Most of today’s adults enjoyed their time in high school, but wish they had made better academic use of those years, according to a survey of Americans age 18 or older.
More information on the poll, High School: Worst of Times or Best of Times,” is available from the Gallup Organization.
The telephone poll of a random sample of 1,000 adults nationwide—conducted by the Princeton, N.J.-based Gallup organization—found that 54 percent said they had a “great time” in high school, and 7 percent went so far as to describe their high school years as “the best time” of their lives. By comparison, 35 percent described their high school years as a “so-so time,” and just 4 percent recalled them as “the worst years” of their lives.
The adults polled expressed regret over not having pushed themselves more academically while in high school. Sixty percent of those surveyed said they wished they had focused more on grades in school, while only 16 percent indicated they wished they had devoted more time to “partying and having a good time.”
