The “Fitting In” Standards of High School

518 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Media and its affects on teenagers

Say you’re the new kid at your high school. If you had two choices, to fit in or to “not stand out”, which would you choose? Personally, I think adolescence is really about fitting in more than standing out. Sometimes, a lot of kids fit into a certain group of people because they stand out from the normal standards of adolescent society. The people to blame for this issue, I believe, is not the adolescent even though they practice such behaviors; I believe the media has a great deal of fault for the appeal to fit in. School’s also have a role in this problem as well as the parents. I believe that schools don’t help or try to see the problem of ‘bubbles’ and some parents try to encourage the idea of fitting in. To begin with, I believe that teenagers try more to fit in than to “not stand out”. In high school, it’s all about cliques, or “bubbles”. In these bubbles, you have different types of people that go into separate groups based on their style, hobbies, appearance, and persona. I believe that teenagers try more to fit in than to “not stand out” because if you’re a new person in ...

Show More
Related

  • Before Hip-Hop Was Hip Hop Summary

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    It helps them make a statement, and show who they really are as individuals. Today teens express their true selves through clothing, music, etc.

    Read More

  • Peer Pressure in The Crucible

    647 Words  | 2 Pages

    As a teenager we are all looking to be accepted by our peers and will do whatever it is they want us to so we can be accepted. That is to say the feeling of needing to be accepted by ones peers is done consciously; the person starts to do what their friends do without thinking about it. (Teen 3) In fact, teens are more likely to be affected by peer pressure because they are trying to figure out who they are. (How 1) Therefore, they see themselves as how their peers would view them so they change to fit their peer’s expectations. (How 1) Secondly, the feeling of needing to rebel and be someone that isn’t who their parents are trying to make them be affects them. (Teen 2) Thus, parents are relied on less and teens are more likely to go to their peers about their problems and what choices to make. (How 1) Also, their brains are not fully matured and teens are less likely to think through their choices thoroughly before doing it. (Teen 6) Lastly, how a child is treated by his peers can affect how they treat others; this can lead them into bullying others who are different. (Teen 3) Consequently this can affect a teen into doing something good or bad; it depends who you surround yourself with.

    Read More

  • How Can Melinda Become An Outcast

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    High school can be a place full of cliques and groups of friends but some people aren’t always in cliques. If there is a person who doesn’t always like the same things as other people they might not fit in with a group of people. In high school a person may become different and not find a group of friends that they fit in with. With no group of friends a person in high school may start to become an outcast. Laurie Halse Anderson, the author of Speak used Melinda to show that any high school student can become an outcast.

    Read More

  • Popular Groups In Society By Mary Shelley Rejected By Society

    1300 Words  | 3 Pages

    In many high schools, there is an unspoken social order amongst peer groups; teenagers are either included in the popular group or the unpopular group. These social standings are determined by the popular group whether they will accept certain people based on shared interests and values but mainly on appearance. For example, some groups may isolate a student who does not have clothing considered attractive enough. Teenagers belonging to the popular clique label individuals as outcasts who do not fit the clique’s standards of a perfect appearance. This repression can cause a build up of anger if an outcast seeks to be accepted into that popular group.

    Read More

  • Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    When life becomes overwhelming during adolescence, a child’s first response is to withdraw from the confinement of what is considered socially correct. Individuality then replaces the desire to meet social expectations, and thus the spiral into social non-conformity begins. During the course of Susanna’s high school career, she is different from the other kids. Susanna:

    Read More

  • Portrayal of Female Social Cliques in 'Mean Girls'

    632 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Conformity Research Paper

    592 Words  | 2 Pages

    Conformity means a change in one’s behavior due to the real or imagined influence of other people. As a teenager, the pressure to conform to the societal “norm” plays a major role in shaping one’s character. Whether this means doing what social groups want or expect you to do or changing who you are to fit in. During class, we watched films such as Mean Girls, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club which demonstrate how the pressure to conform into society can change who you are. In the movies we have seen, conformity was most common during high school.

    Read More

  • How the ideas of Others Can Influence Teens

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    A large majority of teens want to fit in and feel like they belong, but how far are they willing to go to fit in? The more they want to fit in the more likely they will be easily influenced by suggestions from others. During my second week of eighth grade, I felt like I wasn’t fitting in and that everyone was silently judging me and criticizing me. Of course now that I think about I don’t think anyone really cared about me, but I was more self-conscious about myself then. One day during lunch my friends and I sat next to a couple of girls who were known as the “popular” girls and I thought that maybe I would fit in more if I was friends with them. I spent the rest of that lunch hour trying to build up the courage to talk to them and at last minute I told the friendliest looking girl, that I loved her shirt and I asked her what store she bought it from. She told me that it was from Free People; she then gushed about the store and told me how everything there was amazing. She suggested that I should check it out sometime so I did. I, of course couldn’t wait to shop there. I told myself that if I shopped at Free People, I could maybe fit in with her and even be a part of the popu...

    Read More

  • Fitting In?

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    I am a Japanese-American, growing up I never felt like I belonged in either one. I never felt that I was fully Japanese because I did not have all of the same beliefs and traditions as other Japanese people. Nor did I feel fully American because I fully do not believe in all of the American beliefs. I saw myself relating more to the Japanese culture because it taught me to be more respectful to my elders and other people in the community. Growing up I had to assimilate to the prevailing culture because people were bantering me because I had unusual views than they did. It was hard for me growing up; I was trying to identify myself as either a Japanese boy or an American boy while I was at school and at home. At school I had to be this normal American boy, while at home, I had to be a Japanese boy. I felt like two different people. This also tied into me having an awkward relationship with other kids my age especially the girls. I would ask my parents if it was okay for me to date, their response was “as long they are some sort of Asian, then it is okay.” Today my parents do not believe in that saying, they just want to see me in high spirits, but as I was growing up it was hard for me to find a girl that I liked that fit my family standards I always found myself fond of another race other than my own and my parents were not too thrilled with the choices I made when it came to girls when I was an adolescent.

    Read More

  • Individuality vs. Conformity in High School

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was the first day of school. I was eager to see most of my friends who I went to middle school with. There was one big thing that struck me; I noticed my friends changed. They started dressed differently, acted differently, changed their hair style, and even started wearing makeup. Since the transition fresh out of middle school and into high school, my friends wanted to look older. The biggest factor that bothered me was how they would conform to look like the sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I felt that my good friends wanted to conform and be something they weren’t. In my personal view, Americans in general want to feel mature sophisticated but also want to have fun. Individuality is essential because it allows people to express who they are as an individual. When people express themselves differently and in their own way, they elucidate uniqueness and universal truth. Values in American culture can contradict with family, fashion, and the workplace.

    Read More

  • Popularity and Agression

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    Adolescent years are a time period in a human beings life where we search for a place that we are most comfortable. It is a time where we try to find friends with similar interests and those who will easily accept us for who we are. Once we are accepted by those friends, we tend to do more things with hopes of getting approval from “the group.” Trying to fit in during adolescence is a significant factor for self-motivation because it determines the level of being accepted and popularity amongst our peers. Through our year of adolescence we experiment and try to discover oneself as a person, but we also find what our strongest traits are that are used in order to be accepted, or to feel more popular. Popularity is defined as a state of being liked or accepted by a group of people (cite). As the group of people gets larger, so does that person’s popularity. For some people, popularity may come easy due to their charisma or looks, but there are those children who feel lonely due to their lack of popularity.

    Read More

  • Teenage Themes in The Wave - Morton Rhue

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    ... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.

    Read More

  • Impact of the Internet on Relationships and Community During Adolescence

    3251 Words  | 7 Pages

    From birth, humans seek connectedness. Regular social interaction is almost as important as eating or sleeping, and is achieved through social activities and relationships with family and friends. Creating and maintaining these relationships is a process that occurs throughout an individual’s lifetime. Yet, during adolescence these interpersonal relationships start to have a particularly important function. Interactions with family and peers are vital to adolescent identity formation, and the crucial role of these relationships places additional stress on the bonds during this life stage. As Steinberg mentioned in a recent paper, “Adolescence has long been characterized as a time when individuals begin to explore and examine psychological characteristics of the self in order to discover who they really are, and how they fit in the social world in which they live”(Steinberg, 2001).

    Read More

  • Adolescence and the Fear of Isolation: A Critical Analysis

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most people encounter multiple problems in their daily lives, so it is important to be capable of handling them. An adolescent’s obstacles are all the more crucial; this is the age one develops key social and communicative characteristics; therefore, the approach and solution to the issue are imperative. Consequently, the greatest problem of adolescence is the fear of isolation. This is because teenagers will create escapes to hide from reality, change themselves to fit in, and will always attempt to stay socially connected.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Personal Identity

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout my whole life, I was taught the idea that it is bad to be different and to avoid being unique. As a teenager, conforming to society might be the best road to take since you’re still figuring out who you are but it can lead to powerful internal conflicts if you completely lose your self identity. Some would argue that being yourself will make you happier by not pretending to be someone you’re not. Others insist that being yourself will separate you from everyone and always feel lonely. On the other hand, I believe being true to ourselves will enable people to see our real identity without a disguise. People will see what we are really like on the inside and they can appreciate our real self.

    Read More

More about The “Fitting In” Standards of High School

Open Document