- Did people find you attractive in school?
- I think so.
They're gonna watch this video and be like,
"Nah, he was ugly." (both laughing)
(low instrumental music)
- Hi, I'm John.
I teach 12th-graders primarily for the last 20 years.
- [Interviewer] What is a high school superlative?
- It's like the funniest
or most likely to do something, type thing.
They're often yearbook pages, if I understand.
- [Interviewer] What's the purpose
of the high school superlative?
- I don't know,
I think they actually should be cut from yearbooks.
I think they're problematic.
Sometimes I feel like they can overlap into stereotypes,
which is why I was a little hesitant to come today.
- [Interviewer] Okay, I'm gonna give you a list
of the superlatives now.
- So most spirited would be,
like, the student probably most involved in type of
the government system there,
they're often the ones trying to lead people in assemblies,
to dress up for dress up days, and things like that.
Also biggest brown-noser is probably the person
who really was probably most compliant.
Yeah, and I imagine that some of the backlash is from people
who also maybe sometimes envied some of the skills
that student would have,
and so that's kind of a way
of kind of putting that person in check.
Most Athletic, most likely to be Olympian,
some of the prominent athletes in a class or a school.
Most likely to be on the bachelor. (laughs)
Schools need to cut that one.
It's gonna get like a very narrow view of what beauty is
as told by mainstream media.
And then class clown.
Somebody who can bring a lot of funniness in the class.
I mean, Ken or Barbie Doll.
That is just gonna conjure up an image
of some kind of model-esque white cis person.
Most likely to be on reality TV.
I hope these don't really exist, I'm sure they do.
Biggest flirt, again. (chuckling)
It seems like a negative category,
because I don't know if anybody strives to become a flirt.
- [Interviewer] Gotcha, and let's bring our first person in.
- What's up?
- Hello. - Hello.
- I'm supposed to figure out
which category you are. - Yeah.
- How was your schooling experience?
- I fuckin' hated it.
- So that would, to me, say not most spirited.
- I mean, I was a cheerleader.
Like, I would mess up the dances and stuff.
- You liked to? - Yeah.
- To be subversive. - Yeah.
- Most likely to be on reality TV,
that's what I'm thinking
but I just want to say for the record,
that I think all these are crap.
(all laughing)
- Nice, that was good.
- Can you tell me about your education experience?
- Well, I did a lot of things, so I joined a lot of clubs.
I was really extra.
- Sounds pretty spirited.
- Yeah, you can say that.
I did come out in high school.
- Okay.
Were you a prominent dater?
- I did date, but no, I did not like, hoe, I guess.
- That's not how I would referred.
- Oh, (laughing) okay, so yeah, I understand.
- Did classmates find you funny?
- If I wasn't roasting them, yeah.
- I think my pick would have to be class clown,
is the one that I would have to pick
in this list of terrible options.
Hey there. - Hey.
- I'm gonna ask you some questions
about your educational experience
to try to see if I can pigeonhole you
to a list of very narrow categories
that a lot of silly schools offer.
Unless you really liked your designation,
in which case I didn't mean to insult you, but...
(man laughing)
How did you do in school?
- I did well in school, I graduated a year early.
- And did people resent that?
- I think so.
- So one of the ways they might have honored that resentment
is by this category, biggest brown-noser?
But I feel like you would be wonderful on the bachelor
and I don't... (man laughing)
- My ex-wife would disagree with that one,
but alright. (laughing)
- So I'm putting down biggest brown-noser.
- I can't breath, I can't breath.
- Hi.
- Can you tell me about your high school experience?
- I was cheer captain my senior year,
I did a lot of leadership.
I was an executive mentor for the incoming freshmen.
- Would you describe yourself as popular?
- I guess, I was like always that face
in front of the assembly.
- [John] Okay. - And, yeah.
- I feel like most spirited
although we did not necessarily get into flirting.
I feel like that would have come up.
So I guess I'm gonna go with most spirited.
So, can I hear about your experiences in school?
- High school kind of sucked.
- Did people find you attractive?
- I think so.
They're gonna watch this video and be like,
"Nah, he was ugly." (both laughing)
- I mean, you seem like many people
would find you attractive.
Now the question is like,
Ken doll or likely to be on the bachelor,
did you break a lot of hearts?
- I had three exes,
but I don't think I broke their heart.
- You just seem modest enough that you wouldn't
admit that if you did. (Jordan laughing)
- There's kind of these conventional
standards of beauty that you fit.
So I think that seems like a Ken doll,
again, this is silly, you're no doll?
But that Jordan, is the selection for that.
Thanks Jordan, sorry for that.
- Hi. - Hello.
- Can you tell me about your schooling experience?
- I was like a very quiet kid,
but at the same time, I'm the type to dance everywhere
and stuff like that.
- Quiet and dance, sports?
I'm asking 'cause I'm working with a few categories
that are left.
- Yeah, I ran track.
- Were you successful at track?
- Yeah, I went to state three years in a row.
- It sounds like you were an amazing track athlete
that would merit most athletic.
Alright, we're doing it, we're doing it.
How are you doing? - Yeah brother.
- Do you have a good time dating?
- Fairly shy when it came to girls,
but I was also sort of a ham.
- That ham thing to me seems, that says flirt
or I'm picking biggest flirt for you.
(man laughing)
- So I'm down to one category,
most likely to be on the bachelor.
- How do you feel about that?
- There could be worse things to be voted for, right?
- It seems to be a compliment enough
that you are supposed to be on TV
and everybody is looking at you all the time.
Were you known for being this coveted person to date?
- Maybe, I had two long-term boyfriends in high school.
- Okay.
My only option left is most likely to be on the bachelor.
- Cool, sounds good, thank you so much,
it was nice meeting you. - Thank you.
- All right.
- [Interviewer] How do you think you did?
- I don't know.
I think it's okay if you do get them wrong
because the categories are so problematic
and like we all grow and change
and we weren't necessarily our true selves in high school.
So, I feel like there's learning regardless
of how well I did.
- [Interviewer] That's very wise.
- Okay.
What...
Which one were you?
- Pretty spot on.
I got most likely to be on a reality show.
- Can I ask how you felt about that?
- I was happy.
You know, how could I be mad
when I'm getting in fights,
telling people I'm gonna cut them and stuff? (laughs)
- Maybe them calling you that did not let them reflect on
how they might've contributed
to how you felt about school.
(girl laughing)
- People did not see your inner brilliance
and brought that out in class. - I wasn't in class a lot.
- [Girl] I don't even know how I graduated.
- It sounds like a failure of the system
and that's being- - Yeah, oh yeah.
- I just wasn't- - Memorialized
by this terrible category.
(girl laughing)
- Hi. - Hi.
- So you got me right?
- I did? - Yeah.
- Okay. - And that's fun.
- What do you think about this?
'Cause I kept knocking this list the whole time.
- I consider myself kind of funny
but I don't think I'm full of jokes or anything.
that mean like, "Oh, I'm just gonna say that."
And then everyone's like, "LOL."
- Hi there.
- That was the biggest brown-noser
in my high school, you're right.
The reasoning was exactly right.
- Okay.
- Most of the kids I went to high school with
didn't respect that I was graduating early,
they couldn't figure it out.
And like I wasn't an ass kiss, so I was getting in fights,
I was drinking.
- It's it seems like a synonym for kiss ass.
- Yeah.
- It doesn't seem like you were that.
So, that was a tough one. - Thank you.
- [John] Thank you,
that was fun. - Have a good day John.
- So, was I right?
Most spirited? - No, you were wrong.
- Okay.
- I like how you were being like, super respectful,
thinking you would offend me with biggest flirt,
but I'm not offended by that.
- I confess that I might not know
kind of the connotations of being a flirt.
I feel like I have negative ones associated with them.
I don't know, like I don't flirt a lot.
- I don't think it's negative,
it's positive nowadays.
- Okay. - At least I hope so.
- I need to keep learning, thank you.
- Which one were are you?
The Ken?
Am I right?
- You were right. - Okay.
- There was a girl obsessed with my family and I,
and kind of campaign for me to win this one.
- Did that feel good?
- I know it was a little just
creepy and like, unsettling looking back on it.
- How did I do with the most athletic,
most likely being an Olympian.
- Yes it's right. - It's hard,
that was a hard one, 'cause you seem really modest
and I'll bet you just killed it, on the track.
It did fit? - Oh yeah, it did.
I did all, like the sports,
like when I was growing up, I played basketball, gymnastics,
I did softball.
I decided track was more of my sport
and that's what I was good at.
So, yeah.
- [John] That's awesome.
- (clapping) I think you're great.
- So, I realized I had messed up
and you just demonstrated why I messed up
- What? - and how it happened.
- Most spirited.
- (laughing) Yes, exactly.
Even though I got the most spirited award
and the annuals came out,
this guy comes up to me and he goes,
"Hey, I just want you to know
"that George actually got most spirited,
"but we wanted you to have it."
And then I was like, "Why would you even tell me that?"
So obviously, here we are 34 years later
and it still bugs me. (John laughing)
- Thank you (censored).
- Was I right?
- You were, yeah. - Okay.
Most likely to be a bachelor.
How did you feel about that?
- I don't think there are a lot of things
that align with me and other bachelor contestants,
but you know. (John laughing)
It had a lot to do with who I was dating at the time
because we were both voted
most likely to be bachelor and bachelorette.
- What do you think it says about the people who voted you?
- They probably think it would be entertaining.
I just need a lot of personal space, downtime.
I think I would probably go insane
after being in a house for maybe two days
with that many people.
- Got it, got it.
- Thanks, it was nice meeting you.
- Yeah, same here.
(drums playing)
- [Interviewer] How was that?
- I'm trying to figure out
what I'm supposed to learn from this.
I, again, like, I don't love these categories as I've said,
probably at nauseum now.
So, I don't know getting them right,
I don't know what that means.
- [Interviewer] Is there a version of this
that could be fun and interesting?
- Well, yeah.
I mean, categories that also honor your values
that are not about physical aesthetics
and things like that.
And there's probably awards
that might make people feel better
than some of these. - [Interviewer] Cool.
All right, thank you very much.
- Okay. (audience applauding)