MovieChat Forums > Pretty in Pink (1986) Discussion > What was high school like for YOU?

What was high school like for YOU?

posted 10 years ago by PinkPancreas
33 replies | jump to latest

I always loved to see movies- mostly from the 80's- about high school life because I'm curious to know what high school life was like for people. I went to a small all-girls private school in Charleston, SC (class of 1992) so I never got to experience the typical high school life like The Breakfast Club or Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If anyone feels like telling about their high school life I'd love to know where you went (the city/state), when you graduated and what it was like- did they have the "clicks" like in the John HUghes movies? Jocks, nerds, geeks, popular kids, druggies etc??? What did people do for fun? Big city or small town? etc etc (I didn't get to experience typical high school stuff like prom so must re-live it all vicariously through others!) Thanks

[–] dl4060 8 years ago

I went to an elite boarding school in the northeast. It was grueling academically and very hard to get into. Most of the kids were wealthy, from towns near Boston and New York. I was from a blue collar town and really did not fit in all that well for the first two years. My junior year my skin cleared up and I started making varsity sports teams. I started to get reasonably popular which was a new experience.

Many of the wealthy kids were kind. In many cases you had no idea they were the descendants of Roosevelts and families like that. Still, it was easy to feel out of place if you were not from Greenwich.

The school had day students so you could go to parties if you stayed over at a day student's house. You had to get permission to leave campus for the night or for a weekend. Every other Saturday we had a half day of Saturday classes.

Obviously my high school experience was not normal. I did not like it for the most part but I got a great education which I appreciated. I made great contacts although I never used them. If I had wanted to work on Wall Street I would have had great connections.

When I turned 18 I found out that my family was actually wealthy, we were just quiet about it. I learned that I had more in common with those kids than I thought. There were rich kids who were obnoxious jerks, like the ones in the movie, but bragging about money was considered very low class. No matter how wealthy and prestigious your family was you could be sure someone was higher on the totem pole.