The 2006 hit High School Musical stars Zac Efron as Troy Bolton, and Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez, in their attempts to balance school, sports, theater and love. Some may say the plot and overall themes of the movie are unrealistic, but that is simply not true.

Real-life high school is just like High School Musical in many ways, such as basketball. That’s right, basketball is a thing. Now, it can’t be said whether basketball captains usually have breakdowns in the middle of practice and burst into song, but it could happen.

Another way real-life high school is like High School Musical is the theater department. The CHS and LHS drama departments put on musicals every year. Within these groups, they also have a hard time getting a good amount of guys to participate in their shows.

High school is the peak time for romance. Many people tell you not to date until after high school, which is probably good advice, but relationships do not get more dramatic than when they are in high school. These movies represent high schoolers’ relationships where they almost end because of miscommunications. Teenagers are so emotional and irrational that high school relationships rarely last; when they do, they aren’t that great. Most teenagers don’t understand how to set up and respect.
boundaries, causing a relationship to be doomed from the start.

The second HSM movie also shows how hard it is for some people to be happy for their friends. Troy is given opportunities for basketball scholarships through Sharpay’s parents, and he gives all of his friends jobs. But when he takes up these opportunities to advance his career, his friends act like he is some terrible person who is losing touch with himself. His girlfriend dumps him because of it. Bad friends alert! Troy isn’t acting differently because he doesn’t care about his friends; he wants to impress Sharpay’s dad to — once again — advance his career.

Teachers hate cell phones, that’s a known fact. And you know which movie features teachers hating on high schoolers and their phones? High School Musical. In one scene Troy is simply checking his phone for a second, and of course, the teacher has to confiscate his phone immediately. Blasphemy.

Real-life high school is just like High School Musical in many ways. Without this perfect representation of high school, where everyone definitely does break out in song, many students would not know what to expect in high school. And like the movie says, “We’re all in this together!”