Untitled

"Why are we put into groups?"
written by: Stephanie W.

::: Tch... before you read this.. I'd just like you to know.. I wrote this in the 8th grade.. and a lot of my ideas were based upon what everyone else in our class had to say. It sucks. BAD. But whatever. A lot of my opinion on groups has changed somewhat since then.. because I've been around more.. not under my little rock. So yeah. Bare with me. *dies* :::

Why are we put into groups? Is it because of the clothes we wear or is it who we hang out with? It could be both. You never know. I don't. When you look at someone, who do you see? A prep maybe? Or what about a jock? They could be a loser for all you know. You turn to your friend and ask them who that person is as you watch that person travel over to the skater table. You figure that since they look like a skater and hang out with them, they just might be a skater. With out realizing it, you have just judged someone by who they hang out with and what they wear. For all you know, that person could just be hanging out with a couple of friends and that they just like wearing baggier clothes than everyone else. They might not even know how to skate for all you care. Don't worry, your not the only person who judges others by appearance. We all do it consciously or unconsciously. That's the sad thing. Since we judge others by what they look like and who they chose to hang out with, we don't take the time to get to know individual people for fear that you would get rejected or that other people would see you as that group and that's not what you want to be seen as. Rejection, it's one of the most terrifying feelings that we could have. Have you ever been rejected before? We all have at one point in our lives. If you have been rejected before, then I bet you would agree that rejection truly is the worst feeling there is.
Sometimes rejection and the disrespect of others can lead to some horrible things. I heard from a newspaper article that a kid had taken a gun to school and killed two people and injured thirteen others just because of all the awful things all of the "cooler" kids would say about him. Freak, geek, and moron would have probably been the nicer things that were said about him. He tried to be like them and he even got drunk just to be cool. No matter what he did or tried, he was always just short of actually being "cool". The point is, groups can cause some damage sometimes. This doesn't mean that all groups are bad, it just means that judging people without getting to know them first isn't really that good of a thing. There are so many groups and sub groups at Carmichael Middle school you could barely keep track of all of them. The main groups at all or at least most middle schools would be the popular people, preps, skaters, jocks, drifters, stoners, loners, goths, and the losers.
First off there are the popular people. The first thought that comes to mind, consciously or unconsciously, is that they are of a higher social standing than you and that they wouldn't really notice you or care about you. I know from actual experience though that this is not true. They welcome you into their group and try to make you feel welcome, or at least the people I was with at the time. People say that they use their social standing to gain items from other people, but that is not quite so true here at CMS (well,at least this year it's not). At CMS, the popular people tend to be called the preps. The question is, what is a prep. When I think of a prep, I think of someone who is really popular, has named brand clothes, and always have to make sure everything matches and that they always look their best at all times. Not all preps are popular but it sure seems as if they were. I try not to think that preps are snobs, popular, and self centered but I always tend to hear the people at school talk about these "preps" as if they were. Since everyone tends to stick together at "their" tables every day during lunch, you get the feeling that none of the different groups really want to socialize with the other groups making rejection seem like a greater probability.
How would you feel if you just plopped yourself down with a total bunch of strangers who you didn't know? Pretty weird huh? Now how would you feel if you were in your group of friends and a complete stranger comes over to sit with your group. You probably wouldn't have anything to say to them so you'd feel weird and you'd leave them out of the group. It's only when you later get to know that person you would start to talk more and more to them. Some people would tell that person that they didn't belong with them or something like that to give that person the feeling of rejection. Yeah, we already know how bad rejection can be don't we? It hurts a lot. I think that this is why people just don't plop themselves in a group of people that they don't know because of the fear of being rejected.
Each group is unique and you shouldn't judge people by who they hang out with and what they wear. Why is it that when you think of a jock, you automatically think of a dumb sports player who only cares about their sports and that they have a GPA that's barely above a C -. After all this, have you ever wondered that they just might like to play sports and that not everything on tv is true? Even the best sports players can get good grades. The jocks support our school and actually give they students at CMS something to do besides staying home and watching tv and live a boring life here in Richland. The jocks here at CMS are more in the popular group of people with their big circle of friends who just so happen to like sports.
Loners, now that's pretty easy to describe huh? They are the people who don't have any friends, right? Well, have you ever considered that they do have friends but not at school and that they are just as afraid of rejection like the rest of us? We all are afraid of rejection whether you like it or not. You know it's true. Admit it, we have all been rejected at one point of our lives. Everyone is unique and it just so happens that they may be a little shy around people. Hey, I'm even shy around people I don't know sometimes. It's not a crime you know.
If you were to put me into a group, I guess you could call me a drifter because I tend to "drift" between groups all the time. The only reason I "drift" a lot is because I like to be around people who I can actually talk to like my friends. It just so happens that the people I chose to be friends with don't always hang out in one group so I find myself traveling between those groups just so I can be with the people I can actually relate to. People say that a drifter pretty much has grown out of judging people by looks and that they judge people by who they actually are and not by just what they wear or who they hang out with, in other words, they see people as individuals. I agree with what some of my friends say about drifters because they do a lot of drifting themselves and I've noticed that they like to be around their friends too. I know that I don't do a lot drifting between groups I admit but I still "drift" which is why people consider me a drifter.
The stoners. What do you think when you think of a stoner? Do you think that they really wanted to make their lives complicated, short, and filled with trouble? If you don't already know stoners are the people who take drugs and alcohol. They might not have had every thing that you might have like a caring family and friends that they can depend on so they turned to drugs and alcohol. Maybe they grew up around people who did this every day and they just thought it was the natural thing to do. They might have chosen the wrong path to take or just grew up with it every day. You shouldn't criticize them so much even if it was their choice to choose the wrong path and take drugs. You shouldn't really criticize anyone any ways.
Goths are the type of people we judge by looks. How do I know, you ask? I have a friend who just loves the color black. Every day she gets called a goth. I don't know if she actually is but I found out that if you wear all black for a few days people will start calling you a goth. Goths are pretty much individuals with their own beliefs and want to stand out from the crowd. It's just like my friend, they might wear black and get accused of being goth when they aren't. You shouldn't judge people by what they wear.
I don't know why people keep classifying people into groups all the time but I do know that we tend to hear something about a person and believe that whatever was said about them is true until you actually get to know that person. I just learned that people who are called preps are actually individuals who can be fun to be around and that they can be really nice. I'm kind of shy and I feel uncomfortable around people who I don't really know because I feel as if they don't want me around and they'd just reject me and I'd be that little person who just hangs around for no reason. When I actually get to know them though, I feel right at home and I start to talk more often. Maybe we put people into groups because we can sometimes be jealous, afraid of rejection, or they just might hear someone say things about someone else and you happen to believe its true. We all deserve an equal chance to be known as who we really are instead of being judged daily by what we do, say, wear, and who we hang out with. I would love it if someone really got to know who I really am instead of being judged daily by what I wear and I'm sure that someone you just judged not too long ago would like that too.