In our society, everyone is constantly under pressure. Each person is constantly being reminded of what they “should” look like, how they “should” behave, what they “should” think, ect., ect.
However, as a teen it is nearly impossible to break away from stereotypes and expectations. Every teen is analyzed and stereotyped by their peers in high school. Whether one fits that mold or not, it seems that one eventually begins to give into the thing called peer pressure that we’ve been warned about via cheesy presentations throughout our school years.
Over the next 10 days, I plan to make observations of exactly how this happens in my high school. I also see how conforming effects a high school social life. Call it an experiment of sorts. I want to see what will happen if one defies their peers, as scary as that thought seems to me.
So, how am I categorized right now?
I believe that I fit into the category of “geek”. I do well in my classes, especially math and history. My teachers like me (as far as I know) and I do enjoy talking with them because they have more interesting things to say than most of my peers do, at times. At lunch, I sit with the “band geeks”, who also have ties to the “drama club kids”. They’re artsy, creative and absolutely brilliant.
I also defy this grouping a bit, by hanging out with the… “slackers” (for lack of a better term). They don’t do well in school because they simply do not care. They drink, do drugs, ect. I don’t do these things, but somehow find myself friends with them.
It is a bit hard to categorize one’s self, because I would like to say that I can’t be categorized. However, the truth is that everyone in high school can be, which is an awful idea.
This is why I’m doing this experiment; I want to see how it works so that I can fight against it.
Please help me by giving me YOUR thoughts on my experiment through comments. If you’d like, you could even do an experiment of your own and send me the results through comments so that I can incorporate your findings into the results of my experiment.
Thank you for reading!
-H.S.R.
