Beneath the Appearances
McKayla Milam
McKayla Milam
It is a guarantee that a majority of pre-teens in this generation envision the ultimate Mean Girls or The Breakfast Club movie as the epitome of high school. The misconception of how social interaction turns out in high school is due to the stereotypes Hollywood films display. Dating back to the 80’s, high school stereotypes were not only in almost every young adult movie, but started becoming a reality for most teen lives and a fear for those who were not in high school yet. Some of the most common known stereotypes consist of the dumb, “preppy” cheerleader, the “stuck up” princess, the nerd/geek who is classified as a “loser” and the mean Jock. While high school stereotypes can sometimes be fun to think of as a reality and entertaining to see on screen, they can be harmful in some ways. High school stereotypes can lead to discrimination, prejudice, and bullying. Since these kinds of incidents has occurred before, society has been trying to break away from them, pushing for everyone to be kind to one another. While some may think high school stereotypes no longer exist, others still do. A few of our Hillgrove students shared their thoughts on the very biased topic.
These teenagers gave their honest opinion when asked if high school stereotypes still exist today. Hillgrove sophomore, Erin Cater stated, “I think that high school stereotypes still exist because people are afraid to break boundaries with others because of how they will look.” Dacey Ngo, who is in the eleventh grade, responded with, “Yes, I do still believe they exist because we always judge people before getting to know them.” Georgia Howard, a Hillgrove senior, shared, “I honestly do not think so, people just go by what they remember from their high school experience but I feel like nowadays they do not, but I could be wrong.”
When it comes to the seriousness of stereotypes in all actuality, some have more input on the effects of it, while others do not really care that much. Dacey said that she thinks “it is a bad thing because we assume how people may act before getting to know them. We judge them based on their appearance rather than their personality.” In response, Erin stated, “I do not think it is good because it is not preparing us for the real world where you have to interact with many social groups.” On the other hand, Georgia simply admitted, “hmmm, I would not necessarily say it is bad nor good, I am eh with it.”
Some of these Hillgrove students may have been affected by high school stereotypes, while others may not have. When questioned if she had ever been stereotyped, Erin responded, “I do not exactly know if I have but I do have my group of friends that I stick with.” Georgia claimed, “I cannot say that it has”, when asked if stereotypes have ever impacted her life. In contrast to Erin and Georgia, Dacey said, “Yes, I have been stereotyped. Since I am asian, people expect me to be good at math when I am not. One of my classmates asked, ‘shouldn’t you be good at math?’, when I asked him a question about a math problem.”
Considering the negative impact high school stereotypes can sometimes have on teens, some take it to heart and believe in breaking the cycle. For others, it is all just trivial and does not really impact their lives in any significant way. Hopefully, high school stereotypes can just be something to look back on in the future and laugh at when watching movies like Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club or Heathers. Issues like bullying or discrimination will never be something that teens will have to worry about.
These teenagers gave their honest opinion when asked if high school stereotypes still exist today. Hillgrove sophomore, Erin Cater stated, “I think that high school stereotypes still exist because people are afraid to break boundaries with others because of how they will look.” Dacey Ngo, who is in the eleventh grade, responded with, “Yes, I do still believe they exist because we always judge people before getting to know them.” Georgia Howard, a Hillgrove senior, shared, “I honestly do not think so, people just go by what they remember from their high school experience but I feel like nowadays they do not, but I could be wrong.”
When it comes to the seriousness of stereotypes in all actuality, some have more input on the effects of it, while others do not really care that much. Dacey said that she thinks “it is a bad thing because we assume how people may act before getting to know them. We judge them based on their appearance rather than their personality.” In response, Erin stated, “I do not think it is good because it is not preparing us for the real world where you have to interact with many social groups.” On the other hand, Georgia simply admitted, “hmmm, I would not necessarily say it is bad nor good, I am eh with it.”
Some of these Hillgrove students may have been affected by high school stereotypes, while others may not have. When questioned if she had ever been stereotyped, Erin responded, “I do not exactly know if I have but I do have my group of friends that I stick with.” Georgia claimed, “I cannot say that it has”, when asked if stereotypes have ever impacted her life. In contrast to Erin and Georgia, Dacey said, “Yes, I have been stereotyped. Since I am asian, people expect me to be good at math when I am not. One of my classmates asked, ‘shouldn’t you be good at math?’, when I asked him a question about a math problem.”
Considering the negative impact high school stereotypes can sometimes have on teens, some take it to heart and believe in breaking the cycle. For others, it is all just trivial and does not really impact their lives in any significant way. Hopefully, high school stereotypes can just be something to look back on in the future and laugh at when watching movies like Mean Girls, The Breakfast Club or Heathers. Issues like bullying or discrimination will never be something that teens will have to worry about.