High school cliques, a term that can both reflect fond memories of friendships and shared experiences for those that belonged to a clique perceived to be a good one, or can instill thoughts of frustration and exclusion for anyone that might have felt let out. I hope anyone that reads this, especially my high school classmates will take it as intended, a fun look back at our high school years. When you get to the different groups I have indicated, I am sure some might identify with one or more groups and could see me as judging member of each, which I assure everyone is not the case. I had previously written about how I viewed myself socially back in high school ( you can read that one using the link right below this paragraph), but today's focus in more in general about high school cliques and a little tongue in cheek look at how I remember the cliques in high school. apparently-i-might-just-be-a-low-key-nerd-or-some-i-am-told.html Wanting to belong is a natural instinct, which is often heightened in the pressure-cooker that is high school. High school social groups have always existed and will always exist. If you remember high school as an occasionally awkward series of confrontations between groups of similar-grouping kids, this is a good sign that you...went to high school. Most high schools segregate by "type," whether it's age, class, ethnic background, choice of activities, academic achievement or a number of apparently measurable social factors that is essence can determine who fits, and who doesn't. Some schools are ruled by cliques that are as hardened as castes. Others don't have the same razor-sharp divisions between social groups and can seem to have nebulous lines between groups of teenagers that seem to have varying traits. How and why cliques might be ingrained in the culture of some schools and barely seem to form in others is related to many factors but often take hold in the very nature of how any high school is administered. In short, the natural instinct for teenagers to separate themselves into clusters and hierarchies is weakened when schools force kids to partner with peers they wouldn't otherwise want to be around to see first-hand the benefits of unlikely friendships. So what might these factors be ? What's behind the difference between schools, if the instinct to be around similar people is universal? In my opinion, it's not about the students nor the changing times from when I was a high school student in the late 70s and early 80s until today. No, in fact, it's about the schools, themselves. The way high schools are designed, their size, their level of diversity, and the way they treat students,etc, can either drive students to segregate based on things like household income and race and perceived social status or force them to build relationships that are more about their high school life than their backgrounds. Sometimes social cliques in high schools is simply an issue of students being anxious about finding meaningful relationships, and they respond by seeking out familiar peers who offer security, support, and protection. One might think that larger schools which might offer more choice and variety are the most likely to form hierarchies and cliques and self-segregation, whereas potential, in smaller schools, and in smaller classrooms, that simple reality might force people to interact, and therefore less hierarchical, less cliquish, and less self-segregated. School size isn’t the only factor that can affect cliques and hierarchies. Schools that group students by academics or create other ways to force kids with different backgrounds to cooperate (whether in clubs or on sports teams) may have a lesser likelihood to experience a structured development of social cliques. Something as simple as classrooms with assigned seating, can force students to sit next to and work with someone whom they wouldn’t otherwise interact, and that tends to break down the tendency to break into smaller social groups based on shared traits. Our preference for familiar people and ideas is deep-rooted, as are our anxieties about people who are different and our ambition for status within our community. But smaller schools, smaller classrooms, and forced interactions between students with different backgrounds make us different than big classes, big schools, and an unfettered freedom to pick friends by the first thing we can see about them. So what are these so called cliques. Let's start with the simple definition of "clique". A quick google search returns the follow; "a small group of people, with shared interests or other features in common, who spend time together and do not readily allow others to join them." This can change over time. If I use two films from different eras which claim to depict high school cliques of their times, you can see that although the names of the groups might chance, the reasoning remains the same. High school students of my generation ( or actually a little younger as I graduated in 1983 and film is from 1984) will all know the movie "Breakfast Club". The movie about a Saturday detention group share the viewpoints of 5 individuals representing 5 social groups " the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess and the criminal". Twenty years later, the film " Mean Girls" shared a modern take on high school life and had social groups with names like " Freshmen, JROTC guys, Preps, JV Jocks, Asian Nerds, Cool Asians, Varsity Jocks, Unfriendly Black Hotties, Girls Who Eat Their Feelings, Girls Who Don’t Eat Anything, Desperate Wannabes, Burnouts, Sexually Active Band Geeks and the Plastics, to name a few. In both cases, these are names taken directly from the film and in now way meant to offend. So what do I remember about my high school years and the cliques that existed ? I'd say that it was probably pretty close to what you might see from some of the movies depicted the topic of the times, Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Say Anything and even a little Dazed and Confused. Like each generation, there were some stereotypical social cliques with they stereotypical traits. The 1980s was a time of change so I will focus more on what I remember from the early 80s when things like rap and hip-hop didn't really hit while I was in high school. Let me start with the Over-Achievers ( some might also call these the brains of the class). This crowd was a somewhat smaller group than other cliques and were dedicated to academic excellence, teacher praise, and the average and honor role. They would sacrifice social lives for as many extracurricular activities as they could cram into their day. While they share some societal overlap with the Nerd clique, Over-Achievers tended to have at least some grasp of socialization and fashion sense. Since I bring it up, let's move onto the Nerds. This would be the social clique for teens lacking in confidence, athletics, and social skills but brimming with intellect and high grades. Although they would probably never even reach first base during high school, they would become the future leaders of society and probably evolved into strong individuals after high school. This group tended to gravitate towards all the new tech items ( remember it was the early 80s so things didn't change as quickly as they do today) and arcade games. Their socialization mainly consisted of getting together with other nerds and challenging each other in a intellectually stimulating games. My 3rd group would have some traits of the first two. The so-called Popular group. Members of this group consistently hung out with all the high-profile student specifically, Populars believed that being the center of any social circle was just as important as good grades. Whatever the Populars listened to or wore tended to reflect contemporary sensibilities and might set trends in the school. In same cases, some of this group might drift into tendencies seen within the nerds in terms of intellect and grades, display some social awkwardness but being part of this group allowed them to hide in a crowd. Every school during my high school years and to some extent since, will always have some version of the Jocks group. An entire clique notable for its incredible athletics and lacking academics. Jocks are constantly working out doing training sessions and often times seeing the team coach as a stand-in father figure. Jock musical tastes might be some variety of rock, metal or music common to workout routines. The smokers, stoners or rockers, an all inclusive group that was seen as some sort of fringe group. Imagine a long-haired guy or girl in a black leather jacket or jean jacket, and you have the basic physical representation of a card carrying member of this group. They are somewhat on the outside, generally found outside as often as possible having a smoke ( of something). This group was labelled mostly by their look and not by their social, athletic or academic skills. In fact I had classmates in this group who could excel in many of the other ones. The cheerleaders or popular girls were both a subset of the popular group but also seemingly partners of the jocks. They had a heightened sense of fashion and were often judged by their physically appearance before anything else. They might be perceived as being more concerned about their looks and not being if any substance, but again, this could be an error. Yes, some used their looks and appeal to get attention and for many of us males in some of the groups always seemed beyond our reach but they were always worth getting to know. As a friend always used to say, " the popular best looking girls are always single because most guys think they have no chance so now really tried.... " And finally, the so-called outcasts or losers. Generally someone who didn't dress like everyone else was dressing, and had a little fashion sense would easily fit into this group. This was the group with the most artistic inclinations, and tended to be the type of people who weren't real interested in going to a basement parties or school dances. This group usually remained low key and could almost go unnoticed. Unlike the the nerds, this group didn't require academic performance to be of high standards and devoid of a few exceptions they tended to fall into the middle of the road academically though. No one made the thought out decision to join this group but rather this social clique was where anyone went if they failed to fit into any of the other cliques. Perhaps downtrodden by years of being teased, this group was perceived as having no cool identifying characteristics, and they seemed to lack charisma. They tended to be shy, quiet, and lack social skills. I am sure anyone who reads this, can contradict some of my thoughts or come up with different variations. Truth is that I don't think anyone fit into any one group 100% but rather drifted towards the group where they fit they best fit. In some cases, some might have taken on personas in order to try and fit into a group where they might feel appreciated or at least comfortable. For me personally, if I think back to how I view myself, I can see myself fitting into a few of the groups above, even the so called less popular, and I can also remember working really hard to fit in. After all, isn't that the essence of high school, figuring out who you are and where you fit in. I don't think which high school clique we might have been in 35 years ago determines who we can be today or at any period of our adulthood, but it certainly laid a foundation. Comments and feedback always appreciated.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|