Every year, the incoming freshman run into the clear wall when they realize that being in high school is nothing like television shows and movies make it out to be. After a week or two they learn the garish teenage comedies got it all wrong. Movies like "Mean Girls," terrify girls into believing school is more about survival than education. "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off" conceives the idea that this is the time where teens are invincible and somehow always make it through the tight crack of a closing door. Television shows and movies give students the idea that all the clichés and overdone plot lines are what actually happen in school. Now some ideas are realistic, and true to reality, but others are about as real as reality shows.
There is no doubt that everyone wishes that they had been involved in a food fight just once while they were in school. Any person would do anything to have a day like the one in "Ferris Bueller’s Day Off." There may be some teens making the most of their four years like those iconic movie high schoolers, but the sad reality is that these cinematic encounters are not common in the high school experience. In movies, there's always this big phenomenon that the entire school is engaged in. Whether it be a tournament, a dance, a piece of gossip that has blown up, etc., it's got everyone in the film talking. There are cases in actual schools that gets the entire school buzzing, however, these cases are usually more negative than positive.
The educational component of high school is significantly conveyed differently. The students in Universal Studios do not care about their grades and look down upon those who do. This is what usually sets the divide between the 'jocks' and the 'nerds.' The 'nerds' are those who are paying attention in class, do their homework, and aim for the higher grade. The 'jocks' do not do their homework and if they do, they have usually just forced a 'nerd' to do it for them. The other option is to go the 'Godfather,' the sketchy guy in the bathroom stall, and buy the essay or test answers.
This seems to be this way because the jocks have the option to pay for college on an athletic scholarship while nerds rely on their brains, even though college is not really looked into or talked about amongst them. This could not be more opposite in actual schools. Students generally want to have straight As and they often strive to have the highest grade in the class. Study groups are real and occur regularly. More times than not, the students who don't care about school are looked down upon and seen as 'people who are going nowhere in life'. The goal, however, is the same in both cases; the goal is to pass, graduate, and get far away from their hometown.
As much as the population would like to live in a movie, high school is not one of those chances. The adventures told in television and movies are imaginations of what others wished their time in high school was like. That does not mean school in the real world has to be this draining experience, it can be as adventurous and spontaneous as the student makes it. Hollywood is glamorized and flashy, but it is to entertain the audience. School is boring and tedious, but it is to make students more prepared for the world and start their life. The common ground between the two is the same, four years of life will be there, so make it the best.
