Social Cliques

Social cliques in school can ruin your high school years. We're only in high school once, why waste them? Outcasts, preps, jocks, skaters, nerds, goths, emos, etc. There are almost too many to list. It's only natural to hang out with people who are like you, those are just labels. Cliques in school are so much more damaging than just a label, or a name.

In my mind there are two types of social cliques. There's the tight knit, group of friends who have a hard time letting anyone become close with them or let themselves become close with anyone else. They hang out every weekend, and it just seems as if there's no possible way they're group will ever break up. And there's the social cliques outside of the smaller social cliques, the ones we usually hear about. The labels we get because we look at someone, or we've heard about someone and we think we know them.

You know the kids you've gone to school with your whole life and still don't know they're name? The ones you see in the hall all the time but you can't quite figure out they are? The one's you have three classes with, but can never remember? The outcasts of the school. They always seem to be hiding in the shadows of other kids. When you try to have a conversation with them, it's almost like they're nervous to talk to you. These kids are the exact opposite of a prep.

Preps are categorized by what they wear or how much money their parents have. They're the school cheerleaders, who think they're way too cool. When you walk down the hall, it's easy to pick a prep out of the bunch. Just look for the one in Hollister or Abercrombie. Just look for the one with her hair teased up three inches high, and wearing heels. Well the preps have got to stick together. It's not everyday you see a prep and a jock walking down the hall together.

Jocks play sports, they hang out with kids who play sports, their whole life revolves around sports. Whether it's soccer, lacrosse, football, basketball, track, or even rowing. If you aren't athletic, you can't hang out with them. That's just the way it is, that's the ways it's been for awhile now. If you think skating is a sport, your wrong.

They have got their own name, they spend their time at the skate park, smoking pot with their friends. They're the ones who wear bright colors to school everyday and could care less about their grades. They have a new boyfriend every week, they're the ones most likely to be considered a poser, which is a whole new group in itself. You can always hear them in the hallways, talking to their friends at the top of their lungs. The one's you always see picking on the kid with glasses.

The nerds are the ones you never see without a book in their hands, always cramming in some extra studying time at lunch. They always used to win everything at pays to get a's in middle school. They're kinda quirky and pull their pants up a little too high. They always seem a little too eager to have a conversation with the Spanish One teacher.

Now Gothic kids, they wear black clothes everyday, even in the spring when the sun starts to come out. No one knows why they don't get hot. Their dark overloaded makeup, chains, and piercings, sets them apart from everyone else. Let's not forget the small hello kitty obsession. They just don't fit in. Don't get them confused with the Emo's though.

Emo, is short for emotional. They cut their wrists, listen to heavy metal, and don't care about their appearance's. Everyone avoids them, they're always depressed. The outcasts of the school. They are the ones most likely to bring a gun to school and start the next columbine school shooting. Truth is, there's a possibility it could be anyone of us.

We don't realize how much these names we call hurt, it doesn't matter which category your put under. None of them feel right, we shouldn't be judging each other based on our appearance. Do you know why we have these labels or catagories for people? Because we can't take the time to get to know each other, and then make the judgment. We don't take into consideration what others go through outside of school. Maybe they don't have such a great life at home and that's why they dress the way they do. Maybe they're insecure about themselves, and they just come off stuck up but once you get to know them they're really sweet. Maybe they're family isn't stable at the moment, and they are having a tough time at home. We just don't think about it. We all care so much, and yet at the same time we don't.

Even worse, we've got more cliques to deal with. As if these names didn't hurt enough, us girls