The more I read about the high percentage of those who hated high school the more surprised I am.

Ongoing surveys by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence found through the years that around 75% had a negative views of their high school days.

One survey confirmed many respondents found their high school years to be a stressful experience.

What? No “Happy Days”?

When I write a column that calls for the opinion of others, I like to do snapshot interviews with those around me before I write the column.

I started this column mentioning so many people told me they didn’t find high school to be an easy, breezy experience. That was so counter to my own high school experience, which would fit in with the “Happy Days” television show.

I was surprised at the negative high school stories I heard when I questioned students who appeared to have it all together. Instead, some told of their own emotional struggles in high school.

It made sense only when I realized those who went to high school in the 1950s and ’60s were the ones who most said they found their high school experience to be fun. After that the word “fun” wasn’t mentioned.

And that is exactly the time frame in which creator Garry Marshall wrote about for his TV show “Happy Days.”

“Happy Days” spun off one of my favorite shows, “Mork & Mindy.” I thought any show that featured Robin Williams had to be superb.

Well, I digressed from my topic of enjoying high school. I couldn’t help it when I thought about what I called “the good old days” of television when I actually had belly laughs at a funny show.

Here’s a question for you. Do you ever talk with high school kids today who say how much they enjoy their high school experience.

While I never belly laughed in high school, I never found it to be stressful, with the exception of algebra class. I was sure someone fiddled with the clock in that room because it moved so slowly.

One of the strange things about my high school days is that I remember the placement of every seat in all my classes. To this day I can recall who sat where.

Yet today I can’t remember what I was supposed to get at the store if I don’t write it down.

Today, I wish it were as easy making friends as it was back in high school. All we had to do in high school was strike up a conversation with someone and we were soon making plans to meet and socialize.

Our high school had four feeder schools. While kids came from different feeder schools it didn’t take long to soon know all 165 of the students. We formed quick friendships, and I had close friends from throughout the area. We walked everywhere and were always together. I honestly thought we would be friends forever. But I learned friends drift away after graduation when we go our separate ways.

I can’t think of a day in high school that I hated except one: the very last day of high school.

I was the absolutely the last person to clean out my locker and leave the school. To tell the truth, I didn’t want to leave high school because I had no idea what came next.

Some of my friends knew they would be leaving shorty for college. That was my goal, too, but the harsh reality was I had no money for college. I had won an academic scholarship for tuition only at Susquehanna University but I had no money for room and board.

Back then no one in my family had ever gone to college and they couldn’t understand why I was so hell bent on going to school.

I kept thinking I would get there some day. And I did. But that last day of high school I was clueless as to what my future would be.

My practical mother had no such worries. She said I would get a job like everyone else in the family.

The day after graduation she sent me to apply for a job as a dental assistant. The waiting room was filled with would-be applicants who wanted the job. I didn’t. But the dentist picked me so I had to take it.

This is what I learned at that job: No work experience is ever wasted. We can learn so much on any job.

The dentist said he wanted me to stay, but I was thrilled when I got hired as a reporter for our local newspaper. I was finally on my way to the journalist career I wanted.

The degree came much later, but by then it was just icing on the cake.

It took awhile to get there but I cherished every step of the way.

All of life is a learning experience. And sometimes looking back at the past is also a teaching tool.

What do you remember from your high school years?

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcast.net