The last five years of my life have been spent at an all guys’ school. The way guys act when there’s no one else around for that long really is different then what others see. The whole “in” group “out” group thing really shows here.

The language used amongst a group of male, 16 year olds with no adult supervision is slightly different then the one used by that group to figures of authority. If you were different then you were made fun of. You wore what everyone else wore. You did what they did. You spoke how they spoke. The new kids quickly learned to act a certain way to become “popular”.
I made a small group of close friends that I hung out with. One of them was a bridge between us and the “popular” kids that kept them from picking on us much. I made sure to have a few people around most of the time. I tried to keep aware of what was going on around me as much as possible, which helped to keep me out of trouble, and avoid the troublemakers. Last year, not paying attention turned out poorly. I didn’t make that mistake again.
Going to that school shaped a lot of my current habits and actions.