I didn't have that bad a high school experience.   Middle school was pretty awful--you seriously don't want to hear about my worst middle school experience. But high school was okay. Good times outnumbered bad times by far.

Karen, 21
Marshelltown/Ames, IA  USA

The emotional rollercoasterness of it all

Felicia, 35
Lowell, MA   USA

Speech class! I was very shy and hated having to give talks in public.

Jane, 60
West Linn, OR   USA

All of it? I wasn't very well liked.

Firelady, 23
Dallas, TX   USA

Forty eight years ago, the "high school" in my small town housed Grades 7 through 12. As a 7th Grade honor roll student I had incurred the wrath of several girls in the fashionable clique (a group I had no hankering to join). Obviously, in the terminology of the day, I just thought I was smart, because. (No words every followed "because". "Because" was a summing up of all reasons for disapproval. At the first school pep rally of the year, the fashionable clique, joined by a number of older students--probably 30 or so--formed a circle around me and began shoving me back and forth across the circle, chanting, "You just think you're smart, because. You just think you're smart, because." I my glasses fell off and were stepped on.  The shoving continued. I fell, tearing the knees out of my jeans. The shoving continued. I didn't cry, but was very close to crying when a junior, a four letter athlete, hollered "What's going on?" He broke into the circle which dissolved. He helped me find the frames to my glasses and told me I'd be O.K.

I've retained very warm feelings for Bert all these years. The only connection between us was that we both had little brothers in Little League and mothers who helped at the Little League refreshment stand. I felt this made his actions even more heroic. Four years later he was killed as the result of a ill conceived college prank. His death was very upsetting to me.

Jill, 60
Saylorsburg, PA  USA

I actually have no bad memories of high school-it was a good time. i just got out early cuz i wanted to get on with my life.

Angela, 16
Aiken, SC   USA

I don't have any bad memories of high school. My high school career was a blast and I loved every minute of it.

Stephanie, 25
TX  USA

I went to six high schools while being dragged around a little, so my viewpoint's a little different. I never saw myself as being in the picture because I was too busy comparing the schools and instead of feeling like any of it was a part of my life I felt like I was an intruder on a series of  movie sets. I met a lot of cool people on the tour, but I don't know a damn one of them now.

Alias Irrelevante

Hah... yeah right! I'm only 16! Actually I do know girls my age that have kids, but thats really sad. Someday I'd definately like kids though... a girl and a boy.

Dianne, 16
Oshawa, Ontario  CANADA

My gym exam freshman year. I got a D on it.

Katie2, 18
Detroit, MI   USA

My freshman year I dated this troll of a sophomore with a gap it her teeth so wide she could floss with a chain. She was about 230 pounds, and had no attractive attributes to speak of. And it wasn't like she had any redeeming personality traits, either. She was mean and whiny and allways acused my friends of trying to steal me from her. What was I thinking???

A-Dog, 18
McMinnville, OR  USA

Everyone hating me because of something I did...

Talia, 23
Wilton, CT   USA

Hah... how about the entire last year (grade 10)! I hated it... my friends were jerks, my boyfriend screwed me over, um... my friends were jerks, I was suicidal for a few months... that isn't easy when your friends don't care at all about you. Fortuately I am past all that now!

Dianne, 16
Oshawa, Ontario  CANADA

I don't have any good memories of high school. I hated it. All the good stuff that went on during that time sure as hell didn't occur within the four walls of that horrid place.

But by far my worst memory of high school was when I was a freshman. My best friend and I had this notebook that we traded back and forth and wrote to each other in. I accidentally left it in study hall one afternoon. By the time I realized it and ran back there it was gone. The next morning I went to gym and every single note that had been written in that thing were tacked to the bulletin board in the locker room. Parts were highlighted. We had written so many things in there that were private, about people we didn't like, people we did like, family stuff, *everything* I would never have wanted 1000 girls to read. It was the most humiliating thing that has ever happened to me.

Maggie, 20
Sandwich, IL   USA

So many bad memories to choose from: Where to begin? I suppose I would have to say eleventh grade (the whole year). That was the year I had semesters of 5Fs and 2Ds, my folks thought I was taking pot, I got detention for the first time ever, thought I would croak when I graduated, and I took self loathing to a new level.

Mick, 30
Chicago, IL   USA

My worst memory? Ugh, do I have to? Probably being unable to pronounce "Goethe" my freshman year when I was reading questions to the quiz bowl team - mostly upperclassmen who already knew the name. I guess that doesn't seem too bad, but either it wasn't a bad four years or I've repressed everything worse.

etoile, 20
Washington, DC  USA

What a can of worms this is for me! I went to high school in the late 60s during all the racial riots. My school was a clear 50/50 mix of black and white. Everyone got along until the media went wild with all their coverage of big city uprisings. That was it. For at least a week, white students had to be escorted to their classes by NYPD riot squad...no lie. We would get off the buses in the morning and be greeted with riot squad who would make sure we got into the building safely. I was just a sophmore when I got my ass kicked so badly at school one day by a group of girls who just wanted in on all the "fun," that my parents transferred me to another school as soon as I was well enough to return. Another girl, on the same day that my incident took place, was sent into a coma for two months after having her head held under toilet water for too long by another group of animals. I hated every moment of the high school experience from that point forward. I just couldn't wait to be around adults in the working world. I quit before the year was out. All I say is...I'm thankful fists were the weapon of choice back then.  God help our kids today.

Fisch, 45
Preston, CT   USA

I was kind of a nobody in high school so I can't say I have many good memories of it. I was active and popular in junior high but something just seemed to happen to me. In 9th grade I tried out for cheerleader and since I had taken dancing lessons for so long, I think I was one of the best. However, I wore glasses and wasn't all that popular and was rejected. That started my road downhill. In 11th grade, I was in the hospital most of the year and was taught by a professional tutor. But I guess my worst memory was of the "friends" I had. They were losers like me who hung around only because there was no one else.

Reba, 51
Rockville, MD   USA

I'm still here, and for the moment, i only want to remember the good stuff.  Being a senior is the best and the worst of times. sad and happy, scary, and wonderouus all at the same time. I wouldn't change it for a thing.

Sarah S., 17
Ithaca, NY   USA

probably something to do with being kicked out as a junior and told not to come back until I saw a psychiatrist. . .at the time I was stupidly proud of all this, now I'm mostly embarassed. . .

mothmc, 36
Los Angeles, CA  USA

I don't now. I had a terrific time in high school. It's either the time I got caught for plagerizing or in senior year when I was forced to choose one friend over another.

Jaden, 21
Brampton, Ontario  CANADA

Every time I heard an anti-gay joke, comment, or threat is definitely the worst memory.

Eric, 18
Beverly Hills, CA  USA

This year, every school day will be a nightmare because in the Summer I have my GCSE exams, so every day I'm being told how hard I have to work and how important these exams are and how bad the consequences will be if I fail them. It's a very, very stressful time.

Shanna, 15
Cardiff  ENGLAND

Didn't have one date

Jason, 21
Oneanta, NY USA

I think over-all was the being unsure of myself and trying to be accepted. When I finally realized that it all had to come from within me and my attitude, life got a whole lot better.

Janet, 42
E. Brunswick, NJ  USA

Yesterday / Tomorrow