What does it mean to be popular? What does it mean to be one of the “cool” kids? Who is it that selects the “cool” kids anyway? How does one become “cool?” The idea of being popular is an aspect of one’s high school years that has the ability to affect teenagers worldwide emotionally as well as affect their academic stability. The worst part about it is that kids willingly subject themselves to stereotypically labeled groups and cliques to define who they are and what they can or cannot do.
“It’s stereotypes and it goes back years and years, I don’t think the students themselves put themselves into those groups, its society over a long period of time. I doubt society will break it because stereotypes are very hard to break. I think it needs to be a school thing if it’s something the school wants to break; it first must be able to change the culture of the stereotypes as well as change the feelings of the students,” said NPHS guidance counselor Pat Brett.
Society as a whole will likely never end the mindless labeling of people. It begins in school, but it also carries on in the work place. It never succumbs. For as long as people will continue to view and limit themselves to these meaningless groups, people will continue to define themselves with labels rather than with who they really are.
“I do think popularity is rooted within yourself and feeling self-esteem and feeling that you are not popular or you are not cool because you don’t hang out with certain people or people don’t come up to you or you don’t sit with a certain crowd,” said Brett.
Perhaps it is worthwhile to examine some of these typical high school stereotypes first. People think they are not cool because they are not “The Jock” who happens to be the star athletes of the school, that seem to have this long never ending confidence that gives them the right to be popular, one of the “cool” kids. Or students believe because they aren’t “The Prep,” the all American boy or girl always needing to wear the latest and greatest Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein or Betsy Johnson, they don’t quite fit in. Then there’s “The Hippie/ Hipster” the kids who are laid back, and believe life is but a breeze. They are free spirited, have a small circle of associates, and are just taking life day by day because there should be no worries and stress in life; they are listening to a lot of underground music, with a tiny sprinkle of mainstream music. “The Nerd” an often shy and reserved group, doesn’t wear the most fashionable clothing designs but they make it work. Many of the “cool” kids may try to use them for their brains or their homework and they most likely end up caving in trying to gain a tiny sliver of popularity. Then there’s a group society labels as “The Thespian,” established in the theatre realm with no intent to leave anytime soon. They often have a little more confidence than others, and people don’t know whether to love it or hate it. Then there’s “The Musician” who eats, sleeps, breaths, and meditates music. Whether one is in the band or chorus or both, he or she is committed all the way. Most of their friends are also in it so it all stays in the group. They are musically inclined and like it, no matter what else anybody else thinks.
These are the groups that into which society labels and categorizes us. These are also the groups to which we often willingly subject ourselves. There may be a few complaints, a few students here and there that diligently speak out against this labelling, but not enough to start an uproar. It seems that over many years of schooling, students have come to simply accept that they must try to fit some kind of mold. This blind adherence to stereotyping does not have to be so accepted, however. Students should not let society tell them who they are, who they should hang out with, who they can be seen talking with in public, who they can sit with at lunch, or who they can or cannot date because that person is “out of your league.”
At North Penn, many individuals have been able to transcend those “groups” or “cliques” before. So if those individuals can do it, there is no reason why our society as a whole entity cannot realize that there is no need to label onself into a solitary group for the purposes of identification and acceptance.
“But I think there are some students that cross in and out between those “groups.’ We do have students that are academically inclined that are also athletes, who are also a part of SGA, a part of NHS, who are heavily involved in different clubs and activities. We do have our students that are more into the music but are also heavily academic as well. So you have those students like Marcus McGraw (’10) and Brian Zolot (’12) that cross between many of those groups so really there’s no excuse. I think that it’s a society thing and it needs to be broken,” said Brett.
Many students have their own variated opinions as to how the stereotypes affect the atmosphere amongst students here at North Penn.
“We definitely have those different groups, but I feel like the difference is that here at North Penn there’s the athletes, the kids who are in all AP classes, the thespians, and all those other groups. However, there is no tension or hostility between the groups,” said Senior Chris Kersey.
“I believe that popularity is kind of irrelevant because everybody has social cliques and as for the associations at North Penn, they vary like with clubs, who you hang out with after school and on the weekends. Also I think stereotypes are very much so relevant because people are quick to judge who their friends are by what they look like,” commented junior Monika Roslonowski.
“Absolutely popularity and stereotypes exist here at North Penn. For starters I can tell you the nerds definitely exist as well as the jocks; I know where they hang out in the morning. However the stereotypes give the people who apply to those groups people to hang out with, people who are like them that can share a common interest. I have never really seen someone that doesn’t fall into a particular one the social groups,” said Sophomore Alex Kohlobus.
After examining all of the stereotypes, here is my advice to all of you at North Penn. It is not necessary to confine yourself to any “group.” It is time to rise above the stereotyping and the labellings and be who you want to be. You don’t need to have the popular kids, you don’t need to be one of the cool kids, there shouldn’t be anyone selecting who is in what group. Most certainly it shouldn’t be having the hold it has on teenagers worldwide.