High school mentality?

[Silly Cow]

This thing has been bugging me for eternity, and since there are people here from the US, I think I'll just ask it here.

Are high schools really like in all the movies? You know what I'm talking about: the different kliqs consisting of popular girls, jocks, nerds, the freaks and wharnot. The public mocking of the not-so-populars. The immature sexual jokes during classes (and the mandatory high five after said joke). Itäs hard for me to believe people would act like that in high school (especially since that kind of behaviour is usually shown here only in our equivalent of middle school) but the rate that these kinds of things are shown in US movies and TV series baffles me. Tell me, you wise men who've gone through high school, what is the answer!

[secretcode]

...well. Not really, at least in my experience. I mean, sure there's the cliques (sp?) that people belong to, but there are those that blur the line, so it's not just a completely segregated situation.

As for the innuendo and whatever, it's bound to happen in any situation, but in my experience, it's not that common unless you were (like you said) in ****ing Middle School.

[RID Scourge]

Yeah. Movies definitely take it to the extreme.

Cliques? I didn't notice too many in my school. There was maybe one goth that I can remember and I can't think of many others. Not really many people stood out in terms of clothing. So the formation of cliques usually formed based on who you were friends with and who had treated you rotten. In a way you could roll with pretty much anyone.

Maturity? It's kind of a mixed bag. Yeah we were young. So there were times when we could be crass, but you didn't behave like that in class because you'd be punished. Even in the classes I took that were lower-level classes no one behaved like that in class.

Mocking usually only happened when someone deserved it (ie they were acting like an ass). There were a few people who tried to treat others like crap, but for the most part people had respect.

[Springer007]

Ahhh the times of youth. I wouldn't say it is as bad as it is portrayed in the movies, unless the schools are bigger than 5-A schools. I went to one, and I can agree, if someone acted out, then said mocking was done. But other than that, there were a few asses acting like that for the sake of being seen as "tough" and "cool". My school was mainly pot-heads, jocks, cheerleaders, freaks (me being one of the kings of freak-dom), and very little or no homosexuals. We had the Baptists though lording over everyone on how "holy" they were compared to the rest, but that is for another rant. I imagine, like stated above, that bigger schools in the inner city experience things possibly similar to what the movies portray, but I truthfully wouldn't know. On jokes, those happen regardless of age. It happens with me at work. I try to compliment someone, and someone else makes it a sex joke, followed up by me giving a snide compliment or comment in response.

[StoneCold Skywarp]

I'm not exactly "wise"...

Quoted for truth.

[Ackula]

My high school was definitely split up into cliques more or less. There were some people that didn't really fit in any clique, but they were usually seen as either oddball loners/losers, or worse they were viewed as some sort of evil freak that everyone was afraid of (that was me).

It could be pretty harsh in my school if the wrong people decided not to like you, I was fortunate that no one wanted to give me that sort of attention as they almost elevated me to an urban legend-like status and were mostly afraid to speak to me. But I saw a lot of people get picked on like in the movies.

I'd say those sort of movies are an over inflated parody of what American high school can be like, yes for sure.

[Blitzwing]

The immature sexual jokes

I don't think those are exclusive to just high school.

[Ackula]

I don't think those are exclusive to just high school.

No they really aren't. I don't hear it as much now because I work in an office with 98% women, but when I used to work at other jobs with a large percentage of male employees it was pretty common. When I worked in a machine shop for a 6 month period, because it was the only job I could find when I moved to CA, I would become disgusted with the other employees daily. There were nothing but guys and it seemed to be all they talked about the entire time we were at work, it really made me see why some women become lesbians, and why most men make us all seem like primates.