John Hughes was not a great filmmaker. He tended toward too many mug shots and melodramatic scenes, and did give the world the Macauly Caulkin's facial grasp. But when he was on, he did more to relate to high schoolers in the mid-80s than anyone else. He cast kids to play kids, and spent at least some effort to make them sound like kids. He also trended towards romanticized and cliched ideas of high school cliques and worked too hard to make outcasts the hero in any script.
That said, he gave us Bluto Blutarsky's speech in Animal House. He gave us Clark Griswold's "quest for fun!" He gave us Mary Stuart Masterson in a chauffeur's cap and diamond earrings.  And if you couldn't smile at the sight of Molly Ringwald and whoever the actor playing Jake sitting crosslegged on the table at the end of "Sixteen Candles," ... I can't even come up with a metaphor. 
This isn't doing any of the things he did justice. So I'll just end it like Ferris did " Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." 
Not a bad sentiment.