What was your social status in high school?

Fyrefox said:
The cliques in my high school were the Jocks, Freaks, Nerds, and Greasers. Jocks were the popular golden boys who were defined by athletic prowess, and were given frequent award ceremonies by the indulgent and praising school system. Their female analogues were the cheerleaders, who would date them and someday produce physically attractive children with them. Freaks were at the cutting edge of youth culture, dressed in trendy antisocial fashion, knew every word to 60's songs, were the cool people, and played air guitars but not actual instruments as that required discipline. Greasers obsessed over cars, usually owned a junk car, and were in remedial programs. Nerds like me were the serious academic students who were college-bound, in band, and were unpopular with an abysmal social status value. That was OK though, as we gravitated towards our own, and misery loved company... 😄
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You must be from my old stomping grounds. 😄 ... so true. Everyone in my high school was defined by the group they hung out with.
 

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I had friends in various groups, was moderately popular, and a cheerleader. My grades were fairly good and I didn't struggle socially. However, my home life was extremely stressful and unpleasant.

By the time junior year arrived I was soooo over the whole school experience and the powerlessness of being underage. I couldn't wait to move on to adulthood and the ability to call my own shots.

My HS BFF also moved to So Cal and is still my BFF. We not only know where each other's bodies are buried, we often helped dig the graves. ;)
 
Hopefully, folks' here had better experiences in college. Since I went later in life, I wasn't involved in the typical post-teenage campus dynamics. For me, that was a good thing because the emphasis was on studying and keeping a high GPA with which to get, and stay, well employed. Very different from high school, at least for me.

Tony
 
911 said:
Pappy--I want to thank all the band players everywhere. You guys made our football games the best part of the games on Friday nights. I loved the band sitting in the end zone playing the school cheer and even though I didn't get to watch the halftime routine, my parents always said the bands were awesome. So, thanks for all that you did to get us up and going. Don't ever think that you weren't an important part of the games.
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Thanks so much 911. I loved going to the games and if we won, home games, we would snake march up Main St.
 
Jim W. said:
I'm not trying to speak for anyone else here, but I'm thinking she meant in her graduating class.

As in "Class of 75" etc., etc.

OTOH, maybe you were just being facetious and it went over my head.... 😏
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No, I truly thought she meant 400 in her class....American schooling is very different from here so I didn't know... . So you call a whole year ''a class''.. do you ?
 
hollydolly said:
No, I truly thought she meant 400 in her class....American schooling is very different from here so I didn't know... . So you call a whole year ''a class''.. do you ?
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Yes. Class has two meanings:
The entire grade - meaning the kids who are graduating this term are referred to as The Class of 2021.
The microcosm - whoever sits in your classroom is also referred to as your class.

The context usually gives it away. Classrooms are usually 30 kids or fewer and the graduating class is much larger.
 
Fyrefox said:
The cliques in my high school were the Jocks, Freaks, Nerds, and Greasers. Jocks were the popular golden boys who were defined by athletic prowess, and were given frequent award ceremonies by the indulgent and praising school system. Their female analogues were the cheerleaders, who would date them and someday produce physically attractive children with them. Freaks were at the cutting edge of youth culture, dressed in trendy antisocial fashion, knew every word to 60's songs, were the cool people, and played air guitars but not actual instruments as that required discipline. Greasers obsessed over cars, usually owned a junk car, and were in remedial programs. Nerds like me were the serious academic students who were college-bound, in band, and were unpopular with an abysmal social status value. That was OK though, as we gravitated towards our own, and misery loved company... 😄
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This is my mindset of high school, cliques and how they work. It seems very pretentious. It’s reassuring knowing others noticed this behaviour also.


tbeltrans said:
Very good assessment of some of the various cliques in high school. Funny thing, so many adults today still haven't grown out of that. We have these same dynamics in politics and religion. The left, viewed by the right, must surely hate and want to destroy America. The right, viewed by the left must surely hate and want to destroy America. This religion has "the truth" and wants to set the rest of the world straight. The result, each group fights the other so much so, that in many forums that I have been involved with, those two subject areas are not allowed. Many never left high school and carry that clique mindset with them for the rest of their lives.

Tony
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Completely agree.
 
Fyrefox said:
The cliques in my high school were the Jocks, Freaks, Nerds, and Greasers. Jocks were the popular golden boys who were defined by athletic prowess, and were given frequent award ceremonies by the indulgent and praising school system. Their female analogues were the cheerleaders, who would date them and someday produce physically attractive children with them. Freaks were at the cutting edge of youth culture, dressed in trendy antisocial fashion, knew every word to 60's songs, were the cool people, and played air guitars but not actual instruments as that required discipline. Greasers obsessed over cars, usually owned a junk car, and were in remedial programs. Nerds like me were the serious academic students who were college-bound, in band, and were unpopular with an abysmal social status value. That was OK though, as we gravitated towards our own, and misery loved company... 😄
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My HS wasn't nearly this stratified. Plenty of male and female jocks, greasers and "freaks" also happened to be honor roll students. Jocks and cheerleaders didn't typically date each other. Greasers and bad-boys/bad-girls usually mixed well with everyone else and often dated non-greasers.

Virtually ALL the guys were obsessed with their cars, and almost everyone was college-bound.

The people at the lowest end of the social spectrum were either extraordinarily socially inept, had dreadful personal hygiene habits, or both.
 
When I was in HS (class size of 100+), there was no appreciable social stratification among the boys. With school work, jobs and sports, nobody had time for that. There were the usual HS distinctions such as Letterman, Natl Honor Society, Key Club ( junior Kiwinis service org.) etc. but those were less thought of as being status indicators and more of just what you were into. Girls, on the other hand, had their cliques.
 
Jim W. said:
I'm not trying to speak for anyone else here, but I'm thinking she meant in her graduating class.

As in "Class of 75" etc., etc.

OTOH, maybe you were just being facetious and it went over my head.... 😏
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To me that seems small...in the early 70's both High Schools I attended had over 700 in each graduating class... my year was especially large ...we had 876 in my graduating class.

A few years later they built a second High School to split those numbers in half. It is impossible to build any kind of cohesive team like loyalty, camaraderie, class spirit etc. with such a large group.
 
Being raised up in a small country town, we had small classes...my grad class was around 18 i think, hell the 3rd grade class was about 20, so we lost a couple...I was a misfit, at least
thats how I felt about my self worth...not a farm kid nor really
a "city kid"......Had difficulties due to hearing and eyes, and
didn't know why till dr's examined ears/eyes!!! Also trouble cause I think I was whats now called ADD or something like
that....I just didn't seem to fit in...never had a prom date, never
had a car....with 7of us kids that was not about to happen...we were poor and knew it, but also didn't care much....there was
a "class" of people in town who were too good for me to
hang around, and that is okay....anyway I have outlived
most all that were in school at that time....well it was what it was......
 
tbeltrans said:
Very good assessment of some of the various cliques in high school. Funny thing, so many adults today still haven't grown out of that.

I found it interesting at the first and second class reunions, and even now many decades later, that many of the popular in crowd "peaked" and "plateaued" in high school, that was as good as it ever got for them! That was their ultimate achievement in life.
Some of them At the reunions do the same ole' arrogance, ignoring, snubbing and showing off. Weird and sad.

Even more disturbing they won't "Friend" on Facebook, or interact or converse with anyone on any social media, that wasn't in the high school "in" group. Many of the posts on their social media is their fellow in crowd friends posting frequently telling them how beautiful and awesome and great they are. Congratulating them for every little thing they post especially the trying to show off, brag posts.

I can't understand why they are still "kissing up" to each other at this age.
 
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hollydolly said:
400 in one class? :eek:...wow!! how did that work, how were classrooms big enough to take 400... did you have one teacher at a time ?
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Holly, we did not have that many in one classroom. It was a huge school and there were different disciplines to follow. College prep kids, vocational kids, and so on. Most classes had about 30 students in each one.
 
tbeltrans said:
Hopefully, folks' here had better experiences in college. Since I went later in life, I wasn't involved in the typical post-teenage campus dynamics. For me, that was a good thing because the emphasis was on studying and keeping a high GPA with which to get, and stay, well employed. Very different from high school, at least for me.

Tony
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After graduating HS early, I went to enlist in the military but they didn't take me (they found a spinal deformity). I'd married my girlfriend because we were sure I'd be going to Nam, even though there was a lot of talk about de-escalation at the time. So I went to work instead, but for several years I took job-related courses at 3 different community colleges so I could earn more money, and I got better positions and then better jobs every time.

It was a lot different from high school. No sports, very little socializing, just my nose in the books, my mind on the goal, and my eyes on the finish line.
 

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