comment: >
  
  My first few months in highschool was dark, I caught one of my friends crying and cutting himself in the bathroom, I don't know what ever became of him
context: It's the whole "you're last 4 years to not have to worry about work, taxes, living on your own, or anything adult", but doesn't work that way >
  
  That wpuld be a more appropriate thing to say though instead of the blatant lie that it will be the best years of your life. >
  
  Well, adults are nostalgic of being teens and not worrying about adult stuff, so they may actually believe high school years are the best years >
  
  This is unpopular? I haven’t met many people who think “High School was the best”. Even people who clearly peaked in high school. >
  
  Agreed.
  I think it mostly comes from 40-something people who have to work really hard to support their family, and they're thinking "it would be nice to have as much free time as I used to, you teenagers have it easy."
  But of course, they're conveniently not remembering having to obey your parents, lack of money, lack of freedom, lack of emotional stability, lack of social skills, possibly being bullied or excluded, being judged on shallow bases by your peers, being forced to study things that you think are boring, homework, not yet having a driver's license / car, a changing body, insecurity about what you want to do with your life, insecurity about whether you'll pass your exams and a lack of stability / groundedness.
  My 20s and 30s are way better than my HS years. >
  
  My 20s and 30s were way better than HS >
  
  Not American, so with a completely different perspective.
  What people mean by "best years" is that all you have to worry about is your school stuff, then you're fed, dressed and taken care of. No other huge expectations, responsibilities etc.
  Once you're done with your homework and don't fuck it up in class or with your partner/friends, you're free to do anything you want.
  That's the "best years" thing, because after that you'll never have that freedom again. Not even in the so fabled college years. >
  
  Alright well, you have no kids, no mortgage, no debt, and no life I guess. 
  The idiom (like most of them) isn't meant to be taken literally. What teachers and principals are trying to get across is that you should enjoy your time in high school before you have to go into the real world. >
  
  But they aren't saying that, enjoy your time is different and more appropriate than saying these will be the best 4 years of your life. That seems like a stretch and serious exaggeration. >
  
  "You should have a moderately ok time and this may or may not be fun" doesn't really roll off the tongue.
  HS is a time you can learn a lot.  How to meet people, not just "this is Sam, he sat next to me and had the 200 box of Crayola".  It tends to be when people first date, first drive, get their first job, start making their first preparations for living a life making their own choices.
  If you skipped out on all of that, then you missed out on a lot. >
  
  I was too traumatized from my youth to even begin thinking about dating, getting a car and stuff like that. I was just in survival mode. It was only after high school that I was able to slowly start to heal, because I was gone from my family home and I had some freedom and time to do some introspection.
  I wouldn't call my situation common, but I think it's less uncommon than people may think. I think there's a ton of kids who are too damaged or lost or traumatized to have a good, adventurous, exploratory high school time.
  Also, I think things are a lot worse in 2022 than they were during your teenage years, because stress is higher, quality of education seems to be lower and everyone is on social media and tiktok. >
  
  Well saying bullshit like you feel sorry for someone if it was the best time of their life.....
  And you post you are in your mid 30's, so you didn't go through Tiktok or social media either.
  Sounds more like you just didn't fit in and are more angry than anything that some people did have a good time in school. >
  
  It shouldn't be, but for a lot of people it is. And the "adults" that say this to kids perhaps are saying it from a place of longing and nostalgia from their own teen years, when life was easy and they had few responsibilities and had yet to experience major loss and heartbreak. I think they mean that it will be the most "carefree" and potentially "spontaneous" part of our lives, but they fail to make that distinction, which is the issue. It is difficult to qualify what constitutes the "best" part of anyone's life, that is truly up to the beholder. If you are 40 and look back on your teen years when you had a lot of friends, were dating around and sleeping with your peers, experience drugs and sex for the first time and didn't have to hold down a job with someone supporting you, then a lot of people WILL tell you it was the best time of their lives because they felt "happiest". 
  But people view happiness and fulfillment in different ways. I am 32, and while my teen years were a close 2nd, I wouldn't say they were the absolute happiest of my life. But again, I was born and raised in America, and there are certain social customs and standards we hold our kids and adults to, so many of us unfortunately graduate high school and then just face the struggles and burdens of the "real world" for the rest of our lives. >
  
  The distinction you made is a good point and more appropriate it being carefree and spontaneous. >
  
  Some period of time has to be the best. For some it's high school >
  
  That is sad. >
  
  Why? Doesn't necessarily mean every other part is bad, just not the same level of good.
  If high school was a 10, then everything else could be an 8 or 9 with high school still being the peak. >
  
  Nooooobody says that about high school. They say that about college. >
  
  High school was only the best time of my life because I had almost zero obligations, and I was far, far less aware of how broken the world is. I hoped things would make more sense once I was out of high school, and that people would be less selfish and ignorant. And I was wrong to hope. >
  
  When you become an adult, you realize that the average "adult" is actually less smart than the average HS guys that were sitting in your class with. 
  This is disappointing. >
  
  High school was the best 4 years of my life. I hate how my life is after high school. >
  
  That's exactly the point, HS is only the best years of your life if the rest of your life sucks. >
  
  I didn't like school.  I liked my days off. >
  
  Not necessarily. But assuming you live in a typical home, you don’t have to worry about any bills or real responsibilities. Would I say it was the best years of my life, absolutely not. But it was nice being able to stay up to 3 AM playing world of Warcraft >
  
  Up until the age of 18, HS were the best years of my life. 
  Then the years of college were the best.
  Then The years as a US Air Force Reserve officer and my new civilian job
  Then the years of my first marriage
  (The years between marriages kinda sucked)
  Then my second marriage
  Then the years after retiring from the USAFR and my civilian job
  Now the years working my current job, drawing two pensions and enjoying my wife and my 4 children are the best years. >
  
  That's nice. Well done. >
  
  idk Nobody says this, I dont know where high schoolers are making it up from. I have only ever heard people say college years are the best of your life, maybe a few before and after. having high school be 'the peak/best years of your life' is a really common insult.
  High schoolers are notorious for constantly whining about rules and parents sucking and how being an adult owns, nobody had ever said being an adult sucked outside of like bills and responsibilities and not having enough 'free time'/freedom once you 'settle down'.. >
  
  Hard agree.
  I swear the whole "these are the best years of your life" makes people who don't have a great time at school feel worse for longer. >
  
  High school was literally the worst years of my life.  Imagine peaking in highschool and then going downhill for the next 70 years?  
  42 was literally the best year for me so far.  Wish I could go back.  Hoping to top it someday. >
  
  Well, I just turned 30 and I can say with absolutely certainty that teen years > 20s. >
  
  I agree. It’s pretty sad to see people peaking at 17, and then clinging on to those short years for the rest of their lives. >
  
  I went to a tiny private school and there was nothing fun about it.  Every grade would start to take on the personality of the most popular kid, and in mine, it was this countercultural, politically progressive stoner with a massive ego.  There's no way in hell that kid would have been this influential in any more mainstream environment.  My family was zoned to shitty public schools and my parents refused to let me leave this place.  I graduated in the early aughts but my classmates' favorite music was Weezer and Rusted Root.  
  As you could imagine, we didn't get to have any of the normal American HS traditional stuff, like ppl actually going to sports games, cheerleaders, dances, even certain academic stuff, etc.  My dad said that was partially a function of a lack of enough people to have a crew team, marching band, orchestra, etc.  I didn't even bother going to whatever 1/2-assed prom planned by one girl by herself b/c I knew it would have sucked.
  Honestly, I wouldn't care at all but ppl I met in college had the real "Friday Night Lights" experience in HS and really didn't get how anybody didn't.  Then, of course, if you explain that you went to private school so you didn't have this stuff, those types get funny with you.  As if I wouldn't have preferred to actually have fun!!!
  My sister is a couple years younger and her grade was completely different--very ethnically diverse and more...normal.  I think they had more transfers from the public schools and my grade had a higher concentration of lifers (preK-12)?  I don't think her experience was amazing by any stretch but it was slightly more relatable than mine.
  But yes, if those were the best four years of your life, esp. if you went to HS with me (haha), that's pretty sad. >
  
  I agree with this. >
  
  I have never heard a parent or teacher say high school is the best years of your life. >
  
  I was told this many times by heads of year in assembly, all the way up to year 11. Highschool was the worst. >
  
  Wild.  Glad I never heard that crap. >
  
  Yeah as a teen with poor mental health, it didn’t exactly hit as they wanted it to.