some of these comments are baloney, e.g.: "This country is the only one I know in which 'popularity' or 'coolness' are even concepts for middle and high school

some of these comments are baloney, e.g.: "This country is the only one I know in which 'popularity' or 'coolness' are even concepts for middle and high school -age adolescents. There is something seriously, deeply wrong with the way young people grow up here, in a bizarre hierarchy of belonging. Envision a world in which all teenagers are accepted equally, including their different talents and quirks. That is the world which most of the world lives in." that is someone's ra-ra "everything that's bad about America simply doesn't exist in any form in Europe" cheer and it's tiresome.