Cliques are small groups of between two and twelve people most of the time. Cliques are mall enough that the members feel that they know each other better than do people outside the clique. Members of a clique share common activities and friendships. They are social settings in which adolescents “hang out”, talk to each other, and form closer friendships. Groups of friends, called cliques can be important for social upgrading, but in most cases the enormous power and effects of these cliques can create alienation, exclusion, and destructive results. In my high school, as well as every other high school in America there are social groups of individuals, called cliques , that effect every individual whether they are an insider or an outsider. Generally there are the cool cliques , the athletic cliques, the punk (goth, freak) clique, the surfer clique, the smart clique, and the average clique. Almost everyone finds their place in one of these cliques, but there are always a few outsiders who go through high school never knowing where they belong. These are the people who are constantly ridiculed, picked on , and talked about day in and day out. The effects can be devastating, even deadly. In Littleton, Colorado two outcast teenagers came into school one day and began shooting, targeting the athletes and other students who had made their lives awful by ridiculing them constantly. “Seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed their suburban Denver school with guns and bombs on April 20 1999, killing 12 students and a teacher before taking their own lives.” Augustana University education professor Larry Brendtro explained “kids who feel powerless and rejected are capable of doing horrible things.” A high school student, Jason Sanchez understands why the two outsiders snapped by saying “If you go to school, and you don’t have friends, it drives you to insanity.” So what do these lonely outcast kids do if everyone rejects them? Roger Rosenblatt discusses in his article, “Welcome to the Works of the Trench Coat”, how kids will “discover self-worth by hating an enemy.” The kids of Columbine for example “look alike; they conceal differences. People who are attracted to clans and cults seek to lose their individuality and discover power and pride in a group.
April 20th, 1999, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, experienced a mass shooting. Thirteen people were injured and more than twenty were injured. Twelve were students and one was a teacher. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their high school for forty one minutes before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide. School shootings are notorious for making headline news but in 1999, school shooting were not as prevalent as they are in the present day. The media blew up on the catastrophe that was Columbine and many questions were raised, who were these kids and why did they do this? Speculation arose about why they did it. Maybe they were bullied for being goth and social outcasts or maybe they
The Columbine Shootings were one of the greatest tragedies that the nineties faced; and changed the world that was once known. The fault for this tragedy falls on popular culture, moral climate, and the parents of the shooters; not the shooters themselves. Society has greatly affected the minds of the youth, and viewing violence on television, video games, and on the internet, has planted a negative seed of thought in their minds.
In conclusion, School Violence is a widespread issue that must be addressed. School shootings and bullying are some of the biggest issues in today’s school system. Many times the seed of the issue begins with bullying and ends with consequences like suicide and school shootings. They affect people as early as elementary school all the way to the college level, some even ending with death. Only together can we stop school violence if we take a stand and change the world.
Even since the shooting at Columbine High School caught the attention of America and all the world on April 20, 1999, high school shootings and other forms of violence at schools has been plaguing America during the last ten years. It is also found that most of the violence that occurs in high schools is caused by young men. Students aren’t feeling safe at school anymore and parents are enraged that students could bring the weapons to school in the first place. Many people have brought their own opinions into play about why violence in schools occurs. Such causes range from violence in the media, being treated poorly by peers and administrators in school, all the way to poor parental decisions. Although these are only a few of the possible causes for violence in schools, they are defiantly the most prevalent reasons.
This text shaped my understanding of sociology because I was able to see how much power society, specifically the majority, can have over an individual because it seems to be the easiest course of action. This concept is known as social conformity. The article Opinions and Social Pressure took the time to convey how the minds of the majority and the minority work, and provides insight on how social conformity shapes our everyday experiences.
Imagine being alone with no friends and no one to talk to. Now, place yourself in a location where you are surrounded by closed tight-knit groups where acceptance from those groups is a challenge to obtain. Then, picture yourself back when you were in high school, but this time, apply the image you have created for yourself. Do you wish for acceptance? Or friendship? Do you feel confident in taking the challenges that high school will bring? High school has a significant impact on an individual’s development. Whether it is their personality or behavior, an individual who goes through high school can see changes in their characteristics. A common stereotype in high school that is largely portrayed in the media is the existence of cliques. Cliques can give an individual a sense of belonging or a sense of betrayal. These two behaviors are commonly seen with the acceptance or rejection from these groups. An immediate result from these two actions is a change in morale or confidence for that individual. Cliques exist in high school due to individual conformity. An individual conforms to the group in order to feel accepted or to feel secured. Groups or cliques in high school have a significant negative effect on an individual’s development of characteristic and personality and the reasons as to why individuals join these types are not justified.
School shootings and suicides result from continuous bullying. As a result, after time some side effects of...
Societies that esteem social conformity view defiance as a by-product of insolence rather than an act of courage. Isolation of individuals that do not abide by the set restrictions is another common characteristic of systems that encourage mob mentalities. As a result, in order to be accepted by peers, individuals often have to function based on societal expectations. Some consider pursuing their own opinions and ideas against the social norms. This often garners backlash and hostilities from other members of society, ranging from physical and verbal abuse to denial of individual’s competence and sanity to complete alienation from society. Although some people are able to champion their freedom of expression and right to opinions over the need
Bullying, often dismissed as a normal part of growing up, is a real problem in our nation's schools, according to the National School Safety Center. One out of every four schoolchildren endures taunting, teasing, pushing, and shoving daily from schoolyard bullies. More than 43 percent of middle- and high-school students avoid using school bathrooms for fear of being harassed or assaulted. Old-fashioned schoolyard hazing has escalated to instances of extortion, emotional terrorism, and kids toting guns to school. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of all incidents of school violence begin with verbal conflicts, w...
My high school was like any other, and within its walls, you could find the standard division of teen culture played out in three main categories: the popular kids, the nerds & the metal heads. Though the names of each clique may change from one generation to the next, the roles remain the same. On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold made history when they beseiged their high school in the deadliest massacre ever recorded in United States history for an American high school. In the aftermath of Columbine, the writings and videos left behind by the shooters made it clear that they were enraged by the low-level position imposed on them by the upper echelon of their classmates. With limited supervision in our public schools, kids are virtually free to create their own class society. This system of division is the epitome of savagery, creating a "survival of the fittest" atmosphere.
School shootings have been a crime for quite some time, in the past three years they have unfortunately become a more common issue. On April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, a school shooting occurred (“Columbine”). This shooting was done by two teens who attended Columbine. The teens’ reasoning behind committing such crime is due to the fact that they were bullied by students of Columbine High School. This was a very tragic event for Columbine High School. With 13 people killed and 20 wounded, it left a mark on the community. After the two teens went about this shooting, they committed suicide. School shootings are a very serious matter, and for years following shootings like Columbine, the atmosphere of the school, as well as the community, is damaged. The Columbine High School shooting is labeled the worst shooting in United States History (“Columbine”). Schools never fully mend from tragic events like school shootings; however, there is more prevention that can be done to reduce the chances of school shootings happening.
As preteens and teens push for increasing independence from their parents, they tend to turn to their peers for guidance, acceptance, and security. For those who are low in self-esteem and confidence, their safety lies in fitting in and having a place to belong. Most people find a group in which they connect with in a healthy way while others make their way in cliques that give them security but at the price of their own values and individuality. The movie Mean Girls portrays how high school female social cliques operate and the effect they can have on girls. I will argue how if one doesn’t have a strong sense of self-identity, the opinions of others will become their identity.
Human beings are defined as ''social animals'' because in every aspects of life they live together, they form a variety of groups and improve relationships with each other. Interaction with others is a natural result of living in society. In the process of interaction, society and its rules has a social impact on each individual. If people face with any kind of social impact such as group pressure, great part of them show conformity by changing their behaviors, ideas, decisions in expected way. A person conforms if he or she chooses a course of action that a majority favors or that is socially acceptable. Some kind of conformity is natural and socially healthy but obeying all the norms, ideas, and decisions without thinking or accepting is harmful for the society and its democratic norms....
On April 20, 1999 Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on Columbine Highschool killing twelve fellow classmates and one teacher. School violence changes our youths morals. From bullying to peer pressure, youth are exposed to school violence everyday. What is school violence? School violence varies from accounts of “death, homicide, suicide, weapon related violence, in the US.” (c1) School violence can occur to and from school, while attending a school sponsored event, on a bus, or at an activity.
teens are pressured to fit in with others to be considered “popular”, but this ends up making their