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School forms a large part of our growing up years. The life we lead at school is largely responsible for the way we treat life outside school. Our ideals, aims and ambitions are shaped by our experiences early in life and the most memorable and influential ones usually come from schools and later college. I was a nomad when it came to schools. I had not stayed in a single school for more than 3 years since my third grade. As a result I ended up going through many schools and can’t identify myself by just one. I enjoyed the experience and even more than that I enjoyed what I learnt from this.
Through different schools in different cities or even countries, I found the people different but a common occurrence. In all the schools there existed a social structure. A structure that mimicked the one we have outside in the real world was being reproduced unknowingly (or in some cases knowingly) in a classroom. Where there exists a social structure there exists politics.
Humans, being the social animals that they are, tend to live in groups. This happens in the classroom and a group will decide your social standing in the classroom society. So the groups are the same almost everywhere. You have the popular group, the unpopular group, the nerds, and the geeks. These four are the main groups. You can be a jock and you will be in the popular group. You can be a big gizmo freak and u end up with the geeks. Like that all the people fall into these categories. You can compare it to a food chain. The popular ones are on the top and the unpopular ones are on the bottom.
The popular group mostly includes the pretty faces. These are mostly the people that look good, talk good and feel really good about them selves and even people who might not fit the above bill but have a presence of their own and are often old friends of the first category individuals. The people in this social group are the most liked and hated at the same time. The group always has its Alphas, which are the most popular guy or girl in the group. There is often backstabbing, bitching and infighting going on here (which is not shown to the people outside from the group, and the people involved pretend it’s not happening). To be included into this group is like being a multimillionaire in the real world or being in the entertainment industry (the legal kind) They are the makers of this society, their approval can change someone’s status in an instant and their dismissal can ruin one’s chances of ever having many friends in school.
The unpopular ones are those who are not liked by the previous group. They have a totally opposite standing compared to that of the popular ones and include people who don’t get along with majority of the population or have just offended or made insecure individuals in the popular group. The group is bound by a very weak relationship. They recognize each other’s situation, yet if given the opportunity they would give out the same treatment they get from the rest of the class on one of their own. This is their greatest weakness and often their downfall.
The geeks and the nerd are a separate world by themselves. Like hippies! They don’t worry much about their social standing (at least publicly, who knows what they might think privately). They are good at what they do and in the outside world they have a niche for themselves.
Excluding these groups there are those who don’t affiliate to any group. They can be either accepted by all (or majority) or neglected by all. What side they end up depends on whether they are accepted by the popular ones or not, only difference they never join fully and are always on the sidelines moving from one group to another. These individuals play many roles from kingmakers to manipulators, from acquaintances to centre of the attention. For them possibilities are limitless
But no matter how hard one tries, you cannot accept the social order. In the end you need to be accepted by one group if not by all. The roles you play are not subjected to your whims and fancies but are a result of often precise social maneuvering.
However, the classroom is not where the world ends; it’s just the place where it begins. The standing of one individual in the class cannot be the same outside. In the real world the requirements of power are different, the rules even more so. However in the end the requirements to come out for the better in both are mostly the same…
