> > But it was also a very reasonable school environment. Cheerleaders > and football players were in my advanced math classes. Members of the > "Hiliners" dance line (tended to perform at athletic events) also > played in the school orchestra. Physical violence was almost unheard > of, and when it did turn up it tended to be between kids in the "hood" > social group, not between than and somebody from another group. > > There were cetainly "cliques", in the sense that people tended to hang > around with who they tended to hang around with, but they weren't that > hostile, and they didn't follow the obvious social / political lines. It's interesting how things have changed - depressing, really. You had a fairly benign HS experience in the late 60s - I wonder if it was typical? I had a moderately stressful one in the early 80s in the booming little city of Calgary (~500,000) - I think it was fairly typical, plus or minus N degrees of coolness. I was a private tutor in the late 90s in Vancouver, BC, and some of the senior HS kids would talk about having to have "backup" or they might get tooled. These were kids from upper middle class+ families.