Undercover High

[Judge]

A new reality tv series on A&E.

It's about seven adults (twenty-somethings) who go into a high school in Topeka Kansas to pretend they're high school students. In a number of circumstances it didn't seem all that different than when I went to school.

However.

There was one thing that drastically seems to permeate the entire equation. -Electronic social media. Which is completely pervasive among the students even during class time. And the cruelty and disrespect of people communicating online relative to the same kids they may sit right next to in class....unbelievable. And it would seem most of the groups of kids fell across racial lines when socializing outside of class.

For someone on the spectrum I'm afraid such an environment could have well been fatal for me. I'm glad I missed social media. However in high school I pretty much missed out on anything social anyways, but it wasn't quite this toxic looking.

Though I have no idea as to how typical or atypical this particular school actually stands compared to other schools. I almost wonder if why this school allowed such a production was more of a cry for help more than anything else. Surely this wasn't the publicity they were looking for given what the school district's taxpayers must be thinking.

Undercover High Full Episodes, Video & More | A&E

 

[Beguiling Orbit]

If you somehow could travel back in time to high school knowing what you know now but being in your high school body (a la Peggy Sue Got Married) would you give it a try? I'm assuming you didn't know back then that you were on the spectrum. In this experiment, you would know.

 

[Beguiling Orbit]

I agree that being in high school now would be a disaster for me, even if I could somehow pull it off. I'd probably get shanked during the first 10 minutes.

 

[Crossbreed]

My 19yo (possibly Aspie) has no interest in being on social media 24/7. He checks into Facebook every so often on his computer at school to keep up with family. He agrees with my strategy about using just a flip-phone to keep his cell costs down for now.

His brothers give him a hard time for that, but he notices that they really struggle to make ends meet (more than he does).

 

[OlLiE]

in some countries kids are not allowed to bring a phone into the school

smart people

progress is not always improvement

 

[Judge]

It's a wonder any of those kids have any time to absorb whatever lessons are going on in class.

Unbelievable.

 

[Crossbreed]

...because I didn't have such things.

Even now, I have no desire for a smart phone. (Their line subscription is more expensive than that of a flip phone.) I understand them. I won a (wifi-only) iPad2 years ago, but I don't think that I would ever buy one on purpose.

And I understand that flip phones will eventually be phased out. But I just need a phone to be a phone.

 

[Progster]

I have a smartphone, but I don't connect to the internet with it. I use it mainly for emergencies. I really dislike the phone service providers and their underhand tactics and manipulation, they are really no better that money-grabbing crooks in my opinion. I aim to have as little to do with them as possible.

 

[Judge]

I have a smartphone, but I don't connect to the internet with it. I use it mainly for emergencies. I really dislike the phone service providers and their underhand tactics and manipulation, they are really no better that money-grabbing crooks in my opinion. I aim to have as little to do with them as possible.

Sadly I think it's fair to have to add the manufacturers of mobile devices to that list as well.

Somehow I find it difficult to believe Apple was really wanting to conserve battery power in older iPhones by throttling them. Though with the youth demographic I'm assuming they're the first ones to go out and buy the latest updated mobile phones.

Looks like Samsung and Google will be hard-pressed to consider this now. Or get caught later like Apple.

 

[Judge]

Still watching the show.

The negative manner in which the students use social media remains astounding.

Strike that. "Disturbing" remains a better adjective. So glad I didn't go to school in this era.

And yet I have no reason to believe these students stand out any differently from so many others across the nation. Very sad.

And apparently one of the students just figured out about the undercover students, and is sending it through online media so everyone is learning very fast. Busted.