We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the high school tropes they are tired of seeing in TV shows/movies, and they did not let us down! Here are some of the best responses.
Note: Some submissions include drug abuse and pedophilia.
1. Cheerleaders always being the mean girls.
2. The token lesbian couple with a mean skinny white girl and a nice skinny Black girl.
3. The only colleges that seem to matter are the Ivy League schools.
4. And somehow mediocre students are getting into top schools like Harvard and Stanford.
5. The "designated ugly fat friend" trope.
6. The overuse of love triangles.
7. The sassy Black best friend trope.
8. The normalization and romanticization of forbidden teacher-student relationships.
9. Prom being this huge, fun party where everyone falls in love and enjoys themselves.
10. Teens having ample time to solve mysteries, party, and avoid doing homework, even though they're supposedly in school from 8 a.m.–3 p.m.
11. The curly-haired girls always being portrayed as "ugly."
12. High school coming off as super cliquey.
13. The characters are always consumed by romance and dating.
14. There is always a non-American kid who has a thick accent and is fascinated with the "American lifestyle."
15. Every female student being well dressed with a face full of makeup and their hair perfectly styled all the time.
16. The "I'm not like other girls" trope.
17. Whenever the main character's sibling — who has never been mentioned before — comes in for one episode to cause trouble or date another main character.
18. The "what could have happened if" or dream sequence episodes.
19. People are always being stuffed into lockers and given wedgies.
20. The gay best friend trope.
21. Teens feeling the need to "lose their virginity" as soon as possible.
22. Teens never have time to sit down and eat breakfast.
23. Or, the total opposite, where every teen somehow has time to get coffee before school.
24. The girl who has glasses is "ugly," and later on, her friend gives her a makeover where they style her hair and take off her glasses.
25. The obsession with becoming the prom queen.
26. Every high school on TV has a seemingly unlimited budget for extracurriculars and activities.
27. Incredibly buff and muscular adults playing teenage boys in almost every teen drama.
28. And finally, having literal children handle huge and dangerous situations on their own.
Are there any tropes/clichés that you are tired of seeing in high school TV/movies that didn't make this list? Feel free to drop them in the comments below!
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.