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I've been privileged with the opportunity of attending a magnet school where more or less people act like adults because of the academic standards required to get in. I have, however, heard so many people say so many terrible things about high school. I think the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer actually has a high school that is a portal to hell, and coincidentally I heard Tastosis today talking about how "high school is actually hell."
Before I went to this magnet school I attended a regular secondary school (middle and high school in one building). I hardly enjoyed the halls full of people twice my size, but I survived. There was this one guy, though, that really had it rough. He was obese, had health problems that forced him to wear a back brace, and was slightly mentally handicapped. All of these seriously impeded his ability to socialize and understand how to act towards people, manifested primarily in his clinginess and overpowering desire to "fit in". He often ate lunch alone at his own table until I started inviting him (or perhaps he came to us) to eat with my friends.
I genuinely felt sorry the guy and marveled at how some people incessantly made fun of him. I tried to be nice to him whenever I could until I finally had to go to a different high school. We're both Juniors now.
Last night on his Facebook I saw his relationship status change. I was pretty surprised. The girl was actually pretty good looking, but there were some things that were terribly wrong. She only had ~100 friends which is low for where I live. (I frankly find that friend count increases directly with attractiveness.) She had friended all these people within the span of a few days. The biggest giveaway was that she had only communicated with my pal in the entire history of her Facebook.
It was terribly obvious that "she" was a fake, and at this point I wasn't sure whether someone was pulling one on him or he had done this himself in an attempt to boost his self-esteem. Her profile had been very well done, which seemed to suggest the former. Still, I remained unsure until tonight when he himself realized that he'd been duped. He'd been so excited about it, too: he'd been all over her wall saying stuff like "I <3 u  " while "she" encouraged him by reciprocating.
When he set his status back to "single" again, some people were supportive but what absolutely disgusted me was that some people were laughing right in his face, having already taken advantage of his naivete and desperate want of acceptance and love. I was incredulous. I'm so glad I go to a school where I'm not exposed to this sort of thing, but I can't imagine what it must be like to daily face this sort of harassment and belittlement. Without a doubt, these kids who are harassing my bud have problems of their own: otherwise, they wouldn't be going to such great lengths to reassure themselves of their self-worth by picking on people lower on the social food chain. I'm not sure what to do but to look on, try to comfort this guy, and sigh.
 
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I've been privileged with the opportunity of attending a magnet school where more or less people act like adults because of the academic standards required to get in.
I wish this was true in general. Maybe in your school, but from the schools I've attended, it never seemed to be the case.
I hope you reported those kids that did that. That's a real form of cyber-bullying and teasing. Someone did that at my first school (she pretended to like this guy purely to tease him and toy with his heart) and since I was that foreign kid who spoke broken french, everyone was friendly and comfortable with me. So I managed to convince the football guys to rally those kids who would tease the poor lonely guy.
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Damn thats terrible. My high school had a special education program thing and nobody was ever even a little bit mean to any of them. In fact, one of them had Williams Syndrome (which apparently makes you overly sociable) and was arguably the most well-liked person in the school.
Too bad not everywhere can be like that.
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Unfortunately I have no idea who's behind the scenes doing this, otherwise I would report it :/.
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So depressing. He is lucky there are people like you around. Well done. (I don't like school much either but won't last forever!!)
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Reporting it won't solve anything and is a way to make that guy even less sociable. High school is hard end of the line. It isn't preaty, kids at a yound age are extremely one minded and very cruel/stereotyped but everyone goes trough it. Should it happen no, but it does and nothing u can do or the parents will change it. That guy is gonna be alone and get bullied till he realises that he must be more open and grow up.
What i say might seem very cruel and totaly narrow minded but ive seen alot of people being not cool in high school and growing up to be extremely sociable persons, as ive seen cool kids slump into rejection and not having alot of friends.
Time fixes everything.
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It always surprises me to hear stories like these, is high school supposed to be that bad in the U.S.?
I went to a very typical Canadian high school, 95% of the students were white (there were less than ten Asians in my entire grade), and there was nothing special about my high school academically except that it offered French immersion (only one in the area out of ~10). I never had problems coping with my peers, nor did I ever hear about "horror stories" like the one you told. Maybe I was just not aware?
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On March 25 2011 12:31 petergibbons wrote:
I've been privileged with the opportunity of attending a magnet school where more or less people act like adults because of the academic standards required to get in.
I think they act like they are more mature, but as this event can verify, they are no less naive than any other kid.
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On March 25 2011 13:23 Chimpalimp wrote:Show nested quote +On March 25 2011 12:31 petergibbons wrote:
I've been privileged with the opportunity of attending a magnet school where more or less people act like adults because of the academic standards required to get in. I think they act like they are more mature, but as this event can verify, they are no less naive than any other kid.
I think you misunderstood. This didn't happen at my high school.
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2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts
What an incredibly sad story. I really feel for your friend. All I am able to offer are my words, though. I'm sorry.
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Things from t.v. and this don't happen in my school. I think this image of highschool where there's a social hierarchy is pretty bullshit. There are groups but I don't see a hierarchy. In fact, the stronger you are academically, the "higher" class you are. Then again, I go to a school that's majority asian, with less than 10% caucasians.
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Really sad. I actually had a very positive experience at my high school, which was a big 800 people/class public school. Not everyone was nice, but there definitely wasn't a culture of meanness in any of the groups and bullying was very rare. I'll bet even at your old school the bullies are the minority, but it still sucks to see what they can do.
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How can you be that dick to a handicapped kid? thats a bit low... high school is sweet dude its middle school that sucks balls
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High school (in Canada atleast) was nothing like the media or the movies made you think it was. It was actually pretty meh, really boring. In our school (around 2000 ppl), you didn't have those populars kids, jocks, or w/e who got away with everything, nor did we have bullies Everybody had their own corner and enjoyed their own piece of boredom.
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On March 25 2011 14:42 cosiant wrote:
High school (in Canada atleast) was nothing like the media or the movies made you think it was. It was actually pretty meh, really boring. In our school (around 2000 ppl), you didn't have those populars kids, jocks, or w/e who got away with everything, nor did we have bullies Everybody had their own corner and enjoyed their own piece of boredom.
What's that show that's based on a real highschool in Toronto? Degrassi? You know how it's bullshit? The cast does not reflect the demographics of the area.
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High school is pretty laid back and meh. Yeah there is the few that will pick on the unfortunate few, but overall it is just like anything else while being overly influenced by the media and social norms. Perhaps I was just lucky, but the whole experience was fairly relaxed.
It sure felt like a waste of time, and I learned very little, but it wasn't hell. Most adults will mention that high school is the best years of their life. The responsibility to ability ratio is never higher until you comfortably retire... and then you start getting old.
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On March 25 2011 12:41 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +I've been privileged with the opportunity of attending a magnet school where more or less people act like adults because of the academic standards required to get in. I wish this was true in general. Maybe in your school, but from the schools I've attended, it never seemed to be the case.I hope you reported those kids that did that. That's a real form of cyber-bullying and teasing. Someone did that at my first school (she pretended to like this guy purely to tease him and toy with his heart) and since I was that foreign kid who spoke broken french, everyone was friendly and comfortable with me. So I managed to convince the football guys to rally those kids who would tease the poor lonely guy.
Completely agree. In my experience it doesn't matter how much academic prestige there is, there will always be immature people.
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Poor kid.
But what's up with getting a boy/girlfriend on Facebook that you haven't even met? I think the whole Facebook thing is getting out of hand. I remember when I was like 12, me and my classmates would hang at certain social networks, whose only purpose was to (try to) pick up girls. But everybody quit at around high school when they realized it was lame.
It's funny, because Facebook is the exact same thing. Like all the other social networks, its main purpose is to brag and net-stalk. Sure, it would be fun to net-stalk a girl I like, but it would just mess up my head.
And sure, if you have a hot girlfriend it can be nice to brag about scoring such a hot chick, but if she was really so perfect, wouldn't you feel satisfied just being with her?
Like some crazy high school teacher in a certain game said: "Popularity leads to intimacy".
If you're not satisfied with what you have, you can make it look better in order to make you look more desirable.
I realize Facebook has its uses, but the negatives are so many that it's just not worth it.
The only way to find your own self-worth is by deliberately not fitting in, not by rebelling, but rather by doing what you feel is right, without letting other people's opinions cloud your judgment.
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If he's rock bottom of the high-school social food chain, and the bottom-feeders are picking on him. It's up to guys like you to step up and pick on the bottom-feeders and make their lives hell so they realize that shit doesn't fly. If they are too dumb to realize they are picking on a kid with a handicap, just beat the sense into them.
I'm giving terrible advice but I would do it if I felt strongly about it.
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On March 25 2011 14:57 VonLego wrote:
It sure felt like a waste of time, and I learned very little, but it wasn't hell. Most adults will mention that high school is the best years of their life. The responsibility to ability ratio is never higher until you comfortably retire... and then you start getting old.
You mean ability to responsibility ratio right? 
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That is some seriously low shit right there. I don't know how close you are with the guy, but I hope you can help him out, because incidents like this can definitely inspire paranoia and misanthropy. If there's something you both like doing (maybe gaming) then go to some events related to that (like LANs.)
My high school experience was very tame, though I spent quite a few lunches alone or in the library. But yeah I definitely still miss high school and wouldn't call it hell by any means.
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EPT
