High School Cliques

The President of Bard College, Leon Botstein, wrote the opinion piece Let Teenagers Try Adulthood (1999), argues that American high schools should be abolished. Botstein uses school cliques and brain development to develop the argument. The author's purpose was to argue that high school are dangerous to kids mental health and the school system should be modified in order to keep children safe from wrong ideas that are often present in high schools. The audience of the opinion article are school officials and people who have the power to change the educational system.

In “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” Leon Botstein argues that the “American high school is obsolete and should be abolished.”(Botstein 254) He explains that this obsolescence is because high school does not represent the way real life works, that real life is not based on popularity and athletic abilities. Botstein suggests that our society isolates students in high school because adults “do not like adolescents.” Botstein wants more options for teenagers and suggests that they graduate at 16 and have the ability to choose what they want to do from there; such as joining the workforce, attending specialized schools for professional training, or going to college. Botstein also states that high school teachers are employed because they are popular, whereas college professors are employed because they are experts in their fields. I agree with Botstein’s statement that the American high school system should be changed, but I do not agree with his belief about the “poor quality of recruitment and training for high school teachers.”(Botstein 254)

Jack was a boy who wanted to fit in with everybody in school. It took him awhile to understand that cliques begin in middle school. Realizing that he got labeled as “nerd” for reading books and having glasses, he decided to change his appearance. Jack stated, “I figured if I wore clothes that were more like everyone else’s I could pass for cool, or at least not be made fun of” (Garrod, 2012, p. 180). Along with the wardrobe change, he also convinced his parents to let him use contact lens’ and went to the dentist to fix his yellow patched teeth. Jack noticed how his peers picked on him during school. Even if he thought someone was his friends he knew if he did something they did not approve of, they would turn their back on him. He did not

In Leon Botstein’s "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", Botstein argues that the "superficial definitions" of high school students are a reason to let teenagers begin their lives in the working world rather than to perpetuate their education. Botstein is correct in proclaiming that high schools are breeding grounds for "cliques" and "artificial intensity”, and his address of the “flawed institution” of high school is cogent and fitting.

Teens today do not realize what separation of society into “groups” can really mean.The things that seem inconceivable now can become plausible by the classification of “others.” Elie Wiesel’s Night shows that something as small as being classified as Jewish (through a star) can lead to a discrimination and a genocide. What was normal at that time (the star) quickly became terrible. What will the norms today be considered tomorrow? This is the question that teens today fail to realize. Teens today usually have small circles that they are obligated to. Night shows teens that the universe of obligation is something that needs to be readily expanded. If teens refuse to expand their circle, that will lead to a classification of groups.

The trivialization of high school in the present educational organization for teens has been posited in the public; however, it is one vital issue that is being debated.

Growing up, I attended a very small K-8 elementary school that due to its size became a very close-knit community. While a smaller school may provide a ton of advantages academically, the low class sizes also meant that cliques were very prevalent without there being many

Ever since its inception, human civilization has been run by a pecking order; a small group of elitists on the top of the chain of command dictate the social norms for the remaining individuals on the antithetical end of the spectrum. Individuals with traits outside these norms are ostracized and looked down upon by the hierarchy. Cathy Davidson’s, Project Classroom Makeover, promotes the use of customization in the education system to accommodate every students’ learning habits over the current use of standardization and curriculum based teachings. On the other hand, Karen Ho’s, Biographies of Hegemony, is about how one’s environment is engineered by institutions, which in turn establish hierarchies who set standards for society. However, Son by Andrew Solomon describes how horizontal identities, traits influenced by peer groups that separate individuals from their families, are seen as abnormalities and those with such identities are on the bottom of the said hierarchy. Based on Davidson’s, Solomon’s, and Ho’s works, individualism does into question because society forces individuals to conform to the standardized norm in which they are not allowed to have unique identities.

In the essay "Let Teenagers Try Adulthood", Leon Botstein expresses that the "superficial definitions" of high school students present a reason that they should be allowed to begin their lives in the working world rather than to prolong their education. Botstein is correct in proclaiming that high schools are breeding grounds for "cliques" and "artificial intensity”, and his address of the “flawed institution” of high school is cogent and fitting.

The public schooling system in America edifies the paramount of individualism. However, we do conform to a certain degree with rigid school timetables (as visually perceived in Source B) and compulsory classes. Although, America makes it indispensable for students to take compulsory classes as a way of conformity it still sanctions the students to express their individualism with our dressing, our cull of electives and extra Co-curricular activities. Students express their individualism with the habiliments they wear and the classes and the extra Co

In this course, we have learned about different social classes and how they developed over time. In fact, the idea of social classes has been around before what we know it as to today. The concept has not changed. The “higher” classes usually have land, money, and jewels. The “lower” classes are broke, servants, and no valuable possessions. Prior to this course, I only knew of the upper class, middle class, and lower class. In today’s society, the separation between classes is not as bad as it use to be. School is an example of this. I grew up in Cobb County, Smyrna- Vinings area and I went to school with people who parents are CEOs of companies, successful entrepreneurs or even music artist. I would consider my family middle class but we did have students who were also lower class families. Some higher-class families enroll their children in private school. Private schools charges tuition whereas public schools are free of cost. The upbringing up children can determine their social status in schools. In this essay, I will discuss “cliques” and their differences in high schools.

When it comes to school size, there is no right size that works for every student. Some students thrive in a smaller environment where they get lots of attention, while others prefer the variety of activities and peer groups available in a larger school. Certainly, small and large schools each have their pros and cons. There are many reasons why this statement is true. One of the reasons why is if there are smaller schools they are gonna have smaller class sizes so there is more one on one with the students and teacher. Smaller schools are more lenient with test days and focus more on every student understanding the content.

Nitta, Holley and Wrobel in their study summarized the “arguments against consolidation [as being], smaller schools provide students with better support; smaller schools provide more accessible extra-curricular activities; [consolidation] causes teacher stress; hurts vacated communities; hurts students by requiring them to ride buses for long periods of time; leads to reduced parent participation.” The reactions of the relocated students and teachers are different than those at the receiving school. Students are faced with the anxiety of going to a new building, meeting new peers and teachers, and enduring a lengthy bus ride. In small schools, a student will receive more interaction with the teacher than is possible in a class of increased size. Extra-curricular activities such as basketball, band and choir may have more participants, since the location of the school is usually centered in the community. When students are separated to various districts, close friends, who have been together since childhood, find themselves parting ways. Usually in the larger the school, there arises more conflict among individuals and peer groups. There

In the country, education for kids K-12 is a lot better than in the cities. Families with small children tend to like enrolling them in a smaller school because it’s quiet and safe for their children, and the teachers are with the same children every day and for years sometimes. However, sending them to a bigger school can get them into the wrong kind of crowds and not get to know all their teachers because of the big diversity there is. In the country the ratio of students to the teacher is lower than the city whereas parents of children in the city have a number of choices available for the education. Children and can often select from a long list of both public and private school districts in urban living. Public schools are often filled with a lot of students and are packed into small classrooms however that help the sports team, music, and other elective programs out. Where on the downfall of smaller schools, there are less options but children are more able to make the

The desire to fit in with peers can be a very strong influence on teens.