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dippin · 07-18-2009, 09:05 PM

I didnt go to my 10 year reunion. As I was an exchange student, I only did my senior year at that school, and then I went back to my country (and then returned to the US for grad school, so distance wasn't an issue).

Im a geek as well, but I am lucky enough to have been a big geek (6'3, 200lbs), so no one abused me. And I even talked to quite a few of them, so that wasn't the reason.

The reason is that I have never seen a group of people so devoid of any intellectual curiosity, any independent thought, any diversity. They might as well be lemmings. It was a rural, all white, all protestant high school in Michigan (there are no problems in being rural, all white, all protestant... just trying to convey the level of homogeneity here). Graduation was basically a church service, and given the homogeneity no one complained that a public school spent so much time talking about jesus in an official ceremony. Just like no one complained that biology class consisted basically of creationism + the anatomical details of different livestock. Teachers for the most part had been students there, so there weren't any outsiders in positions of power to shake things up. And not that there was anything wrong with the deep religiousness of the people there, but even when it came to religion there was no curiosity whatsoever. None of the people I graduated with ever left the country, and most never left the state.

It wasn't a poverty thing either. The school was rich, only their priorities were different. 15 million dollars for a new football stadium, but no one cared about the internet. There was ONE ap class offered there, and it was math. When it came to the social sciences or the humanities, we had one year of US history (if we can call it that- it was mostly trivia from different wars... diagrams of battles, weapons, etc.), and one year of "government" (basically memorize all amendments). Computer science was basically "get a news article and go retype it."

No one asked me a thing about my country, and whenever I asked them anything about the US, the answer was always a non-answer ("it's always been like this," "it just is," etc.)

I remember when one kid went to Chicago and came back absolutely shocked that people called fountain drinks "soda" instead of "pop."

Most had kids and got married during or soon after high school (and I was even told "no one would ever date me, as I would go back and there would be no chance of a life together.") At one point there were 14 freshmen girls pregnant, and the closest thing to a friend there was a girls who was somewhat of an outcast because she was already divorced at 19 (with 2 kids).

I basically hung out with the German exchange students and kids from other schools, and did as many trips organized by the exchange student organization as I could. I went on classmates.com the other day and most of the people there are still living in the same area, married to each other, either living as a farmer or high school employee.

So it's not that I have bad memories, or that I hated everyone... I just didn't really care about them and probably already knew everything there was to know about their lives, so why travel across a few state lines for a what was going to be a minor event? It was just a dinner party at a local hall. since almost everyone lived locally and kept in touch anyways.

07-18-2009, 09:05 PM	#12 (permalink)
dippin Crazy, indeed Location: the ether	I didnt go to my 10 year reunion. As I was an exchange student, I only did my senior year at that school, and then I went back to my country (and then returned to the US for grad school, so distance wasn't an issue). Im a geek as well, but I am lucky enough to have been a big geek (6'3, 200lbs), so no one abused me. And I even talked to quite a few of them, so that wasn't the reason. The reason is that I have never seen a group of people so devoid of any intellectual curiosity, any independent thought, any diversity. They might as well be lemmings. It was a rural, all white, all protestant high school in Michigan (there are no problems in being rural, all white, all protestant... just trying to convey the level of homogeneity here). Graduation was basically a church service, and given the homogeneity no one complained that a public school spent so much time talking about jesus in an official ceremony. Just like no one complained that biology class consisted basically of creationism + the anatomical details of different livestock. Teachers for the most part had been students there, so there weren't any outsiders in positions of power to shake things up. And not that there was anything wrong with the deep religiousness of the people there, but even when it came to religion there was no curiosity whatsoever. None of the people I graduated with ever left the country, and most never left the state. It wasn't a poverty thing either. The school was rich, only their priorities were different. 15 million dollars for a new football stadium, but no one cared about the internet. There was ONE ap class offered there, and it was math. When it came to the social sciences or the humanities, we had one year of US history (if we can call it that- it was mostly trivia from different wars... diagrams of battles, weapons, etc.), and one year of "government" (basically memorize all amendments). Computer science was basically "get a news article and go retype it." No one asked me a thing about my country, and whenever I asked them anything about the US, the answer was always a non-answer ("it's always been like this," "it just is," etc.) I remember when one kid went to Chicago and came back absolutely shocked that people called fountain drinks "soda" instead of "pop." Most had kids and got married during or soon after high school (and I was even told "no one would ever date me, as I would go back and there would be no chance of a life together.") At one point there were 14 freshmen girls pregnant, and the closest thing to a friend there was a girls who was somewhat of an outcast because she was already divorced at 19 (with 2 kids). I basically hung out with the German exchange students and kids from other schools, and did as many trips organized by the exchange student organization as I could. I went on classmates.com the other day and most of the people there are still living in the same area, married to each other, either living as a farmer or high school employee. So it's not that I have bad memories, or that I hated everyone... I just didn't really care about them and probably already knew everything there was to know about their lives, so why travel across a few state lines for a what was going to be a minor event? It was just a dinner party at a local hall. since almost everyone lived locally and kept in touch anyways.