We come in to high school with hopes that it will be the best four years of our lives. However, after a short year or so we realize this is false. From waking up at 6 a.m. for four straight years to the pressure of grades to friend drama, high school is not what I had thought it would be. So where do we get all these expectations from?
The media and mainly cheesy high school movies.
Don't get me wrong I too love movies like Mean Girls, High School Musical and every other high school movie out there. We know that these movies are unrealistic, yet we hope that they may someday be a reality. That just maybe that boy in your math class will fall for you and that just maybe you will get the perfect promposal. Well, hate to break it you but as much as you may wish for this, it isn't going to happen. I think part of the reason why teens hate high school so much is because we are disappointed that it didn't turn into the fantasy that we always thought it would be. The media makes high school out to be so much better than it is. Maybe if we didn't have these high expectations high school wouldn't be that bad because we wouldn't know any different.
From when I was a little girl playing pretend "house," I always wanted to be a 16-year-old teenager named Kate (Kate was the popular girl on Lizzie McGuire). I always thought that 16 was the perfect age. The age where you would be pretty, popular and boys would drool over you. Well, now I am her (name still isn't Kate though) and wow, do I wish I wasn't. Sure, I have some friends but I am not popular. Sure I am pretty but I still get self-conscious. And for the boys, my love life is non-existent. Our society plays up high school to be more than it truly is. It makes prom seem like the greatest event of your high school career and seems to ignore the important things like actual school work. We do the same thing when it comes to college. We play up the Greek life and parties while ignoring the education side.
In high school movies and TV shows, they never show the characters doing homework, studying, applying for college or just watching Netflix. The media portrays high schoolers with all the free time on their hands and with no cares in the world. On every show they are seen partying and hooking up constantly. Sure that happens, but so does going to school. After all, high school is still school. These characters are rarely shown in class. Like everything else, the media portrays high school as something glamorous. There is nothing glamorous about waking up at 6 a.m. and wearing leggings three times a week. Sometimes we need to tell it how it is, not what we wish it would be.