Not Another Teen Movie

Everyone has seen the movies with the unattractive, unpopular, acne-ridden fat kid getting put into the garbage can in the hallway by the high school quarterback. Is it right? Depends on who you ask. What is playing out is social Darwinism in the high schools across America. Odds are, that football player is dating the captain of the cheerleading squad. Each one of those students described belongs to a group, their own niche within the school hierarchy. Sadly, it plays out in every different high school across the US everyday and it continues unabated.

The jocks. Often one of the most common and talked about groups, they are the ones who bring the heat on the lower forms of life (according to them) on campuses across the country. Usually preppy, attractive, muscular, and popular are just a few things to describe them. They pick on and ridicule the lower classmen, the nerdy, basically anyone not like them. They have their own ideas as far as how the pecking order in their school should work. Like the predators in the wild, they prey on the social misfits, bullying them around to do their work for them; if not, then they pay the consequences, which just end up in some silly adolescent spoof for the masses to view.

The misfits. The students who don’t fit into the mainstream crowds fit this category (Goths, geeks, poor and unstylish). They are often the objects of disdain for the students on the upper end of the social ladder. The only thing that makes them unworthy is social class, ideas, and taste in clothing. To the jocks, their girlfriends, and their minions, that is enough of a stigma to warrant the constant bullying, name-calling, and mistreatment that ensues whenever an encounter arises.

The mix. Then there is the rest of the student body that serves as a silent witness to the unraveling of social Darwinism on an adolescent scale. No matter how miniscule the smallest slight seems, it is enough to send some students over the edge. The cliques that form in high school can be a dangerous contributor to a student’s already lonesome and inferior feelings, no matter who or what is the cause. While the development of groups within the high school setting seems a natural part of growing up, they are fueling a dangerous phenomenon in America.

Overall, though, while the scenarios where a lonely, disturbed student takes out his frustrations on the student body, they are rare occurrences. The formation of cliques and the resultant bullying is character building and forces students to deal with the harsh reality that may face them upon graduation from high school. Instead of letting the dumb jocks and their bimbo girlfriends get to you, go to college, graduate, get a good job. Then remind them when they apply for a job with your company that you started, who you were in high school.

Don’t get mad, get even.