I have been in social situations where people claimed bullying in school made you stronger. Those people were ALWAYS in the jock and normal sets. Other people who were smaller, or had any interests outside the mainstream, they always said high-school was miserable.
Yep. If you were different or vulnerable you were a target. That was true when I was in grade/high school and I'm sure that it's true now.
Yes and no.
I agree with your general assessment.
Actually, high school for me was great. It was PRIOR that was torture. I was too “ugly”, not to mention tall and not a normal girl.
I guess my wonderful family, and a couple good neighbor friends, helped me through. By high school, I thought “hell with them if they don’t like me”, and had a great time MAKING friends because I wasn’t so hung up on not being poked at. No longer really inhibited or intimidated. And yes, I befriended the “little funny” people, too, as well as hipper people. But really was never friends with the popular people.