> They often are. For a great deal of students, it's a place of unhappiness. I know this is anecdotal, but I'll pitch in with another data point: I hated it. H

> They often are. For a great deal of students, it's a place of unhappiness. I know this is anecdotal, but I'll pitch in with another data point: I hated it. High school (and to an extent part of my junior high experience) felt like an absolute waste of time. It was a mix of two negative experiences: 1) avoiding uncomfortable interactions with students who hated those like me because we were too nerdy/pale/learning-focused/etc. or 2) hoping we wouldn't get stuck with one of a half-dozen or so awful teachers [1]. I wish I were exaggerating. On a positive note, those four years were tempered by the three or four teachers I deeply respected and admired. Sadly, such positive emotions were a rare retreat from the anti-authoritarian and anti-educational atmosphere present in that district. When I went to college, I discovered that scholastic endeavors needn't be complicated with stupid adolescent politics. It was a completely different experience, not the least because I was treated like a responsible adult for the first time in my life by those who were directed to instruct. In retrospect, if I should ever have children of my own, I don't think I could bring myself to put them through public school. I realize it depends on the district, but my own experiences were so dramatically negative that it's an option I won't willingly accept. [1] I had a math teacher my freshman year who regularly complained that her students went on more dates than she did. During the warmer months, she'd often take us outside so she could nap in the sun while we were supposed to work on whatever assignment she'd given us. About halfway through the year, she was reigned in somewhat because this activity was reported by concerned parents when it was discovered that many of the students were leaving early (conveniently, it was also the last period of the day). She didn't come back the following year. I also had a teacher my senior year who claimed he was a former drill sergeant and treated us in a manner analogous to recruits. He also started us off with negative grades to teach us some absurd lesson about the importance of always improving. Part of his grading regimen included measuring the margins of our papers to ensure we followed instructions, subtracting 50 points for each margin that wasn't exactly 1" from the edge of the paper. And that was before he graded the content.