What things make/made high school enjoyable?

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Lucky bastard. My family didn't have the money to send me to a gifted school, though I was recommended for one.

I guess the many acquaintances I've made, and for about a year a small group of best friends.

Going home at the end of the day and weekends.

People whom I didn't have any reason to respect had lots of reasons to respect me.

High school has niches. Programming, web design, and culinary arts class are my favorite. Plus, I can take 2 math classes and 2 science classes at the same time. I hate that I'm forced to learn history though, and my english class is too complicated. (I have to do character analysis of the people in The Fountainhead.)

The main advantage: More freedom from middle school, and more electives.

Being homeschooled...

The knowledge that in about 4 years I can graduate from this hell hole.

That made me smile.

It's nice to walk out to the bus when the temperature is between 50 and 70 degrees.
I get to use the computer in computer science class and write little amateurish Java programs.
Math class is about 30 minutes of free time for calculator programming, provided the actual math work is easy (and it usually is).
Chemistry is fun, really.
In speech class I can sometimes listen to my mp3 player and relax, or work on my conlang and writing systems. The entire class is free time for my taking (literally). Too bad this class is populated almost solely by stupid idiots...

High school for me was just one extremely long and unnecessarily arduous struggle. But it was still better than middle school. (I f**king HATED middle school with a burning passion)

I got transferred into three high schools (two of them nonpublic) throughout my HS career.

1st school - a typical public high school full of stupid f**king idiots and even more people whom I generally wouldn't want to deal with on any basis. The academics were very tough for me and the teachers barely did sh** to help. Also, I did get chased after by three girls, and none of them were worth giving the time of day to.
On the plus side, this school was practically full of cash if you knew where to look. A few vending machines had slippery change deposit slots, and so lots of quarters fell under the machine, which I would fish out with a stick when there weren't many people around. There were also numerous times where people would just leave dollar bills lying around. I found ones, fives, and I even once found a ten-dollar bill on the ground. But over time, my grades came to be terrible, I got placed in the special-ed group, and my parents finally had enough and transferred me to my second high school.

2nd school - a small nonpublic school for people with behavioral problems. Ironically, this served to be some of my best years in school, socially speaking. After a rough patch in the beginning, I made quite a few friends and generally got along with everyone pretty well. The academics were crap, though. Minimal work, and next to no homework. So my folks transferred me again after 2 and a half years.

3rd school - a slightly bigger nonpublic school for people with mental disabilities, with the vast majority of them being high-functioning autistic/AS. The academics were much better there and the social aspect was alright. (provided the people you hung with were at least tolerable) But the school's administration sucked, and just about everyone whose nose wasn't to the grindstone knew it - including most of the teachers. (and now one of them teaches biology at my current community college, lawl.)
I got held back a year because of an issue involving me not having enough credits to graduate, because I bombed the first half of my freshman year but passed the second half.

Come graduation time, I just didn't give a damn about the formalities and goodbyes and whatnot, and everyone who wanted to keep in contact got my number several days beforehand. I was in HS way too long and all I wanted to do at the ceremony was get my diploma, and get the f**k out of there. So I did, and I have never looked back since then. And as for the people? Good friends/teachers aside - I don't care if I never see them again.
And looking back, I wasn't like most other kids in any of the high schools I went to - I never followed the fashion trends, I didn't care for most aspects of popular culture, I never went to any social functions (dances, proms etc.) and not once did I have a crush on anyone.

And let me just say this. Contrary to popular belief - high school is intended for one thing, and it IS NOT to make friends/have fun/meet that significant other/make memories/ etc. The purpose for HS is to do the work & learn the material so you can pass the tests, and get good marks in your classes so that you can graduate.
THAT is the true purpose of high school - to obtain an education and a diploma. (or a GED) Everything else about HS is secondary to that purpose, and an awful lot of kids these days really need to get that through their skulls.

Sounds like my high school, but the difference was mine was a Christian school. Unlike you, I had to stay there for 4 years and it was miserable. I despised them all. There were a few girls in my class who even though they had boyfriends, pretended to be interested in me. I knew it was all fake but they didn't leave me alone. This was a lose-lose situation. If I go along with it and believe they are interested, they would do something to humiliate me in front of everyone. I didn't go along and made it clear I wanted nothing to do with them. The result was I got picked on for not being interested in these girls, even though everyone else probaby knew they were fake too, they just wanted to see me get humiliated.

Even if these girls had been for real it wouldn't have helped me much, since my parents didn't believe in teenage dating, especially in the lower grades of high school. They may have allowed it when I was older, but there was nobody there I'd have been interested in anyway.



I was the same way. I just wanted out and was glad when it finally happened. I didn't fit in either in school. I didn't care much for fashion, I didn't like the same mainstream music everyone else liked, never cared about fashions or that stuff. I got picked on for not going to school dances and didn't go to the prom, partially because of my parents, partially because I had no interest. None of the girls in my school wouldn't have given me the time of day, since I was pretty much an outsider from day one because I didn't go to one of their churches or one of their church's elementary schools. Since I didn't go to any of their religion's schools or churches, I was pretty much branded an outsider the day I walked in the door.



I agree. My high school pushed the idea that high school is fun too much. I wanted to go to a school that pushed academics and had expectations of students' behavior, and didn't put up with any foolishness. My high school was a party school pure and simple, and I didn't want to party. If I could have gone to a school like I describe, I'm sure I'd have been much better off.

My parents did actually think of transferring me out a couple of times, but they changed their minds at the last minute saying "it'll go by fast so don't worry." I just wish it could have gone by happily.

by drawing anime at school for hours staring at someone I like...
other than that high school is really s**t, well for me anyway.

My friends, the teachers, I also enjoyed IT and kicking my sandals off and walking around barefoot

I personally can't say there's anything tangible about high school that I miss.

-So-called 'friends' that talk to you for a week or two then pretend you don't exist
-Teachers that are more interested in the antics of the jocks and the 'bad kids' than students who respect them, are well behaved and want to excel
-Gym classes that forced you into team sports with people who acted like they were in the World Series
-Pointless subjects that you're not going to use in your life...ever
-Teachers who think they have a right to speak to (and treat) students any way they wish because of their position of 'power'

While I do miss my guidance counselor, crisis counselor, and a handful of teachers, I can't say I liked high school overall, but some positives did come of it.

-It was a wake-up call to what society is like
-I'm still in contact with a friend who has become one of my best friends, and still friends going on ten years
-The people who were worthwhile (about two, three) in my life are still around in some sort of way, even if it's online
-It 'toughened' me up. I will say though I've been bullied a lot (and still reminded of those experiences at work and college), I've become stronger from it as a result. As an English major and writer it's given me good fodder for writing material

I live in Australia where high school is from Grade 7 to Grade 12. I went to the same high school for the entire experience.

Years 7 to 10 were pretty bad. I don't miss anything from those years, save for a few really good teachers. Years 11 and 12 were better. I was given more freedom over the subjects I got to do and if this hadn't been available, I would have dropped out.

My favourite part about Year 12 was my Photography class. Everybody in that class was friendly and we all got along really well. The teacher was also really nice and the creative aspect was great. Somebody always bought in music to play during class and I got to model for a few people. I don't have anything negative to say about that class. It was a community within itself.

I also had a teacher for Business Management in Year 12 who was not only very knowledgeable about the subject, but also very friendly and approachable. I really appreciated having her as a teacher.

I also had good teachers for English and Literature (seperate subjects).

I also did History which I love but my teacher put me to sleep with her boring lectures every lesson.

The greatest thing about high school, in my opinion, is that feeling one gets when one finally reaches the summit. It's getting an "A" on that exam that you were sure that you were going to fail. It's getting college credit in a course that happens to be your worse subject. It's finally looking back over all of the tears, all of the screams, all of the stabbed papers, the marks of self-injury, the sore hair follicles, and being able to say, "I made it."
High school is also a place of discovery. Sure, there's the obvious academic benefit of learning new material, but it is high school that taught me my undying passion and at least adequate aptitude for choir, that proved to me that I can connect with these bizarre creatures known as "humans," that some, if not many, of those creatures genuinely care and want the best for you, and that I have a greater capacity to pull through than I would have ever thought I had.
Sure, I am very deeply considering homeschooling, this school system may have contributed to some of my current psychological and I'll be extremely glad when I finally get this cacophony over with, but I can honestly say that my experience in high school has had its benefits.