I was generally popular and got along with most everyone and still found high school to be absolute hell, though really no more than middle or even elementary s

I was generally popular and got along with most everyone and still found high school to be absolute hell, though really no more than middle or even elementary school. The issue, I think, comes from a lack of agency, you are told where to be and what to do all day every day. Every minute is scheduled and that wears on people and leads to stress and abnormal social interactions where kids pick at each other. I do think school plays an important role in social development and learning to interact and get along with others, but I think the environment sucks and isn’t even a great parallel to the real world in most cases. It is more like prison than anything. If you find yourself in a work place and think, “jeez, this place is like high school,” you should probably run.