Were any of you traumatized by high school and carry baggage from it?

[Winston]

Were any of you traumatized in American high school too? American culture is at its worst in the high school environment, which is 100 percent fake, shallow and psychologically hostile to the most extreme degree.

It's very traumatizing and ego deflating and will leave you psychologically scarred with baggage for life. No amount of reason or logic can help in such an insane and toxic environment.

American culture is at its worst there. Even American movies and TV shows portray the high school environment as highly toxic and cruel.

People who are highly sensitive go through hell there. If you don't fit in or find a clique there, it will punish you severely since it is a 100 percent cliquish environment. Were any of you traumatized by it too?

What's more, the teachers in high school treat you like a memorization machine and force you to memorize useless data against your will, and the tests punish you with bad grades if you don't conform to it. It's a literal PRISON environment and a total hell on earth.

[Will N. Dowd]

Count me in, but they were in Canada, which I assume is just as bad.

[publicduende]

If I remember well from your accounts, Winston, high school might hve been the best time of your life. Didn't you have a girlfriend by the end of your last year, a somewhat sweet and cute American-Vietnamese?

I know your words are spot on in many cases and might resonate with quite a few members, especially the younger one, but...was that really your experience?

[america sucks]

You're not alone Winston. The sad thing is that most Americans love high school. They think you are worse than a loser if you didn't have a good time and especially if you couldn't get laid with an american bitch.

I at least got one good thing about it: I developed my intellect and became a noncomformist for seeing what a scam high school is. Most Americans just end up as zombies, obeying the rat race, marrying an American bitch who will take half the man's assets and cheat on him, etc. In other words, you could've had it much worse. Be proud that you created HappierAbroad

[Winston]

If I remember well from your accounts, Winston, high school might hve been the best time of your life. Didn't you have a girlfriend by the end of your last year, a somewhat sweet and cute American-Vietnamese?

I know your words are spot on in many cases and might resonate with quite a few members, especially the younger one, but...was that really your experience?

No it was like a concentration camp and holocaust. Terrible beyond words. Very traumatizing for sure. It emotionally scars you for life. High school in America is the most toxic environment in human history.

That Vietnamese girlfriend was when I was in college.

[HouseMD]

High school sucked, but I later talked to a lot of my former classmates and it turns out a lot of them liked me, but I was quiet and shy and that made them think I was a brooding asshole that hated everyone. If I knew what I know now, high school could have been a much better experience. And it turns out that there were girls that were into me, I was just too shy to pursue them and too down on myself to recognize that anyone could like me.

[Yohan]

..... the teachers in high school treat you like a memorization machine and force you to memorize useless data against your will, and the tests punish you with bad grades

It is not only in USA like that. In Europe it is about the same and very biased teachers too.

Girls get the better scores, even in case their performance is worse than that of the boys. Children from poor families are treated worse than children from rich families. This is especially true in smaller cities. In Central Europe there is still obligatory religious instructions some hours per week, useless languages like Latin etc. etc. and last not least after High School unpaid military services, of course for boys only.

I was happy when I had all behind me.

Girls in High School were a nightmare too, they learnt it from their mothers - no friendly at all, highly materialistic, borrowing money from the boys of course without any intention to pay it ever back, looking for not so young men who can easier fulfill their wishes as school time and military time was already over for them and they had a regular job, many girls also violent, into nightlife and often into sex with multiple boyfriends. All of course totally legal, as age of consent in my native country is 14.

As a young man in Central Europe, if your parents don't support you, you are really poor off. I was happy when I was of full age - at that time it was 21 and not 18. - I left Europe and I will never go back to Europe, even not as a very old man to visit the place from where I come from - too many bad reminders of my youth.

[??????]

My high school experience wasn't that bad, people were very nice to me as a whole. Of course, I went to a Catholic High School in a small town and not a public school. Now this Community College I am going to now for welding is exactly like what you are describing. A toxic environment of social cliques with backstabbing and locker room gossip thrown in. Most of which is instigated by American women in pajamas who recently graduated high school and their blue-pill, white knight, supplicating, American men counterparts join in who just to get their approval. (Or the approval of their social clique.) It's one of those places that tries to emulate high school with activities to try and make college "fun". I can't wait to leave this stupid place. At 29, I am too old for this crap.

I came here to improve my welding skills so I can work anywhere in the world, not engage in stupid backstabbing and locker room gossip. These are the kind of people who eventually poison the corporate workplace. (I have never worked in Corporate America, but I now understand the complaints many who've worked there have.) Are these the so-called "professionals" these places are cranking out these days? This country is doomed.

The welding career certificate program I took (It was at a high school through a regional education partnership.) was filled with older people (35-60 age range) who were already experienced in welding or just starting out and I had no problem there. We were all there to get training and improve our skills. Sure we chatted at break time, but once the helmet visor went down we were back to work focusing on our welds. No silly locker room gossip, no games, and no problems.

[International Gringo]

I came from an old school family where respect was to be given and should be returned as well. Unfortunately, going to a public High School in suburban Southern California this ideology didnt serve too well. High School is a mecca (especially in Southern California) of narcissism, egos, social clicks and bullies. It is a place where its a "survival of the fittest". Everyone is striving for popularity and attention. Most will try to get these two things by any ways necessary (mostly through seeing their peers as enemies/obstacles and will put down others to show superiority). Unfortunately, the bigger asshole you are the more fun High School is.

I really had no idea how dysfunctional High School could be until I started teaching in the inner cities of LA (SouthCentral, Watts and Compton). There many kids suffer from PTSD because it is strictly about survival. Robberies, beatdowns and shootings are all part of the everyday lives for inner city students. Many kids even brought guns and knives for protection. Its no wonder we lead the world in High School shooting rampages (Colombuine/Sandy Hook). A good part of our high school environment is in complete chaos (most likely from the mainstream media who keeps conditioning us to be narcissistic and violent).

However, there is some good news. It turns out that the cool kids in High School dont do as well in post High School life compared to the uncool kids. All these things that made kids popular in high school (bullying, being defiant, drinking, drugs, egos, gossiping) began to lose appeal amongst their peers after the age of 22. Once their peers dont see them as popular anymore these individuals will undergo more extreme behavior such as drinking more, doing more drugs or committing crimes in an attempt to relinquish their old glory days of popularity thus leading them into drug/alcohol addiction and criminal lifestyles.

I know of three personal stories where this is true. One man i knew was voted Prom King for his high school back in 92. He went on to get married (had a big wedding) but worked minimal salary jobs since he had no college degree. Within a year he got divorced and started turning to the liquor bottle pretty heavily. Last I heard he was unable to keep a job, moved out to Oregon to live with his parents (as a 40 year old man) and was seeking treatment for his alcohol addiction.

Another was a kid I went to High School with who was very popular with the girls and always partied (heavily into alcohol and drugs). Last I heard he was doing 5-10 years in a state penitentiary for robbing a bank.

The last kid I know of was a guy who gave me a rough time in school. He had a reputation as a school bully who would talk shit to everyone and was emotionally unstable (always throwing tantrums). I just read an article online about him saying that he almost died from a cocaine overdose and that he has had a alcohol and drug problem since he was the age of 14 (I guess that described his emotionally unstable behavior in High School). The sad thing about all this is that this is the behavior that is respected and adored in many American High Schools across the nation and it will get you laid by American women (as crazy as it sounds)and make you popular.

Below is a link to the article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... peers.html

[Temprano26]

Yes I was and I was even more sad to discover that a lot of people have not emotionally graduated from high school. They still hang out with their high school cliques and refuse to meet other people. They talk about people behind their backs and converse about nothing of substance.

Those of us who struggled in high school grow up more down to earth.

[Winston]

I don't get something. How is someone who is 100 percent authentic like me supposed to fit into an environment like high school which is 100 percent FAKE? There's no logical solution for that.

Someone who is very genuine, passionate and deep (like me) simply CANNOT express any part of himself in high school because the wavelength is totally different. When you are surrounded by fake people, only fake people can express themselves and have fun. But authentic people will feel SUPPRESSED around fake people because they aren't on a fake wavelength. Thus their personality and persona cannot be expressed openly and they cannot have fun. Authentic people also cannot interact smoothly and naturally around fake type of people.

I've discovered that this is the TRUE reason why I and others like me have never been able to fit into America and could never figure out why. It could be that those with aspergers may be under a similar predicament. So instead, we were told that we lacked "social skills" which in America really means the ability to act fake and artificial in order to fit into a fake and artificial flow.

That's why I was forced to be a quiet shy recluse in high school against my will, which traumatized me and psychologically scarred me for life. But I had no choice. I am extremely resentful about that.

[starchild5]

I don't get something. How is someone who is 100 percent authentic like me supposed to fit into an environment like high school which is 100 percent FAKE? There's no logical solution for that.

Someone who is very genuine, passionate and deep (like me) simply CANNOT express any part of himself in high school because the wavelength is totally different. When you are surrounded by fake people, only fake people can express themselves and have fun. But authentic people will feel SUPPRESSED around fake people because they aren't on a fake wavelength. Thus their personality and persona cannot be expressed openly and they cannot have fun. Authentic people also cannot interact smoothly and naturally around fake type of people.

I've discovered that this is the TRUE reason why I and others like me have never been able to fit into America and could never figure out why. It could be that those with aspergers may be under a similar predicament. So instead, we were told that we lacked "social skills" which in America really means the ability to act fake and artificial in order to fit into a fake and artificial flow.

That's why I was forced to be a quiet shy recluse in high school against my will, which traumatized me and psychologically scarred me for life. But I had no choice. I am extremely resentful about that.

This is very dangerous because when America finally chews you up and throws you away...Most are way past their prime. Only way they can save themselves is having money to really get out once and for all. So many veterans in America commit suicide everyday, as America is done with it and they have no where to go but depend on government, which screws them further.

Its a Double Whammy for most especially Asian Americans as when they finally come out of the hell. They are not easily able to integrate back to the society due to AGE. In Asia...everything must work clock wise. If one is past a certain age..You are undesirable for the family. Only place where real authentic men can find refuge is the Atlantis of the old called Philippines now.

The day I arrived in Philippines some 8 years back. I felt, this is the ground for me, when everything goes away. India is also cruel not when you in high school but when you are in your 20s. It takes away the most fruitful part of your life in slavery and customs of marriage and kids. There is no time to think and pursue what you always wanted to do and then GO BACK. The whole SEA seems to still posses the soul of mother earth that vibe's well with real men.

[Temprano26]

I have kept in touch with only 4 friends from high school but they were some good ones. One of my friends invites me to his parties full of hipsters who are generally pretty authentic and intelligent. He told me we are adults now and all that mean crap was left behind a long time ago.

[traveller]

My high school career was good. Best years were Sophomore and Junior years. Freshman year was also good. Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior years, there were a lot of very nice, sweet mannered students enrolled at my high school. Sociable, accepting me into their circles of friends, and such. Senior years (I had 2 of them, as I was in high school for 5 years instead of 4) were not so good, as the nice students graduated and then here came the snobs. I was in high school from August 1994 to June 1999 (my graduation). The classes of 1995, 1996, and 1997 had a lot of very friendly and sociable kids (even girls) that seemed to really enjoy my company. The classes of 98 and 99 not so much niceness, but the incoming classes of 2001 and 2002 had very few friendly students at all and a lot of students, especially girls, that were downright snobbish and selfish. The class of 2002 was the worst; even my own original Class of 1998 had nowhere near the kind of immaturity and snobbishness, even during my Freshman year, as the Class of 2002.

It's weird, too, but ever since early Sophomore year, I always looked forward to the first days of school. I was especially excited about school starting again for my Junior year. But the first days of Senior year were more of a heartbreaker than anything. With the classes of 1995, 1996, and 1997 gone from the hallways, I literally felt a kind of "social vacuum" at school, which did sort of traumatize me mentally and make me not like school as much as during Sophomore, Junior, and even Freshman years. Second senior year was the worst. It was literally, to me, The Nothing sweeping into Fantasia in the 1984 movie "The Neverending Story." I was attached to high school, apparently even despite the deteriorating social atmosphere, both at school and in the entire surrounding community.

[jamesbond]

Here is a good video from Aaron Clarey explaining why high school is bull shit.