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Comment by rektide | Hacker News Reader

Being with mostly the same 20-750 kids (depending on school size) in your grade for most of your growing up seems cruel. You're going to change a lot, but the social dynamics can only evolve so much. The lack of ability to reinvent yourself, to re-find place is starkly different than the rest of the world, where that activity & the newness of other people is perpetual.

I've been so thankful that at my high school there was a great open lunch, & quite a few areas where different school grades mixed together. I got access to a diverse range of smart & creative folk.

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> Being with mostly the same 20-750 kids (depending on school size) in your grade for most of your growing up seems cruel. You're going to change a lot, but the social dynamics can only evolve so much. The lack of ability to reinvent yourself, to re-find place is starkly different than the rest of the world, where that activity & the newness of other people is perpetual.

It is also cruel to do the opposite, perhaps more cruel.

Honestly, I think "reinvention" is overvalued/oversold in contemporary culture, and I'd reckon most kids (and adults) would be better served by maintaining their existing friendships and social patterns instead of forcing a change for change's sake.

I don't think it was that long ago that communities of humans were quite small, and the number of peers your age around you would easily fall into the 20-750 range.

Those communities did still suffer from the social ills being described. Personally I agree, having the freedom to 'reset' my group of peers every 3-4 years through to uni ended up being pretty valuable in making me a better, more open minded and more creative person than I might've been otherwise.

In the UK, you attend highscool between 11-16 with it being common to then spend 16-18 at what we call sixth-form at the same school.

This is just an additional two grades surrounded by the same kids and teachers.

Luckily for me, my highschool has no sixth-form. Therefore I went to a dedicated sixth-form college. A large college of 2000 students over two year groups.

I really enjoyed this time. I shedded all associations except for my closest friends and made new friend circles. It refined my character. And when I started university, the whole process was much easier.

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