom had me believe that everyone in HS was a druggie who would dope me up, and she wasn't a fan of brown people either. So...thanks for your lovely reply.

[Anonymous]

OP are you physically, conventionally beautiful or just average? Are you a bubbly extrovert who attracts people? If not there is a good chance your high school experience would have been filled with needless drama. High school on tv and movies is nothing like real high school. Maybe you would have had a great experience but chances are high it would have sucked.

[Anonymous]

Not I think OP. My DH and I both exactly have one good friend from high school. It might have been worse had we stayed in our home are as, because people tend to sort by high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not a damn thing

+1
It sucked

yep

[Anonymous]

I met my future husband in high school and the woman who is still my best friend - so from my perspective, you missed a lot!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you weren't home schooled for grade school, just picture hs being like a continuation of grade school. Lots of fun parties, social events, hilarious stories, lots of shared experiences, trips to the mall, fun clothes, jokes and in-jokes, trips, infatuations with boys etc. You also start to be 'self and others' aware enough to see cause and effect in peoples choices and behaviours. You see what it takes to be a 'winner' or to be a 'loser' in life. You get exposed to other perspectives on how to do things, or how to think about things. Like a less mature university experience, lol.

More than anything, I think all the socializing hones your BS detector and you learn to avoid idiots and assholes.

You absolutely do not learn this in freaking *high school.* You are completely overstating the value of high school.

Respectfully, I guess *you* didn't, but I did. I saw so many people fitting into the same old patterns of behaviour/choices/personality type that I was able to determine with whom to spend my time. Even more so than uni because that was more homogenous in terms of students. It probably also depends on how large your class is.

[Anonymous]

While I hated the majority of my high school years, I do have some fond memories & still remain friends w/people I used to hang out with.

I feel like ALL that I experienced there, both good AND bad made me the person I am today.

For instance, being bullied has made me root for the underdog on many occasions.

[Anonymous]

Consider yourself lucky

[Anonymous]

The incredible discourse and instruction in my classes prepared me well for college and grad school. I still keep up with five friends from junior and senior year. AP classes allowed me to start as a second year.

I was a geek, but loved HS.