In almost every high school movie from the 80s into the 2000s there has been the stereotype of the popular kids who “peaked in high school.” But does anybody really “peak” in high school?
Personally, I hope not. As someone who isn’t done with high school, I haven’t witnessed this phenomenon, myself, and neither has SWHS school psychologist Bonnie Jones.
“Some of the people that I can think of who I feel like felt like they peaked in high school when I was in high school, they’re not the same people that they were,” explained Jones. “They’re better.”
Jones says that high school is when students start figuring out the type of people they want to be around and forming meaningful relationships that they can hopefully keep after graduation. But high school is just for getting the idea of what social groups you like, not setting them in stone.
According to Erin Simcik, AP Psychology teacher at SWHS, life almost always gets better after high school.
She thinks that a lot of people cling on to the stereotype of people who peak in high school out of spite. They want to see the kids who were popular or well-liked and mean about it knocked down a peg later in life.
Naturally, the concept of peaking in high school relies on a social hierarchy that puts some people on the top and others on the bottom, but isn’t so clear at SWHS.
Jones sees SWHS social dynamics as a lot of little friend groups that include different people with different interests. Senior Garren Cox thinks of it more as “a big web” of people and less as separate cliques or a distinct hierarchy.
Cox doesn’t know anyone who’s peaked in high school and hopes that no one does.
“For the rest of your life just looking up at what younger you did, that’d suck,” Cox said when speaking with The Prowl.
Thankfully, most, if not all people, won’t peak in high school. From starting businesses to performing on stage many students will grow up to have successful and long-lasting careers that far rival their high school experiences.
