The author discusses the different cliques that existed at their small rural high school of about 300 students. They identify five main cliques: 1) athletes, who were always seen with members of their sports teams and called out of class for games or meetings, 2) cheerleaders, who stuck to themselves and were disliked by others, 3) band and show choir kids who thought other groups were mean and stuck up, 4) rednecks who drove large trucks, fought often, and traded girlfriends, and 5) others who did not fit into the other groups and kept to themselves. The author acknowledges that stereotyping people is wrong but that in their experience, most students conformed to the stereotypes of their chosen

1. JordanBailey
2/1/16
CliquesAssignment
High School Cliques
We were askedtothinkof the cliqueswe saw inour highschoolsanddiscussfive cliquesand
whatwe usuallyassociatedwiththose groups.
I wentto an extremelysmall highschool,about300 people,andwe didn’treallyhave the typical
cliquesbutthe onesIwouldhave to use wouldbe the athletes,the cheerleaders,the band/showchoir
kids, the rednecks,andthe others.Myschool was an exceptiontothe “rules”of stayinginone clique.
Most cliquesstayto themselvesanddon’t have anythingtodowiththe othercliques.Orpeople can
onlystayin one specificclique. AtBuffalo,where Iwent,the athleteswere where Iwouldbe placed.
People whowere apartof thisclique were alwaysseenwithmembersof theirteam, withajersey ora
teamshirton. We were alwaysbeingcalledoutof classfor meetingsortogetout of classearlyfora
game or tournament.The cheerleadershungoutwiththemselvesandonlythem.Theywere stuckup
and unlike the stereotypical cheerleaderinthe movies,noone likedthematmyschool.Next,the band
and showchoirkidsstuck together.Nowthere wasanoccasional football playerorbasketball player
whowas alsoinshow choir but notfor the most part.Theywere usuallyreallynice butalwaysthought
that any of the more popularpeople were juststuckupandmean.The rednecksalwaysdrove theirbig
dirtytrucks,were alwaysfighting,andconsistentlytradedgirlfriendsaround.Lastly,therewere the
others.Theywere justthe remainderof peoplewho didn’tstayinone of the othergroupsso we just
labeledthem“others.”Theyusually stayedwiththemselves,andwere notnice toanyone else outside
of theirgroup.
I feltlike Ididn’tlearnalotfrom thisexercise.Iunderstandthatthere are stereotypesandthere
are people whobreakthose stereotypes,butforthe mostpart theydonot. At leastwhere Iwentto

2. JordanBailey
2/1/16
CliquesAssignment
school.I knowthatit isn’trightto categorize people,butfrommyownpersonal experience mostpeople
fitand are the people theysurroundthemselveswith.