Basic Trope: The High School years are the best years of one's life.
- Straight: The students at Troperville High School go on adventures and have great romantic relationships. In their later years, they find that adulthood is nothing but drudgery.
- Exaggerated: At a Class Reunion, they find that the Jerk Jock is now stuck in a dead-end job, and the Alpha Bitch he was dating is now the ex-wife (or current wife) from hell (also, she's fat and her clothes are frumpy.) Meanwhile, the nerd is now a multi-billionaire with a Trophy Wife, and High School Sweet hearts Alice and Bob are Happily Married.
- Downplayed: They find that their college years were better, if not much different than high school.
- Justified:
- The students are well-off and sheltered; problems that seemed huge in high school are nothing compared to the problems of the adult world.
- Some students were used to skating by on their looks, charm, athletic prowess, etc. They don't apply themselves in the adult world, and since the adult world doesn't work that way, suffer accordingly. In other words, those individuals peaked in high school.
- The students have not experienced adulthood, nor do most of them have older siblings, and apparently Adults Are Useless (or enforce the stereotype that adulthood is all work and no play), so they have nothing else to compare it to. All they know is, they have manageable schoolwork, friends and Love Interests, a little bit of freedom, after-school clubs that they like, and fast metabolisms.
- Inverted: The students at Troperville High School can't wait to graduate, so they no longer have to deal with high school drama. They find that their adult years are better; they have their own money, can do what they want, don't necessarily have to associate with yucky people, have more stable romantic relationships, aren't dealing with wacky hormones, can drink legally, and have many more opportunities than they had as teenagers.
- Subverted: Their college years are much better than their high school years, because of more freedom, the opportunity to reinvent themselves, not having to be defined by a clique/school activity/favorite music genre, and being away from people they didn't like in high school.
- Double Subverted:
- College Is "High School, Part 2"
- They are still woefully underprepared for the challenges of adult life: living with roommates and not having an RA to mediate conflicts, bills, adult dating and relationships, homeownership and all its challenges, bank loans of various kinds, credit cards, parenting, marriage, cooking and housework, taking care of aging parents, etc.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig Zagged: Some characters are doing well and enjoying High School, others not so much, and still others are indifferent.
- Averted:
- The characters in this work have dropped out of high school
- Secondary education (and/or a concept of adolescence) is not the norm in this society or time period.
- The characters are all adults, and although their high school years may occasionally be mentioned, they aren't looked upon fondly, or are only occasionally mentioned in passing.
- High School Is Hell.
- Enforced:
- A Teen Drama or Kid Com geared towards a Junior High or High School-aged audience
- The writers go for a very heavily leaning in the direction of "idealism" in the Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism.
- With a market infested with stories where High School Is Hell, the writers have decided to go against the current for the sake of attracting audiences.
- Lampshaded: "I wish I were back in high school. Those were the best years of my life!"
- Invoked: The people in charge of the high school make sure to hire a very friendly principal and stomp down on bad apples to try to deal with a rise in things like students dropping out, suicides and school shootings.
- Exploited: A mother and her Bratty Teenage Daughter switch places for a day, so that they can learn that both adulthood and adolescence have challenges.
- Defied: The Dean Bitterman really goes above and beyond to make sure High School Is Hell for anything with a pulse within its perimeter.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
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