Friday, Mar. 07, 2008

New show about high school can change perceptions

By Pete Kowalski

Teen Scene Writer

There is nothing in this world harder than being a high school girl. It may sound odd for a high school boy to say that, especially one that has no grasp of subtlety, but after watching “High School Confidential,” I must admit my eyes were opened. It was easiest to see that the girls just sat in class, and after school, they just kind of vanished until the next morning.

Such is not the case. As documented by this series, girls have to deal with pressures I could not have even considered. The school day for a boy is to show up, play a sport, muster the courage to ask out the girl, go to practice, and then go hang out with friends. The school day for a girl is to wake up at least 15 minutes before boys, apply layers of makeup, show up to school, flirt with the guy in class hoping he will muster up the courage to ask you out, eat your lunch while worrying about your weight, then go to your own practice, deal with whatever drama arises at that practice, then go home, hang out with friends, and then talk on the phone with other friends about the cute guy you just saw.

It is plain to see that girls have a lot more to worry about than boys do, and it is all shown in this hour-long documentary series on the Women’s Entertainment Network. It chronicles the life of 12 girls throughout the four years of high school.

They deal with pressures such as drugs, alcohol, sex and pregnancy, divorce, death, anorexia, depression, and in one dramatic instance, a brain tumor. It shows exactly how hard things are for today’s teens, and as one mother interviewed on the show said, “We just didn’t deal with that stuff when I was in high school.”

I would recommend this series for not only high school girls, middle-schoolers entering high school next year, parents of girls, and even guys who are looking for a deeper understanding of why girls are so different than they are. The series premieres Monday at 9 p.m., on the WE network and continues Mondays through April.