High school isn't a very important place. When you're going you think it's a big deal, but when it's over nobody really thinks it was great unless they're beered up.

King’s remark deflates the outsized importance adolescents often assign to high school—its hierarchies, dramas, and social stakes—by contrasting that intensity with adult hindsight. The line suggests that high school’s “importance” is largely a product of proximity: when you’re inside it, it feels like the whole world; once you leave, it shrinks to a brief, often awkward chapter. The jab about people praising it only when “beered up” implies nostalgia can be chemically or socially induced—more a ritual of reunion and alcohol than a clear-eyed assessment. Overall, the quote critiques status anxiety and encourages a longer view of identity beyond teenage social ecosystems.