The Real World response

The "real world" to me means something different for everyone. It could be your life in school, your life in marriage, in a career, anything that is in your life is your real world. I do not get why people tell high school students that we are getting prepared for the "real world". Then what are we living in now? Is homework responsibility, relationships, peer-presure, and other high school problems and success that we indure in high school not the real world? If not then what is?