In High/junior High School, Were/are You Stuck in a Clique?

[A Link In Time]

By the time I was in high school, I figured I only had four more years left to deal with the people who flaunted their popularity everywhere so I decided to ignore them and only engage in conversation with my closest friends. In the end, being part of a group like that is mostly a hassle because you start to worry what everyone thinks about you and you try to streamline yourself with the "cool crowd". In fact, homogenizing your personality is one of the worst things you can do because you ultimately estrange your true friends, ironically creating more bitterness by trying to be "everyone's friend".

 

[Jimmu]

I feel as though I have always been somewhat in a "clique" of friends at school, every year I think that at my school the social separation between cliques has certainly diminished though. Where I am, High School begins in Year 7 and goes through to Year 12 (7-10 being Junior and 11-12 being Senior). In Year 7 I began High School with no friends, I was one of only about two or three people that came from my Primary (Elementary) School and I wasn't really close to them. I remember making my first friend in Year 7 actually, I bought my DSi to school one day and Pokemon and was playing it in a secluded area of the school during a lunch break and another kid in my year came up to me and we both liked Pokemon so we discussed that (although, to most people that were in our age it wasn't really considered "cool" by any means), I'd still consider him to be my best friend even now in Year 12. From there we moved into a typical "nerd" group of about 10-15 people and for the most part the group is still very similar today, although the whole "nerd" stigma isn't really there much now. Throughout Years 7-10 I do remember being picked on slightly in the first few years (although, not majorly), it decreased as the years went by and people either matured or dropped out of school and left. The level of maturity of the people I think plays a part in how groups are structured and perceived within any school community, as older students have experienced how it feels to be separated and how it feels to be picked on they begin to realise that everyone is better off just being nice to each other and accepting each other for who they are. Once this mindset begins to slip into the cohort everyone becomes more united and relaxed. This is something that at least in my grade of students at my school has happened (especially beginning in Year 11), and everyone has become far happier to be at school. My grade at school now consists of only about 45 people, we still have our good friends that we hang around often and see outside of school and those who we just see at school but we all feel united. There is no bullying, no (well, not much...) fighting and everyone gets along well. Everyone in our year are happy to talk to one another and that's something that really makes me very happy.

Some people have mentioned that in their school what people wear is something that separates groups and this is not present in my school at all as we have a school uniform (like most other Aussie schools), since everyone has to wear the same thing we don't have to worry about picking clothes out that other people will like. Having a uniform doesn't seem like a good thing on the outside, but upon looking deeper I'd argue that it is a great thing.

Although people have become closer now school hasn't become a fantastic part of a lot of students lives. The workload is completely ridiculous, but that is a topic for another thread...

 

[Japas]

In middle school my group were the band students. The majority of us were in the same class starting in sixth grade but we weren't really friends until seventh grade when we started marching band. That was when we got closer. After that we had our own lunch table and we were pretty exclusive and really only hung out with other band kids. In eighth grade my band friends kind of dropped me because I had a lot of mental health issues and the cool kids kind of picked me up. That was pretty nice, I always wanted to be popular and for that year I was. It was really great. In my ninth grade year I went back to public school after a magnet school for middle school. I hung around with a few upperclassmen who were into anime and stuff. Other than that I kind of stuck with a little group of kids who were also on the ninth grade honors team. When I switched schools I didn't have a clique anymore. I have friends but not a clique, the school is too small and I don't like a lot of kids.

 

[Johnny Sooshi]

Have you ever been stuck in a clique?

In middle school I guess you could say I was sort of a social outcast. Not completely hatable, but not super likable either. Basically I hung out with everyone, but wasn't really friend to any, save like 5-10 total. It wasn't horrible. I got bullied maybe once or twice, but eventually people don't care when you don't.

High school has gone a little differently. My high school has four magnet programs and each one sort of ends up being cliquish I guess XD
Engineering, Game Design, Computer System Tech, and BioMed.

Basically Engineering and BioMed hang together only as girlfriends and boyfriends. To explain a little better, I'm in Engineering and my girlfriend is in BioMed. Most couples (the few that at exist in magnet) generally stem from relationships developed by Engineering and BioMed students, with most Engineering students being male, and most BioMed students being Female.

In general as groups work, most magnet students stick together really, considering most of us live like 20-30 minutes driving distance from school, a large difference compared to the 5-10 minute walking distance for most traditional students. Some traditional students do end up hanging more in the magnet cliques, though they're usually the ones that have honors and AP classes with us. I am also friends with some traditional students due to classes I have like PhysEd.

I will say, the most outcast magnet of the four seems to be Game Design. This most likely stems from the fact that they're harder to take seriously as a magnet by most and that their rooms are on the other side of school (in comparison the Computer Systems Tech and Engineering classes are in the same hallway, and the BioMed classes share that hallway and a hallway right next door and above).

Me? I hang out with most everyone. It's just who I am. That and my girlfriend is like that so we kinda just bounce around and spend time talking to everyone.

Have your friends ever been stuck in a clique?

Yeah, same goes with my friends as explained above. But most of my friends are in Engineering. Makes sense really.

Was it advantageous for you or your friends or did it hurt you or your friends?

It usually helps us. We experience the same teachers four years in a row, so by my time now as a senior, I help some of the underclassmen in my magnet when they need help. I usually also end up becoming a closer friend with the underclassmen in my magnet than I do with underclassmen for others magnets.

Did you ever think about hanging out with another clique?

Not really. I feel at home where I am. It's fun, and it's gone on for almost 4 years now. Why change?

 

[CynicalSquid]

Yes, and no. I haven't stayed in many of the cliques I've been in. I've also never considered most of these people as friends. I've only had one clique of true friends and those are my current close friends here on ZD. I haven't really been a social butterfly at all in my life.

 

[Reaca]

It's kinda weird for me. My group of people is a strange mixture of Band Geeks, Chorus people, and ROTC cadets. Most of us fit into at least two of those categories, while I'm part of none of them. Generally, though, I'll talk with just about anyone from any group, besides hardcore Redneck.

 

[Batman]

In high school I was a flamboyant liberal in the conservative backwoods of eastern Kentucky. So, no. I had a few like-minded friends, but I was never in a clique.