comment: >
  
  The distinction you made is a good point and more appropriate it being carefree and spontaneous.
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.