2 ms·

I doubt that’s the general experience of high schoolers. I was in honors and AP programs in high school in the 90s and I’d have described a similar dynamic at

I doubt that’s the general experience of high schoolers. I was in honors and AP programs in high school in the 90s and I’d have described a similar dynamic at my school, until one year my ADHD got the better of me and I failed english and had to go to summer school. It turns out a whole lot of kids in my high school were doing drugs and having parties and having sex. They just aren’t in your classes at your school. That was the best summer of my high school experience, FWIW.

alistairSH 7y ago
Strange, I finished HS in '95 and was taking mostly honors and AP throughout. We partied plenty. Drugs weren't rampant, but pot, X, and assorted pills were common. College choices were generally strong - most of us landed at UVA, VT, or W&M (hard to go wrong in VA) but a some landed at the Ivies, Chapel Hill, Duke, etc. As far as I can tell, the big difference between then and today, at least here in metro DC, is the competitiveness of admissions to the top-tier state schools. UVA, VT, and W&M used to be sure things for anybody with a B+ GPA, some AP coursework, and 4 years of consistent extracurriculars. These days, everybody has a better-than-perfect GPA (due to AP bonuses) and a lifetime of hyper-focus on one or two extracurriculars. Doesn't seem to be any time for exploration and just having fun any more.