What was your high school like?, In terms of cliques and such Options

[mipadi]

Growing up, I always saw TV shows portraying high school in an atmosphere in which the jocks and cheerleaders were "cool" and the smart, geeky, or creative kids were basically losers. But looking back, my high school experience was completely different. The athletes and cheerleaders were mediocre, I guess you could say; they weren't losers, but they weren't anything special. The smartest kids in the school, the ones at the top of their class, were the most well-liked (I guess you could say "popular") students. My school had a sort of hierarchy of popularity: if you were a good artist, you were pretty much automatically cool. If you were a musician, you were pretty popular, too. If you were a writer, you were pretty well-liked. If you were at least into indie films or indie rock or art or something like that, you were pretty well-liked, too.

I went to college thinking this was perfectly normal, that the TV depiction of "coolness" was a relic of previous generations -- basically, that the writers of those shows were basing their writing off of their experiences, which didn't reflect contemporary culture well. But then I talked to people in college, and found that my high school seemed to be pretty unique. Most of my college friends had more stereotypical experiences in high school. And when I thought about it, this coincided with my own second-hand experiences. My friend Chris was an intelligent, intellectual, if somewhat eccentric, kid who was pretty popular in my high school. In 10th grade, he moved out to Pittsburgh with his dad (his mom didn't move right away because she was a doctor and had work commitments for a few more months). At his new school, he was routinely made fun of by the athletes (the "cool kids" of that school), and even beat up on a few occasions. Now, again, he was a bit "weird", but his creativity was appreciated at our school, and not only was he never assaulted, but he was well-liked. He hated his new schools so much that after a month or so he moved back with his mom.

What's your school like? Was/is it like mine, or was/is it like the more stereotypical, pop-culture view of high school ("as seen on TV!"), or is it something else entirely?

[emberfly]

I'm my own clique.

pshyeah.