The Effect of Cliques on High School Students

The Effect of Cliques on High School Students

Most college freshman can still vividly remember their high school days. These days included ruling the school as seniors, or running from the seniors as lowly ninth graders. These days included having lunch with friends, and gossiping in the hallways between classes. Whatever was done, it was usually done with a friend or a group of friends. Most of these groups can be considered cliques.

Cliques are groups where there is some kind of common factor among all members, whether everyone is a cheerleader, or everyone is in the chess club. These cliques have their own unique way of doing things: their own table to sit at during lunch, their own desks in a classroom, and their own parking places in the lot. Most cliques also have another group of people that they look down upon: the cheerleaders don’t like the chess club, and the band members don’t like the FFA (Future Farmers of America) guys. Each club has its own label as well: football jock, band geek, drama fairy (The Cliques, 1 Dec. 2001). These labels, as well as the constant name calling and degrading remarks about others not in the group, are to blame for constant fighting between cliques. The fact that some groups hate others so much has left a permanent affect on some high school students, scaring them and leaving them unable to function in society because of the way they were treated in school, just because of what they did or didn’t like.

Being a high school student isn’t easy. The classes can be rough, teachers have a reputation of being mean or nice or mean to some and nice to others, and all the while, there’s the question of a girlfriend or boyfriend, who’s having a party tonight, what should be worn, and so on and so on. Adding on the pressure of having to be involved in the right group, and it starts to become stressful. Because if a student isn’t in the right group; then there is nothing to live for. Of course, this is a little over exaggerated, but this is what high school students have to put up with. There is the constant peer pressure to fit in, to be part of the crowd, up until the point where it is almost impossible to be an individual. This is what cliques have done to high schools (Surviving School, 27 October, 2001). They have turned them into places where designer labels rule, and those that don’t fit in, whe...

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...cliques re-think their total control of the school. The influence of a clique should be challenged every once in a while (Surviving School, 27 October, 2001).

The world of cliques is a dangerous and confusing one. There are good groups of course, groups that help out around the community, or the school, or give some kind of entertainment to others. But for the most part, the average stuck up clique can be dangerous if they are crossed. High school students have enough to worry about, and the clique is just an added burden. Cliques are as much a part of high school as is the English department, but something should be done to make sure they don’t ruin the lives of the innocent who are just a little bit different than those that are part of the group.

Works Cited

Surviving School. 30 August, 2000. 27, October, 2001. http://www.surviveschool.com.

chaotic_2.

The Cliques. 18 July, 2000. 2 December, 2001. http://www.expage.com/page/loner3cliques.

Marquette General Hospital's Women's & Children's Center. Cliques Power and Pain. Spring 1998. Marquette General Hospital. 26 October, 2001. http://www.mgh.org/wcc/teensite/adults/articles/cliques.html