After years of singing “Bop to the Top” and watching Disney Channel, it can be easy to paint a picture of what high school is like. However, the media tends to make that picture very wrong.

When entering high school, many students have this idea that it is going to be exactly like the movies or television shows they have watched. To these students’ surprise, raging parties, food fights and spontaneously breaking out into song and dance do not occur as commonly as one would think. After gathering results from a survey conducted by the Ruff Draft, it seems the majority of students that were surveyed at Edmond Memorial High School (EMHS) believe that high school is much different from what the media portrays.

Senior Laurie Cromer thinks most media about high school leans too far into stereotypes, along with other inaccuracies.

“You have your popular kids, and it’s very stereotypical and cliché whereas in actual high school nobody cares,” Cromer said.

Similar to Cromer, senior Andy Hughes believes high school is not represented well in the media, particularly in the aspect of social life. While it is common in TV shows and movies to hang around lockers or for a group of misfits to come together during detention, it is very rare in the real world. In fact, the student body at EMHS doesn’t have access to lockers, and Saturday detention is a thing of the past.

Junior Katiera Toahty and senior Christian Dinwiddie agree that the media usually reflects high school inaccurately. The same movie came to mind as a perfect example of this for both of them.

“High School Musical,” Dinwiddie said. “I remember it being all fun and games, it’s not really like that.”

Some students view other movies including the Netflix Original, “Tall Girl,” as too dramatized and cliquey. Although, results from the survey conclude that Edmond Memorial Bulldogs do have their fair share of students that are popular due to their sport. According to student responses, Pom, Cheer and Football bring students the most popularity, just by being involved in the sports.

While a large proportion of Bulldogs don’t think high school is well depicted in the media, some students like junior Yassiel Northcutt see some accurate representations that the shows portray.

“There are random events that happen in school that make it so the movies do portray some part of it,” Northcutt said. “‘American Pie’ is a good example because it shows that kids are willing to be outgoing.”

It is very rare for any movie or TV show to portray high school the way real students view it, which is why students believe it is important to take them with a grain of salt. While the media does provide entertainment, it also tends to over-dramatize at least one subject. Whether it be the cliques or choreographed dances, “High School Musical” and similar media are completely different from day-to-day high school.

Contact Hailey Paddock and Kelsi Seltenreich at [email protected]