I was really excited to watch Freaks and Geeks in class this past week. Even though I have already seen that episode Sophomore year in Sophomore english, I was able to analyze it in a different way: a sociological perspective. Even though this is supposed to be a high school in the 80's, it really is funny how little things have changed. Even with all of the vast changes between the 1980's and now in the economy, politics, and culture, the behavior of teenagers in high schools have remained the same. The "nerds" still have crushes on the "popular Cheerleaders" and there's always the group of people that everyone thinks are the rebels.
I remember before I went to Stevenson and I was still in 8th grade, people told me that at Stevenson there really isn't just one "popular" group at Stevenson because of how many students there are. Although I would agree that the "popular" groups at smaller schools are slightly more distinctive than at Stevenson, there are most definitely still "popular" groups at our school too. There is still one group of guys, which, ironically, always seem to be the jocks even in a school of 4,500, and one group of girls, who are pretty and have nice clothes and expensive cars. However beyond that one group, which usually there is one group like that per grade whereas in a smaller school it might just be one group for the entire school, there are also "popular" people within other groups of friends. They aren't necessarily the jocks and the prettiest people but everyone within that group of friends knows them. I'm not sure if I'm making this make sense, but my point is that even in a school of 4,500, there will always be the popular group, the nerds, the athletes, the stoners, and the lists go on forever. I honestly don't think these distinctions will ever go away from high school students.
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5 comments:
I totally agree, I went to a school with a graduating class of 80 and while the grouping has significantly decreased there is no way to deny where and who the "popular" crowd is. I think one distinction is that as we mature we begin to care less and stay with the friends we made and think that our group is the BEST anyway! =]
Cool post. I agree with fashionista, I think you start to care less. But I also think that at our school there might numerous "popular" groups, or at least the popular group is harder to define because our school is so large.
I agree. I enjoyed the movie and it really helped me look at things in a different perspective. High school is a perfect representation of how our society is sociologically sculpted.
Clicks and groups will never go away no matter how hard we try. And I heard the same exact thing before coming to Stevenson that there weren't popular kids and groups like that because of its size. However, it turns out it still exists. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, I think, because as long as you have a good group of friends to have fun with it shouldn't matter who is or isn't considered "popular".
I agree with you. I don't think popularity is as common here in its usual meaning, and I think some people are more well known than others, whether its because they play sports or are in musicals, or even just on the announcements. I think it's more important to focus on who your friends are and having fun than popularity.
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