Line #54 Main/HighSchoolRocks


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4	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/school_rocks.jpg]]]]
5	[[caption-width-right:350:Things are unusually [[{{Pun}} stable]] here.]]
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10
11	->''"I thought the last day of high school would be the best day of my life until I realized what I'd be leaving."''
12	-->-- '''Zack Morris''', ''Series/SavedByTheBell''
13
14	If the likes of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and ''Series/MySoCalledLife'' and (especially) ''Film/{{Heathers}}'' have taught us nothing else, it is that HighSchool is Hell. [[Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer Sometimes literally]].
15
16	Not everyone agrees.
17
18	While few shows will go so far as to claim learning is fun for its own sake, or that the AlphaBitch or a JerkJock can't make life troublesome, several shows seem to think high school is not all that bad. They seem to have a point: You get to play sports (if you want), find your {{High School Sweetheart\|s}} at the HighSchoolDance (if you are lucky), and make some of the best friends you will ever meet. Indeed, even those shows that paint an extremely negative picture of high school life usually acknowledge the importance of friends.
19
20	Cliques might be notably absent, but if they are present, the main characters will maintain friendships across the class divide.
21
22	These being the BestYearsOfYourLife may or may not be strongly implied as well.
23
24	Depending on the troper, this may or may not be TruthInTelevision. For the latter, this trope exists pretty far toward the idealistic end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. Relatively few shows occupy much of a middle ground; either high school is [[SuckySchool a place of utter misery or despair]], or it's a wacky fun-filled ride.
25
26	A subtrope of HighSchool. [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with naturally occurring aggregates of minerals and/or mineraloids that attend high school.]] See also GrowingUpSucks and FutureLoser. Contrast MiddleSchoolIsMiserable.
27
28	----
29	!!Examples:
30
31	[[foldercontrol]]
32
33	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
34	* ''Manga/AzumangaDaioh'' is the TropeCodifier for SchoolgirlSeries and [[FollowTheLeader inspired other series]] with similar themes. It's a series about a group of quirky high school girls (one who is [[GradeSkipper initially ten]]) and their two {{Sensei Chan}} friends having fun. It's a near-perfect high school experience.
35	* ''Manga/ManabiStraight'' practically collapses under the nostalgia about the high school days.
36	%%* ''Manga/HidamariSketch''
37	* ''Manga/{{Sketchbook}}'' has elements of this. Even super-shy and eccentric Sora never gets hassled, unlike what would happen in RealLife. Not to mention Kate, who would be a real bully magnet with her western looks and accent.
38	%%* ''Manga/{{Amanchu}}''
39	* ''Manga/KOn'' is a series virtually devoid of negativity. It's just a bunch of high school girls in a band together and having fun, and the girls' graduation from high school is treated as a very poignant and bittersweet moment where all those happy memories are being left behind.
40	* ''Manga/HisAndHerCircumstances'', at least the manga. Despite the overall theme, the actual high school life of the title characters is pretty cake, with any foe made into a trusty ally within a chapter or two. Souichiro and Yukino's biggest worries are often about not being at the top of the exam boards, the ending suggests that nothing really happens outside of high school anyway.
41	* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'', although if it weren't for the fact that they keep reminding you, you'd forget that they were in school at all. The characters ''do'' {{Angst}} on occasion, but it's always resolved by the end of the episode.
42	* ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'', although it's more like "High school is as weird as fuck"
43	* GenkiGirl Yuki from ''Manga/SchoolLive'' ''thinks'' her school life is this. It's [[SubvertedTrope everything but]]. She's delusional and in denial about the fact that [[ZombieApocalypse almost everyone is a zombie]]. The series begins with her gushing about how much she loves her school and, in the manga, the line is darkly repeated later when [[spoiler:her [[BreakTheCutie delusions start giving way to reality]] after she's forced to kill a zombie]]. Even ''before'' the apocalypse, Yuki was shown to have been bullied [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype for being a peppy goofball who acts overly immature]].
44	* ''VisualNovel/KamigamiNoAsobi'' is about [[CrossoverCosmology a bunch of gods]] put into an anime high school setting. Apollon, being the perpetually cheerful sun god, sees it this way, and his cheery outlook manages to infect the others. They have tons of fun doing club activities, planning the school play and school festival, etc... while lampshading, parodying, and generally messing with just about every anime high school trope.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Comic Books]]
48	* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' is traditionally like this - Archie is on pretty good terms with everyone, has little-to-no problems, and is a ChickMagnet (even [[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference back]] when he was less attractive and had buck-teeth) - however newer spinoffs like ''ComicBook/AfterlifeWithArchie'' and ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'' deconstruct it to be less than perfect.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Fan Works]]
52	* PlayedForLaughs in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls1'' episodes of ''WebVideo/FriendshipIsWitchcraft''. Twilight has an entire song dedicated to how awesome a mundane, stressful life as a normal high school student is and how considerably more fun it is than being a powerful, flying pony princess.
53	-->'''Twilight:''' ''I used to fight dragons and go on adventures\
54	I used to think my life was so-so.\
55	But now I see that being queen isn't half as fun as trigonometry.\
56	High school is the place I'm meant to be.\
57	[...] Pony princess: Good. High school: Great.''
58	[[/folder]]
59
60	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
61	%%* ''Film/{{Clueless}}''
62	%%* ''Film/BringItOn''
63	%%* ''Film/{{Grease}}''
64	%%* ''Film/HighSchoolMusical''
65	* ''Film/FridayNightLights'', the football team is shown as some of the most important people in town, and it explicitly says the players will never be as important as they are now. This is emphasized in one scene where a former player freaks two players out by telling them this and saying they need to get a championship ring. The film plays the trope so straight it practically deconstructs it.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'' has a lot of melodrama, but not much of is actually related to school. The main characters are all well-respected at their school and, despite going to a Catholic school, no one blinks an eye at the entire student council being full of {{PseudoRomantic Friendship}}s.
70	[[/folder]]
71
72	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
73	* ''Series/{{Graduados}}'' is fully focused in this. It is composed of adults who used to be classmates and keep having nostalgia for the good old times.
74	* ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' and most of its clones (''Hang Time'', ''Series/CaliforniaDreams'', etc.) are the kings of this trope. Extra points for ''Saved by the Bell'' for having the ''principal'' as one of the gang.
75	[[/folder]]
76
77	[[folder:Music]]
78	* The Music/BruceSpringsteen song "Glory Days" is made of this trope, albeit with a bittersweet dose of hindsight.
79	* "Be True to Your School" by Music/TheBeachBoys.
80	* "High School" by Music/{{MC5}}.
81	* "Rock N' Roll High School" by Music/{{Ramones}}.
82	* "Popular" by Nada Surf does this by reciting pages from a terrible teen dating advice book with [[SarcasmMode tongue-firmly-in-cheek]].
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Video Games]]
86	* The ''VisualNovel/TokimekiMemorial'' series. This DatingSim franchise from Creator/{{Konami}}, in which the player's goal is to get the LoveConfession of a [[HighSchoolSweethearts High School Sweetheart]] of his choice at a place of legend that'll grant them eternal happiness as a couple, is renowned for [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism its very sweet and idealistic stance]].
87	* Subverted and played straight in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' just by the nature of the plot revelations. [[DeadlyGame The situation which the students face]] is most assuredly horrific and not at all in line with a normal curriculum. That is until the 6th and final chapter where it gets revealed that [[spoiler:EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether for at least a year's worth before [[ApocalypseHow/{{Class 0}} The Tragedy]] took place and [[LaserGuidedAmnesia their memories had been forcibly erased]] of ever [[GildedCage locking themselves inside the school]]. The old photos found by the protagonist generally show the students looking happy during their highschool years with the implication that many of them [[DysfunctionJunction moved past the crippling emotional/psychological issues]] that lead some of them to kill each other during the game's course]].
88	* ''VideoGame/AvatarHigh'' is a browser game where you play as high schoolers. It's aimed more at middle schoolers than high schoolers and thus leans into this trope.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Web Comics]]
92	* The modern arc of ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'' was this, when Arthur was at school.
93	-->'''Arthur''': All that's demanded of you is that you learn things for six hours a day. The rest of your time's free and you've got school activities and online games and your friends to hang with. It's never this good again till retirement.
94	:: Apparently TruthInTelevision for the author, who made a similar point when explaining why his ''Series/DoctorWho'' HighSchoolAU was remarkably free of angst.
95	[[/folder]]
96
97	[[folder:Western Animation]]
98	%%* Disney's ''Series/{{Doug}}'' is the middle school version of this trope. Which, for most people, is definitely ''not'' TruthInTelevision.
99	* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', Mabel believes in this trope due to overexposure to such portrayals in the media, asking Wendy if her high school experience is "more rom-com or wacky romp." Wendy quickly sets her straight. WordOfGod is that this is reflective of creator Alex Hirsch's experience.
100	-->'''Mabel:''' Why aren't they singing about following their dreams? TV taught me that high school was like some sort of ''[[Film/HighSchoolMusical musical]].''\
101	'''Wendy:''' [[BitingTheHandHumor TV lied, man.]]
102	[[/folder]]

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