John’s Blog

High School Confidential, by Jeremy Iversen

I was pretty excited to read this book — it just showed up near me at my house one day (Kathy had ordered it on the recommendation of her dad). It’s a non-fiction account of a 25 year old Stanford grad posing for a whole year as a high school senior in Southern California. It’s a fine book, but I think the idea is a little better than the execution (sort of like “Heroes” on NBC). Lots of party drugs, steroids & hooking up. Not quite like my own high school experience, but close enough to what I imagine it’s like today. Punch line seems to be that high school’s tough & full of drama, educators are winging it a little bit in an environment of too-much-influence by school districts and politicians, and lots of things happen for lots of random reasons.

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Lori 1 year ago 1 point
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Have you read Fast Times At Ridgemont High? Before it was a movie, it was a book -- Cameron Crowe, I believe it was, had this idea before Iversen did. The book was out of print when I tried to buy a copy for a friend in the late 80s, but you might be able to find it at the library. (I ended up lending my copy to that same friend, and as I feared would happen, I never got it back.) I imagine much has changed since 1981 or 82 (when Fast Times was written), but it was an excellent and revealing read.

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John Lilly 1 year ago 1 point
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i haven't read it -- i should take a look. i forgot to mention that iversen mentioned it in the preface -- that this was sort of an homage to crow. thanks for reminding me!

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Emma 1 year ago 1 point
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Let me just say this, i attend the school that Jeremy Iversen went undercover to. My brother was a sophomore when he was there, and he was one of the first people to find out about the whole hoax. I've begun reading the book and i am disgusted. He makes our school out to be ridiculous, and a joke. He took occurrences and people and manipulated them. I understand it's literature, and has no reflection on my school directly, thanks to the changing of the name and school colors, but it hurts to think of my own school when i read that book. i can identify people as they are described, and i can remember events, and he does no or little justice to the true story.

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