The young will always be at odds with the old, forever

[garote]

When I was younger, I had this idea that parents and kids didn't get along because there were things wrong with the world that the parents were too lazy to deal with, but kids could solve easily if given the chance

Comments

[ex_juan_gan]

This is so true. On one hand. On the other, you are actually describing, probably, a very specific culture of American schools. "Popularity", I guess is specifically American.

Back in Russia girls liked some cute boys, boys liked some cute girls, but nobody gave a fuck about popularity. No such thing. People were getting together by their interests, and did not give a damn about others. Especially those that do some sports. They were considered as idiots, unless they were also good people (which is kind of rare). Basically, we just ignored those athletes; who cares if they run, if they can't integrate.

Wealth is a separate issue; this probably changed, but still, mostly people were never attracted to people richer than them, people were attracted to people of equal level of wealth, with whom one can talk about things. Not like where to buy cheap hamburger vs whether to fly to Paris or Trinidad this weekend.

But still I feel like the principles you are talking about, in general, match my experience.

[garote]

I would very much like to say that my high school experience was like yours, but I can't...

It's true that the reality wasn't the same as what we thought: The interaction was more web-like than pyramid-like. But at the same time, we all knew who was likely to end up in jail, who was on the short list of possible homecoming queens and kings, and who was able and willing to abuse whom.

Sometimes this was made quite blatant, by for example the designers of the school yearbook clustering groups of people together and giving them backhanded captions or fake "likely to succeed" awards. I hated every yearbook I appeared in. Recently a friend-of-a-friend of mine posted scans of our senior yearbook on Facebook, with drawings of dicks and asses and mean-spirited comments scribbled along every page. "What fun we had!" he declared. 25 years later and that document is still haunting me. (Also: Fuck Facebook.)

[ex_juan_gan]

Wow. Seems like I lived in a relative paradise. No kings, no queens. Of course sizes varied, but who cares, we did not fight.