The Big Picture: Mailbag

[rayen020]

High School is hell.

There. Fixed that for you. And your argument that i was probably one of the people who made it hell? HA. that's rich. i had a very small group of friends, i started using drugs, and most of my long term friendships fell apart during my high school years.

They were the best years of my life because my newer friends (which i met in high school) were cooler, or seemed so, and because in middle and elementry school i was teased bullied shunned and turned into an emotional suicidal wreck.

Just ask someone who is alone if they wanna hang out. Ask if they saw a movie recently, a tv show maybe, just break the ice. If you are a loner find other loners, and suddenly you aren't a loner anymore. And go beyond grade level. Hit the younger ones if you can. Freshmen are alot like kindergarteners. if they don't already have friends around them then there's a good chance they don't have friends at all. and if they do have friends, befriends them when you're alone and and meld into the group through them.

 

[Doclector]

Nice, especially the message about high school. Secondary school in england is pretty much the same.

To add to that message; Don't become entitled. After getting through such hell, you expect a lot from life. I got past that s***ty level, where the hell's my reward? It would be nice is karma was so conspicuously present, but it ain't. Things are gonna get better, but not right off the bat, not without effort, and they ain't necessarily going to be the perfection you probably think you (and kinda rightfully) deserve. I played that game for a fair few years, always expecting great things to just kinda come to me because hey, I've done my hard part, the world owes me, right? It's funny how easily that little thought can make you completely ignore how great things actually are, just because you think you deserve more.

 

[Realitycrash]

High School was awesome!
But then again, I live in Sweden, and we don't have Sport Jocks (and oh, I went to a school with 70% girls who all studied aesthetics, ran around in miniskirts and in general being artsy. Kinda hard to have the classic bullies there).

 

[RaikuFA]

High School is hell.

There. Fixed that for you. And your argument that i was probably one of the people who made it hell? HA. that's rich. i had a very small group of friends, i started using drugs, and most of my long term friendships fell apart during my high school years.

They were the best years of my life because my newer friends (which i met in high school) were cooler, or seemed so, and because in middle and elementry school i was teased bullied shunned and turned into an emotional suicidal wreck.

Just ask someone who is alone if they wanna hang out. Ask if they saw a movie recently, a tv show maybe, just break the ice. If you are a loner find other loners, and suddenly you aren't a loner anymore. And go beyond grade level. Hit the younger ones if you can. Freshmen are alot like kindergarteners. if they don't already have friends around them then there's a good chance they don't have friends at all. and if they do have friends, befriends them when you're alone and and meld into the group through them.

I think he meant most likely. Also, if you my little story, you'd know it don't work for everyone. Just because they're "lonely" dosen't mean they're nice.

 

[UNHchabo]

Bob's comments about high school are part of the reason I like Stephen Colbert's "It Gets Better" video; whereas most of the other video-makers addressed LGBT teens specifically, Stephen addressed anyone who's being bullied.

If you're not enjoying your time in school for pretty much any reason, stick with it. It really does get better.

You can graduate, and either go to college, or find a job outside your hometown. I moved across the country after college, so now I don't have to see anyone who gave me crap in school.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Wow I didn't expect Thursday to be the mailbag episode, still two The Big Picture episodes in one week is great.

 

[The Great JT]

High school should be abolished.

 

[SFR]

I really liked high school. Middle school sucked something fierce, though. I guess everyone at my school just chilled the fuck out and stopped being a dick around 9th grade.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Well I'm Canadian and my High School experience wasn't so bad, but if any of those movies about High School students/teenagers etc. have tought me anything it's that American High School is worse than prison and I'm just fucking grateful I didn't go to school there.

 

[rayen020]

High School is hell.

There. Fixed that for you. And your argument that i was probably one of the people who made it hell? HA. that's rich. i had a very small group of friends, i started using drugs, and most of my long term friendships fell apart during my high school years.

They were the best years of my life because my newer friends (which i met in high school) were cooler, or seemed so, and because in middle and elementary school i was teased bullied shunned and turned into an emotional suicidal wreck.

Just ask someone who is alone if they wanna hang out. Ask if they saw a movie recently, a tv show maybe, just break the ice. If you are a loner find other loners, and suddenly you aren't a loner anymore. And go beyond grade level. Hit the younger ones if you can. Freshmen are alot like kindergarteners. if they don't already have friends around them then there's a good chance they don't have friends at all. and if they do have friends, befriends them when you're alone and and meld into the group through them.

I think he meant most likely. Also, if you my little story, you'd know it don't work for everyone. Just because they're "lonely" doesn't mean they're nice.

well obviously if they're a jerk don't keep trying and yeah it won't work for everyone i'm just handing out general advice. And if you'd rather take the i'm miserable and i'm just going to stay miserable and power through to the end of school road more power to you. Sorry that was overly antagonistic of me.

Look i'm just trying to give good general advice to kids that need it. I'm not going to make you take it, especially cause it may not work for you. I just giving out my experience, and how i coped with it. No i don't know your story, and if i did i'd probably change my advice. And if you're still taking bob's advice, it seems alot more important and alot worse than it actually is.

 

[Bluecho]

The thing about high schools (and compulsory education in general) is that it's an artificial environment. It's a place where people are required to work for several hours a day in close proximity to people they otherwise would never associate with. Everyone has to take the math classes, so the vastly different peoples have to spend at least part of every day sitting next to each other.

And this becomes a problem because adolescence is also the time when human beings are their most irrational. Hormones permeate the body and make everything seem like a bigger deal than it actually is. So when people are forced to create social groups and links and such, they take it all way too seriously. And if you aren't in any social group, you're basically a sitting duck for the assholes in the student population, at a time when emotional trauma is its most damaging. And you can't escape the thing, because the state mandates this system of collective education, even though the whole reason it was invented (by the Prussians) was to brainwash their populace, regardless of how it'd get done.

Thankfully, high school ends, people go find their specialized areas of work that keep them with like-minded people, and the chemical balance in the brain stabalizes.

 

[MB202]

I'm loving these questions! You should TOTALLY do more of these mailbag episodes! XD

 

[Bluecho]

High school should be abolished.

Or at the very least made optional. There are so many kids in high school that don't care about how well they do there, and would probably be better off going into the work force. They sure aren't interested in getting into college or learning anything more the state has to teach them, so why not just get them working?

 

[RaikuFA]

High School is hell.

There. Fixed that for you. And your argument that i was probably one of the people who made it hell? HA. that's rich. i had a very small group of friends, i started using drugs, and most of my long term friendships fell apart during my high school years.

They were the best years of my life because my newer friends (which i met in high school) were cooler, or seemed so, and because in middle and elementary school i was teased bullied shunned and turned into an emotional suicidal wreck.

Just ask someone who is alone if they wanna hang out. Ask if they saw a movie recently, a tv show maybe, just break the ice. If you are a loner find other loners, and suddenly you aren't a loner anymore. And go beyond grade level. Hit the younger ones if you can. Freshmen are alot like kindergarteners. if they don't already have friends around them then there's a good chance they don't have friends at all. and if they do have friends, befriends them when you're alone and and meld into the group through them.

I think he meant most likely. Also, if you my little story, you'd know it don't work for everyone. Just because they're "lonely" doesn't mean they're nice.

well obviously if they're a jerk don't keep trying and yeah it won't work for everyone i'm just handing out general advice. And if you'd rather take the i'm miserable and i'm just going to stay miserable and power through to the end of school road more power to you. Sorry that was overly antagonistic of me.

Look i'm just trying to give good general advice to kids that need it. I'm not going to make you take it, especially cause it may not work for you. I just giving out my experience, and how i coped with it. No i don't know your story, and if i did i'd probably change my advice. And if you're still taking bob's advice, it seems alot more important and alot worse than it actually is.

Actually, I mentioned my little story a few post up from yours. But you are right to a degree but like in my story, my buillies in HS were my friends, other kids diddn't pick on me, just the ppeople I knew. Everyones HS experience is diffrent.

 

[funksobeefy]

So enjoying high school means that Im now the bully bad guy? thanks bob! I love making blanket statements too!

 

[keiskay]

sorry bob but you are wrong about high school, while i agree it does get better, those of us who had a good time did not bully those of you that did not. hell i was nerdier then the nerds at my school but i was never bullied for it. this whole nerd vs everyone else thing must be from an older generation or specifically a victim complex you yourself have and perpetrate onto other nerds bob. now yes i will acknowledge bullying goes on and happens but people are standing up for people more now and stopping it. the only bullying i see thats gonna stay around is the bullying of gays which only happens in the most backwards of schools and places.

 

[Rowan93]

I wonder... Was the "High school ends" statement meant to make everybody think of the Bowling For Soup song? Because I think everyone thought of the Bowling For Soup song.

 

[anthony87]

Could someone help me out here and explain just what it is about American highschools that makes them so different and horrible compared to the equivalent level of schools in the rest of the world?

(Huh....that could've been a good question for Bob)

 

[keiskay]

Could someone help me out here and explain just what it is about American highschools that makes them so different and horrible compared to the equivalent level of schools in the rest of the world?

(Huh....that could've been a good question for Bob)

its not that different but instead of optional like in some European countries you are forced to go to high school. i believe europe has 2 seperate schools ( or more) for education, one for those who are prepping to go to Uni and the other for people who want to do things like plumbing and such.

 

[Little Duck]

As an English man, yes we are not France's biggest fan. Infact, no we don't like the French at all. We see them as too far up their own arse to enjoy themselves or humour. True fact, you want a Brit to be your friend, tell them a joke and they will be your friend for life.

I'm pretty sure this could just be prejudice coming from a lack of language however. Very few people speak French despite the fact we live very close to them and even have a giant underground train to France.