Do any movies accurately portray American high schools?

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I can not get a fix on what school culture is like these days. I saw "Mean Girls" but couldn't quite believe that...

 

do you know of any movies that ps'ed teens believe to be realistic and similar to their own experience?

[Hannah C.]

I was a ps'ed teen, graduated in 2007 (I'm young...:blush: ) I also spent this past semester observing high school teachers teach in two different high schools.

 

Mean Girls was *nothing* like what I've seen in high school:

1) None of the girls dressed like that. Then again, for two of the three years I went to public school, we had a strict dress code. The two schools I observed at, however, had much more lenient dress codes, and there were very few skirts at all, let alone such short ones.

2) Cliques are *NOT* that big a part of high school, in my experience. Then again, I'm in a large metropolitan area, and my high school had over 3000 students. The two I observed at had over 2000 students each. In schools this big, there is *no* *possible* *way* for cliques to have such huge sway. Also, at my school the band kids were cool. Now, if you live in an area with smaller high schools, I think cliques will be a bigger problem. And of course, there can always be individuals who like to bully others. But it's something that I never really saw when I was in high school.

3) Yes, people kiss in the hallways. However, it's not nearly as much or as gross (usually) as movies make it out to be.

4) All the high schools I've been in don't have large amounts of outdoors where students can freely roam. Most of them have windowless classrooms.

5) Lockers aren't very popular in high schools anymore.

 

Anything else? It's been a while since I've seen Mean Girls or other high school movies. :)

[MeaganS]

When I was in high school, it was nothing like the movies. However, and everyone I know who has seen it agrees with me, the tv show Freaks and Geeks is one of the closest accurate representations of high school I've seen. Except that it is set in the 80s. Minus that, though, and you've got it! ;)

 

ETA: Oh, and I graduated in 2003, so relatively recently?

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I was in high school in the late 80's and early 90's, so I'm familiar with that scene.

 

Thanks to both of you. I actually found what I needed through Facebook: Actual video footage of typical scenes at the local high school.

 

It is a nuthouse, as I feared. I'm sure there are very fine public high schools in America, but ours ain't one of 'em. The behavior matches the failing test scores.

 

I have been on youtube for an hour and a half, following a trail through student life. I've been at the football game, through French class, out for a fire drill, and study hall so far.

 

I guess I will persevere in homeschooling my teen.

[Renee in NC]

My ds's high school isn't like the movies, but he also has a graduating class of 40.:D There are different "cliques" (really just groups of friends) but it isn't life defining. The only "jocks" are basketball and soccer players, but that doesn't define them either - athletics are not a big deal at his school. Everyone there is college bound, so smart kids aren't picked on. It's more unusual for someone to *not* take AP classes than to take them.

[FaithManor]

Well, I don't really watch school type flicks often so I can't answer definitively. But, I will say this. "Mean Girls" was probably written based on the girls in my junior high growing up. Some of us, on the receiving end of their bullying, were so badly picked on that we lost weight, became clinically depressed, and one of my friends attempted suicide. ABSOLUTELY NO discipline whatsoever for their behaviors because they were the children of either teachers or school board members. Literally, we could be physically beaten up bad enough to require medical attention and the police wouldn't even come to the school for it once they found out who the girls were...they were untouchable! So, yeah..."mean girls" do exist and in large cliques to. When the first private school in our area opened up, I was removed from PS immediately. I'd lost 15 pounds having only weighed 98 lbs at the time of starting 7th grade (on a 5"4" frame so you can imagine just how frightfully skinny I had become) and my dad had already approached a couple of fathers about meeting them in the back alley to "finish some business" if they didn't get their daughters under control. It was that bad.

 

The 7th grade social studies teacher fathered the child of a 13 year old girl in my class and routinely grabbed the booKs of others. He was not disciplined for the groping behavior, though widely reported, but he did lose his job after the paternity tests came back.

 

As for the movie, "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", Ben Stein could have been my high school French teacher. I am not kidding about this, "The French Word for _____ is the Latin root word for ______. Can anyone conjugate this verb? Anyone?? Anyone???" I think we actually drooled in catatonia land while he droned on. Though I've never encountered a high school principal like Ferris's, one school district over, there is a truancy officer that was probably the real life inspiration for that part. This guy nearly impaled his cajones trying to scale the fence while chasing his "prey".

 

Mostly they probably don't get it right. But, there are some of us out there that have attended the extreme end of dysfunctional schools with unbelievably mean student bodies and can relate to some of the themes and chaos represented.

 

Faith

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I think if you asked my SIL, Mean Girls would be pretty accurate for her high school. She was tormented about her looks and ended up having plastic surgery on her face because of it.

 

I went to a small Christian high school, but there were still cliques.

[....]

Mean Girls sounds about right to me, except the kids wore cheaper clothes and there was a big mob of smokers outside the front entrance. You had to wade through the smokers (who were 3 feet taller than I was) to get into the school.

 

Oh, BTW, I ended up finishing high school a year early because I petitioned the State of Illinois to graduate me. I had had enough. My sister didn't finish high school, either. She homeschooled the last 2 years.

 

I'm not a big fan of public high school.

[susankenny]

Well, I graduated in the 80's. When I was in school we had major cliques. How you dressed mattered a great deal! It defined you. We had geeks, stoners, bops (popular girls with big hair), punks, jocks, etc. etc. There was an entire list of code names. I would definitely say there were lines which were not crossed. High school was a lot of fun (for me), but it also involved a lot of ugliness, mean people, peer pressure, etc. My nephew is in high school now, and from what my sister has shared - it hasn't changed a whole lot. The sexual pressure, however, it's much much worse. Plus there is all kinds of technology today that was totally non-existent for me & I'm sure that is a whole new issue parents have to worry about (I think one guy had a pager, but we all knew he sold drugs).

 

 

Susan

Edited January 7, 2011 by susankenny

[Maria from IN]

I would venture to say that American high schools accurately reflect movies these days...life reflects "art," unfortunately.

 

Maybe it's a little of both...but it's certainly perpetuated by Hollywood.

[elegantlion]

Well, I graduated in the 80's. When I was in school we had major cliques. How you dressed mattered a great deal! It defined you. We had geeks, stoners, bops (popular girls with big hair), punks, jocks, etc. etc. There was an entire list of code names.

 

 

 

:iagree: This was my experience as well. Our school was fairly representative of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, except we were in the Midwest. We even had the blonde stoner dude. (dude being used as a noun, not an interjection ;) )

[Mejane]

So it's not just like Glee? Bummer. ;)

[Blueridge]

I'm way behind the times, because when we were in school, a representative movie was To Sir, With Love with Sidney Poitier...

[Remudamom]

I went to private school, (eons ago) and one or two girls were nasty. My nieces and nephews go to the same school and from what I hear it's much worse now. Plus, there is friction between the ps and our private school girls that is really evident when fall rush comes around at the U of A.

[prairiebird]

Well, I graduated in the 80's. When I was in school we had major cliques. How you dressed mattered a great deal! It defined you. We had geeks, stoners, bops (popular girls with big hair), punks, jocks, etc. etc. There was an entire list of code names. I would definitely say there were lines which were not crossed. High school was a lot of fun (for me), but it also involved a lot of ugliness, mean people, peer pressure, etc. My nephew is in high school now, and from what my sister has shared - it hasn't changed a whole lot. The sexual pressure, however, it's much much worse. Plus there is all kinds of technology today that was totally non-existent for me & I'm sure that is a whole new issue parents have to worry about (I think one guy had a pager, but we all knew he sold drugs).

 

 

Susan

 

 

Same here. Plus, we had our much poorer town sent to the high school in the wealthier town next to us. When people found out what town you were from, you were automatically considered white trash no matter how well you performed or how you behaved unless you came from the Catholic elementary school. It didn't help that most of the people considered the stoners were also from my town, and most of them were kids that I grew up with and was on a friendly basis with.

 

It made for some interesting stories though. I was the only one from our whole group (basically the only one in the whole smaller town in my year) in the honors classes and NHS, and did very well on my ACT. During our Seniors Ralley and awards at the end of the year, they made us all go to the gym and they would make you stand and read off all the scholarship award money you'd won and announce any awards received. (And read off any perfect/near perfect scores you would get on the ACT, which is kind of awkward in retrospect.) Everyone else got applause and some hoots and whistles. I was the only one that had that plus my dear stoner friends pounding their feet on the bleachers and screaming- shall we say- supportive obscenities to cheer me on. :lol: Nothing like being cheered on that you're bleep-bleep-bleeping awesome in front of the administration and teachers!

 

 

We intend to send our kids to a public high school with option to come back into homeschooling if need be. But we may reassess once we draw nearer to our oldest being in high school. I HATE the current social climate for high school and the superficial curriculum. I don't have the money to provide the same opportunities though.

[texasmama]

Sixteen Candles is not too unlike my own high school experience. Of course, it is teen angst meets comedy so keep that in mind. I graduated in 1985. Never saw Mean Girls.

[FaithManor]

Prairiebird nailed it too! We had the same situation in that the kids from our tiny, poor town were bussed to "snob hill school" after elementary. It was atrocious. My best friend, when she graduated, was the only 4.0 student that year. She lead both the debate and math teams to state championships and was the star pitcher for the girls' softball team the year it made it to the state semi-finals. Huge, huge accomplishments. She scored a 35 out of 36 on the ACT. The policy was to "vote" amongst the teachers for valedictorian. They awarded it to a 3.89 GPA cheerleader who was not a part of any academic teams and scored a 29 on her ACT. This girl's father was on the school board. GRRR........

 

Seriously, the high school culture in our area has not improved. Currently, five "popular" girls picked a "victim" last year to torment all year long and culminated in all of them being arrested for plotting to poison her. Not to kill her but, in their own words, "We hated her clothes and hair and just wanted to make her very, very sick so she wouldn't be able to come to school."

 

Faith

[angela in ohio]

"Mean Girls," "Easy A," etc... Many of the modern teen movies pretty accurately show the culture of high schools, though of a more affluent nature than most of the schools in the US.

 

As one pp said, the kids probably don't dress like that in most high schools. I know here, the idea is to be as sloppy and "I don't care" as you can: big baggy faded sweatshirt, big boots or slipper-like shoes, messy ponytail, plenty of dark eyeliner. You don't see a lot of high fashion in most schools.

 

Even at the expensive, conservative private school dd shadowed a few weeks ago, she was suprised by the level of craziness in the halls and classrooms. When we went to pick her up, we were shocked at the wrestling and yelling in the halls. The one thing missing was the PDAs, because there were strict rules about that, but even when dh taught in a middle school ten years ago, that was really common. I helped chaperone some dances, and I was at first shocked by the way the girls dressed and acted as 6th and 7th graders (and this is a nice small-town area.) And there were constant cat-fights and drama.

 

Also, an another pp said, unless you live in the South or West and/or an affluent area, the school will be more of a box than an open, college-like campus. :D

[JustGin]

My oldest attends a local ps every day for one period, though each day is a different one of two classes because they operate on a block schedule. This is a large high school, 1800 students. My daughter is a very mature, level headed, outgoing, friendly, and in many ways culturally normal 15 yo. What I mean by that is that she has had no problem fitting in socially and yet she is very much her own person, not peer driven. She is also a huge movie buff, so she's well qualified to compare reality with Hollywood. Her observations this year have been very interesting and sometimes hard to not react too. She says that the culture there is very much like that portrayed in Hollywood, lots of making out in the hallways, profanity is the norm, disrespect for teachers, not exactly the norm, but not very rare either. She is appalled at the general lack of basic knowledge, especially about the "real" world, current events, etc.. I find this one ironic since she is the supposedly "sheltered" home schooler.

She says she gets cat calls, and boys openly oogling her but she just ignores it and moves on because "they are just jerks and there is nothing to be done about it". She figured out very quickly who was dangerous, i.e. the "mean girls" and avoids interaction with them so they are still mean and they do still exist. Cliques are not as powerful, but she observes that there is definite divisions. In her opinion mostly there are two kinds of popular kids, those who are popular because they are themselves, nice, friendly, active etc, and those who are popular because they are "someone" who everyone is supposed to follow. Usually mean jerks, in her opinion.

 

Anyway in some ways it's not much different then when I was in school back when dinosaurs roamed ( I graduated in 82), and yet in many ways it's much, much worse. It's like the negative stuff my generation dealt still had some boundaries that the adults at least tried to maintain. Now, no boundaries. Sigh...

 

FWIW - Dh and I were youth pastors for 13 years, until last January, so we have our own observations about the state of youth culture and schools. Suffice it to say, I would not put my kiddos in full time, and, thankfully, my dd has no desire to go full time.

[simka2]

Graduated in the late 90's in an affluent neighborhood. "Mean Girls" was not only very acurate, but I was one of those "mean girls." :glare:

 

Obviously much has changed...2 of us mean girls, became Pastor's wives. I still watch that movie and feel ill.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

My oldest attends a local ps every day for one period, though each day is a different one of two classes because they operate on a block schedule. This is a large high school, 1800 students. My daughter is a very mature, level headed, outgoing, friendly, and in many ways culturally normal 15 yo. What I mean by that is that she has had no problem fitting in socially and yet she is very much her own person, not peer driven. She is also a huge movie buff, so she's well qualified to compare reality with Hollywood. Her observations this year have been very interesting and sometimes hard to not react too. She says that the culture there is very much like that portrayed in Hollywood, lots of making out in the hallways, profanity is the norm, disrespect for teachers, not exactly the norm, but not very rare either. She is appalled at the general lack of basic knowledge, especially about the "real" world, current events, etc.. I find this one ironic since she is the supposedly "sheltered" home schooler.

She says she gets cat calls, and boys openly oogling her but she just ignores it and moves on because "they are just jerks and there is nothing to be done about it". She figured out very quickly who was dangerous, i.e. the "mean girls" and avoids interaction with them so they are still mean and they do still exist. Cliques are not as powerful, but she observes that there is definite divisions. In her opinion mostly there are two kinds of popular kids, those who are popular because they are themselves, nice, friendly, active etc, and those who are popular because they are "someone" who everyone is supposed to follow. Usually mean jerks, in her opinion.

 

Anyway in some ways it's not much different then when I was in school back when dinosaurs roamed ( I graduated in 82), and yet in many ways it's much, much worse. It's like the negative stuff my generation dealt still had some boundaries that the adults at least tried to maintain. Now, no boundaries. Sigh...

 

FWIW - Dh and I were youth pastors for 13 years, until last January, so we have our own observations about the state of youth culture and schools. Suffice it to say, I would not put my kiddos in full time, and, thankfully, my dd has no desire to go full time.

 

Thank you for sharing this perspective. This environment you describe is exactly what I saw on the 2 hours of hs footage I watched on youtube last night.

 

I snooped on our local school and city and county schools within driving distance, trying to find a balanced view. I could see that not all children are lewd, or ignorant, or whatever negative characteristic. Of course not.

The thing that bothered me: Those who were there to learn had no escape from the fools. The video cameras are always running, the attention hogs are always there, and I was so, so sorry for the children who were obviously trying to study or listen. The teachers did nothing to stop the insanity for their sake.

 

I thought I wanted my son to attend hs in my hometown (30 miles from here). I've been trying to figure out how to sell our house and move.

 

I'm over it. :( I'm glad he's made friends of the children of my old friends in that town and it is still a nice town, but I do not want him to go to school. It is not better than our local township school except for the math scores. I was fooling myself.

 

For me, if 'that' school was inappropriate for 'my' child, then there is probably not a ps I'd be happy with for him.

[justamouse]

My oldest attends a local ps every day for one period, though each day is a different one of two classes because they operate on a block schedule. This is a large high school, 1800 students. My daughter is a very mature, level headed, outgoing, friendly, and in many ways culturally normal 15 yo. What I mean by that is that she has had no problem fitting in socially and yet she is very much her own person, not peer driven. She is also a huge movie buff, so she's well qualified to compare reality with Hollywood. Her observations this year have been very interesting and sometimes hard to not react too. She says that the culture there is very much like that portrayed in Hollywood, lots of making out in the hallways, profanity is the norm, disrespect for teachers, not exactly the norm, but not very rare either. She is appalled at the general lack of basic knowledge, especially about the "real" world, current events, etc.. I find this one ironic since she is the supposedly "sheltered" home schooler.

She says she gets cat calls, and boys openly oogling her but she just ignores it and moves on because "they are just jerks and there is nothing to be done about it". She figured out very quickly who was dangerous, i.e. the "mean girls" and avoids interaction with them so they are still mean and they do still exist. Cliques are not as powerful, but she observes that there is definite divisions. In her opinion mostly there are two kinds of popular kids, those who are popular because they are themselves, nice, friendly, active etc, and those who are popular because they are "someone" who everyone is supposed to follow. Usually mean jerks, in her opinion.

 

Anyway in some ways it's not much different then when I was in school back when dinosaurs roamed ( I graduated in 82), and yet in many ways it's much, much worse. It's like the negative stuff my generation dealt still had some boundaries that the adults at least tried to maintain. Now, no boundaries. Sigh...

 

FWIW - Dh and I were youth pastors for 13 years, until last January, so we have our own observations about the state of youth culture and schools. Suffice it to say, I would not put my kiddos in full time, and, thankfully, my dd has no desire to go full time.

 

 

this is my daughter's observations as well. she share times and though her teachers want her to go full time (she has excellent grades and a remarkable vocabulary and would bring their test scores up) I refuse to let her.

[ocelotmom]

So it's not just like Glee? Bummer. ;)

My high school had a performing arts magnet attached.... so yes, it was.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

Graduated in the late 90's in an affluent neighborhood. "Mean Girls" was not only very acurate, but I was one of those "mean girls." :glare:

 

Obviously much has changed...2 of us mean girls, became Pastor's wives. I still watch that movie and feel ill.

 

:grouphug:

[Crimson Wife]

I haven't seen Mean Girls but I can tell you that Heathers came pretty close to describing the scene in my early '90's high school. Obviously not the murdering one's classmates part ;) but I could definitely relate to Winona Ryder's character.

[Hannah C.]

The thing that bothered me: Those who were there to learn had no escape from the fools. The video cameras are always running, the attention hogs are always there, and I was so, so sorry for the children who were obviously trying to study or listen. The teachers did nothing to stop the insanity for their sake.

 

This was the hardest part of attending public school, for me -- the hundreds of *idiots* who also attended. I was blessed with wonderful teachers who *did* try to stop the insanity, and there were only one or two classes (in 3 years) that I truly disliked going to because of classmates' behavior. However, the hallways and the cafeteria were crazy and I found them oppressive. FWIW, I go back now and I don't feel oppressed -- and the hallways haven't changed that much. I think that now I just feel less threatened, for various reasons.

 

This thread has just reinforced the utter variety possible in public school experiences (and other school experiences)!

[AuntieM]

I keep thinking Breakfast Club, not so much because it was 100% accurate but because there was a ring of truth to it. There were definite classes and they did not cross over easily. The administrators were not downright stupid, but were embroiled in their own school political disputes and certainly often clueless about what their students were up to.

 

I was bullied 7th grade, grew a spine and a personality after that.

 

Nowadays, with the inundation of personal technology, increased sexualization of teen culture, decreased ability of administrators to administer any kind of effective discipline, and the particular affluence of the district in which we live, it would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for my kids to set foot in the local public high school.

 

I mention the affluence because it increases the opportunities for kids to get into serious trouble. In our district, parents are famous for intervening at the district level, skipping over and rendering ineffective any decisions or strategies of the classroom teachers and on-site principals & counselors. It's a real mess.

[Night Elf]

The regular dress around here is super skinny jeans, boots, low-cut and see-through blouses with lacy tank tops underneath, and Victoria Secret pants with the words written across the rear-end. They really look like America's Top Ten Models tv show. I also see super short mini-skirts, though dd18 said they weren't allowed to wear those to school. Jeans with tears were allowed. Boys were allowed to wear their jeans super low to show off their boxer shorts. eewwww. Oh, and many of them also wear super tight skinny jeans. I think it looks like they are wearing girls clothes.

 

Cell phones are not supposed to be allowed but dd18 said no one paid attention to that rule.

 

On my college campus, the kids dress the same and many wear the mini-skirts as well. I saw several girls wearing really high heels with small dresses last semester. I couldn't imagine trying to sit through classes dressed like that. Oh, and pajama type pants are really fashionable. In class, more than half of the class is on facebook on their laptops and texting on their cell phones. At least I no longer worry that ds14, with Aspergers, would be able to use a laptop in college classes. He doesn't write physically well so he'll need to type his notes.

[Wheres Toto]

My oldest currently goes to a public high school and has friends through her old district or dance who go to two other high schools in our general area. They are all different.

 

My dd's school is academically very strong, has strong parent involvement, affluent district. There is status in being in honors and AP classes and there are a lot of offerings. The girls do wear skirts and dresses to school but the style tends to be more preppy/vogue rather than Victorias Secret. They do have lockers but there are no locks on them. There are cliques - the football players do have a lot of status but so do the theatre kids. There is one group in her school that calls themselves "The 5 Tens" (meaning 10's on a scale of 1 to 10). According to dd, they act like the "Mean Girls" but other kids mostly just mock them for it. They hold their school dances at banquet halls and there is usually an abundance of chaperones including the principal and guidance counselors. There was one fight at the school in the past 3 years and it consisted of one girl slapping another. There are some cases of parents bailing their kids out of trouble but the entire sophomore girls lacrosse team was kicked off the team one year for drinking so they do follow through on punishments.

 

At another school (dance friends) the girls were talking about not going to the dances because kids have s*x on the dance floor. None of the teachers want to chaperone because they don't want to be responsible and parents aren't involved at all. This is in a semi-affluent suburban town.

 

At the district my dd used to go to, they have fights daily. The doors are locked and noone can get in or out without being buzzed. They have a police officer assigned to the school. This is in a suburban (although not at all affluent) town. This school has a 33% suspension rate.

 

High Schools vary widely even within a fairly small area.