“High School” Syndrome
http://www.superchickonline.com/index2.php
I hated High School. That’s not an exaggeration, it’s an absolute fact. I always find it amusing when people reminisce about how “wonderful” their years in high school were, how they wish they could re-live all those beautiful bygone days. I do my best to suppress my need to gag and then beat them about the head and shoulders with their own yearbook!
And I have found, over time, that my experience is not unique. You see, the adolescent years are some of the most formative for the development of teenagers’ social behavior as adults. And anyone who vividly remembers high school or works with young people can testify to the vicious, dysfunctional, schizophrenic world in which they are expected to learn these “normal, healthy social skills”. Nowhere is the concept of “Natural Selection” more vividly illustrated than in the hallowed halls of the local high school building.
Travel back with me down a dark and twisted memory lane and let us revisit the world in which popularity is synonymous with human value, where vulnerability or weakness is blood in the water, where personal opinion is dictated by the consensus of the social elite, where freedom of expression is translated into freedom to express yourself “like everyone else”, and where the violation of such implied rules of order results in ostracism, ridicule and sometimes even terrorism at the hands of your supposed “fellow classmates” and occasionally even the administration. Life - from fashion, to entertainment, personal relationships to personal conviction- was a tyranny of oppression by the social aristocracy and popular culture.
As I consider, I’m astounded at how accurately those descriptions correspond to the world in which we live currently. While I’m sure there are those who were so deluded by the twinkle of their prom tiaras or too distracted by the glorious grandeur of their letter jackets to notice, and who are even now wondering how I could be so harsh in my portrayal, I think many would agree that high school was (and is) sorely lacking in the ingredients necessary to form independent, thinking young men and women of moral fiber. And to those who would criticize my less than radiant description of high school existence, I would ask if perhaps you are still living with the same High School Mentality you learned and/or propagated in school? Because I am becoming more and more convinced that one of the primary problem with our society is that so many of us have never grown up.
“…high school could be a mini me of the rest of society there’s always a prom queen there’ll always be, always be sororities but sadly some will be eternally keeping score for popularity and just ‘coz they all do doesn’t mean we have to act like we’re in high school….”
– Superchic[k]
It’s no secret that the world has changed over the past several hundred years. Technology and strong governmental institution and provision have made life significantly easier for most of us in the Western world. However, the byproduct of these developments has been a gradual lessening of individual responsibility and retardation of personal maturity in our society.
In the past, the survival necessitated that young people mature emotionally and assume personal responsibility at early ages. Young men began apprenticeship in trades even in the preteen ages. Similarly, young women were often married and bearing children as early as 14 and 15 years old. And nearly all children were introduced to working in the family business/trade at ages as early as 5-7 years. There was little room for what many of us idealize as the “carefree days of childhood.”
In the past 150 years this has changed dramatically. Childhood is considered to extend until the age of 18 and many young men and women are in their second year of college (19-21 years old) before they begin any serious consideration of a career. Quite often obtaining of a career-oriented job is put off until after graduation. Much of this is of necessity, as many career-oriented jobs are not available without a specialized degree. Much of this is due mainly to a shift in our culture brought on by technology and the need for specialized training and education, however it has had a significant effect on the attitudes of personal responsibility and maturity of individuals in our society.
Add to this the development of financial institutions that make significant financial resources available with virtually no initial requirements or investments and student loan programs that defer payment - and thereby financial responsibility - until mid-late twenties and even into the thirties for Graduate and Doctoral students and you have a unique situation where many adults don’t have to begin facing the responsibilities of adulthood until they are nearly into their thirties. And, unfortunately, many of the attitudes and behaviors that we maintain well into our twenties are nearly permanent.
So, we are left with a population of adults whose ideas of personal responsibility and maturity have progressed little beyond adolescence. We have people who yell, scream and pout when they don’t get their way at stores, restaurants, and on the highway. We find so many people who can’t manage their financial responsibilities even into their 30’s. We live in a society of individuals who expect all their own personal freedoms with no personal sacrifice. Ultimately, we are left with a society of petulant, self-involved, spoiled brats. And the “powers that be” love it… because spoiled, self-focused people are easy to control. If we can’t see beyond our own selfish needs and desires - we won’t bother to examine the injustice and moral decay around us; and we certainly won’t pay any attention to the freedoms the government is taking away because we’ll be focused on satisfying our own lust and materialism.
Give it up for the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. Or maybe… The Land of the Clueless and the Home of the Soon-To-Be-Repressed. Step right up… get stuff, sex and self-delusion all for the meager price of your morals and personal freedoms. Come on folks… it’s a limited time offer - reason could set in at any time.
And if you don’t agree with me… “nobody likes you anyway.”
