I have some good memories. But many bad, too.

But yeah, if I could get a "do-over" in my life, I would take it in an instant. And that would be part of it.

I spent a lot of time in after school activities in order to avoid spending time with my crazy family.

My dad was stationed at Hickam AFB in Honolulu. I spent ever possible minute surfing. From the third floor of Castle Hall at my school, you could see the ocean and, if there was a swell, all of the surfers would be up there at lunch, scoping the waves, waiting for school to be out.

The last part was with the same wonderful girl. I also spent most of it stoned all to Jesus and never graduated. But yeah, overall I enjoyed it.

back.

College was HARD! HS was one long party.

this time I could go to public school instead of the tiny religious school I went to.

Great friends, good teachers, good times.

I had a really positive high school experience.

I'm glad those years are over, and I hated it.

I was one of the dorky kids. Shy. An ugly duckling. Felt like a misfit.

Not a lot of friends.

Funny, I've connected with some of my classmates on Facebook (graduated 1970) and most of them are more willing now to communicate with me where before I doubt they even knew I existed. I guess age brings understanding.

than my first day of kindergarden.
I went because I was expected to go.

I graduated about 4 years ago, and I have enjoyed almost every minute that I'm away from high school and in college. For starters, I have more freedom. I can show up to class and leave whenever I want to without annoying security guards harassing me. There are actually quiet study areas at a college campus to do my homework at, unlike high school. I don't have to worry about seeing fights break out on campus every week. And I don't have to wait to eat lunch, like how I had to wait for the cafeteria to open in high school.

However, if I were to do it all over again, I would try a lot harder to make friends and get laid. Throughout high school, sure, I did get good grades (usually over a 3.0 GPA). But I was a homebody and I only saw my friends when all of us were at school shooting hoop. And I was incredibly bashful around girls...I mean, many of them were hitting on me and were friendly with me, but I feared rejection and was scared to ask anybody out. I made the mistake of waiting for THEM to ask ME, and paid the price by not having an active social life.

I was a weird skinny kid and the bullies called me "queerbait."

I'd get beaten up, taken to the office, and they'd imply it was my fault, like I was asking to be punched in the face. I learned to be invisible.

I suffered two hellish years of that crap, got a high score on the SAT, and quit high school for college.

College is an interesting place when you are a minor. They had a special orientation for us. Maybe half the kids were academic superstars, and the rest were misfits like me. Our parents and guardians still had to sign permission slips when we left campus. That's awkward when you are taking courses like "History on the Road" or botany and geology labs with weekend field trips. Nothing is scarier to a professor than fifteen, sixteen, or seventeen year old students when everyone is frolicking naked in the river.

Three different schools. The fact that HELL NO! was all boys may possibly have something to do with it.

I don't know how he survived. I think I would have gone nuts in that kind of environment.

then switching to a public high school... I absolutely loved it. Never realized how fearful I was in catholic school. Also you are in such a bubble in a catholic school. Public H.S. seemed so.... free.... normal.... diversified.... no nuns... no religion... I really was so happy to have gotten out of catholic school.

Small-town High School, the fucking jocks got all the attention.

I see one once in a great while nowadays...you got it.
Fat, on third marriage, mostly broke driving a beater.

and when we went to her 30th HS reunion, class of about 150, 5 women were already grand mothers, and yes the class football stud was bald and fat along with his former HS cheerleader wife.

had already been divorced twice.

in the early seventies! (we just fed off amazing SF of the sixties)

Away from school those years were OK but socially it was not a good time at all. I was not athletic, I was not "popular". I was more or less at the bottom of the smartest class, and always struggled in math and english. I did pretty good in the subjects I was interested in. In hindsight I'm glad the classes were so hard because I found myself more knowledgeable than many others when I first got to college.

College years were great. My new found freedom and independence really really helped me be "me" and my social life really took off. I also did much better academically in subjects I sucked at in HS. I don't know if it was better teaching or just the fact I was paying for it. I was from a lower middle class home and thanks to a student loan and part-time job I was able to just get by; though what I spent on partying sure didn't help

I loved college.

But then, I grew up and learned a few things!!!

Many of my classmates are reconnecting on Facebook, and the vast majority of them have become right wing assholes. I'm very happy that I am smarter than that!

I went to an all-boys Catholic school that had top-notch academics, and I enjoyed classes and extracurriculars well enough. But I'm pretty shy and never really had any friends or "social life;" those were very lonely years for me.

with a passion....you can't make me go back!


But seriously, I disliked High School and would rather not repeat it.

I wasn't with the "in" crowd, but I wasn't on the bottom of the pecking order either. Drugs and sex were not observable, if they existed at all. This was the 60's -- political movements were the thing. I had my share of arguments with right-wing teachers and was pretty out-spoken in general. I had a few boyfriends, no one exclusive, however, there was one guy I met when I was 14, married when I was 19 and divorced when I was 25. Looking back on the quality of my high school education, what sticks out is that we were taught critical thinking. That skill has served me well my whole life.

back in the day we could smoke cigarettes in a designated area and other things but usually just walked into the woods off school property for that...try that today you you will be expelled.

The year after I graduated all the deans became deputized sheriffs and they could legally arrest you.

In those days the schools could also legally beat you too.

I for one would hate going to HS, unless I was in sales, then it would be a public service.

I can look back at the 35 years or so since graduation with understanding of my high school 'experience.' If I could go back there with my present state of mind I am pretty sure I would have a much better time of it and have the socialization required to live a NORMAL life and not be socially retarded.

Does this answer count?

Imagine going through all that again.

I didn't fit in with the other kids, I hated the whole social structure and over-emphasis on athletics, and I was intellectually unchallenged.

On graduation night, many of my classmates were crying. I knew it would be bad form to jump up and down and cheer, but that's what I felt like doing.

College felt like liberation from a nightmare.

I would NOT want to go back.

I was physically bullied by my peers and emotionally bullied by many of my teachers. I was the autistic nerd with the KICK ME sign on my back. I can have a panic attack if someone waves a towel around because of the shit I suffered in the boys locker room. I would get attacked and then I would get punished because I was the one seen going after the bully.