Author's Note: I decided this piece was going to be controversial, because I wanted the comments on this post to be meaningful for both me and the person commenting. This piece is about the cliques in our school, and my goal was not to be disrespectful to anyone, but to still have an opinion on the topic at hand. I hope you enjoy it, and PLEASE comment! Don't be afraid to dissagree, or agree. Thanks!
Every school is rich in one thing or another, whether it is the arts, education, or something entirely unique. I have lived in three places so far in my life, and Pewaukee wins the sport award. Most everyone at school plays at least one sport, but most participate in multiple. Basketball, football, soccer, track, they're all on the daily agenda. Ask a few people what they did over the weekend, and at least one answer will be playing in a tournament, or having something funny happen at a soccer game. All of these activities bring people together, and form tons of amazing friendships.
Unfortunately, sports are also just as able to keep friendships from forming. In middle school, cliques are all you can expect, and in a stereotypical school, there would be the jocks, the nerds, and the cheerleaders. Here, it is simply the ones who play sports, and the ones who don't. Everybody knows, whether they want to admit it or not, that all the people who play one of the many activities get a spot at the lunch table, and all the friends they could need. It isn't because the kids that don't do recreational activities are weird, or uncool, but the worlds of the two cliques are totally different. Only a few people, like me, manage to fit in between both worlds, and that gives us a whole different outlook on the school.
The Pewaukee school district has all of their schools on one street, which means everyone grows up together, from kindergarten to senior year. This is both a blessing and a curse, because there is no pressure to meet new people, but by now, nothing is ever going to change with the way the cliques are. Even if one sport just disappeared, the cliques would not change, or intertwine, the sports group would only become closer, sympathizing with the ones who lost their favorite hobby. It is my hope that in the high school years we have to come, that something will change, something will shift the balance of this school, but for now, everything stays the same, and that is all that can be expected in a middle school world.
I agree with you but I kind of don't. Just because you are involved in a recreational activity, doesn't automatically mean you are in the clique. You also have to have a certain aspect of popularity to be accepted into the sports group. Some people who are on the sports team have one or two friends in that clique but are otherwise shunned. And some of us are just to shy to admit they belong in that group (Brad). It's not just cliques that hold us back from making new friends, it's also our heightened self-awareness and that we're afraid to be seen with someone or do something that makes is feel unpopular. For example, when writing this I keep thinking about how much of a nerd I must sound like. But anyway, I completely agree that cliques can hold us back from making new friends.
ReplyDeleteI think that this piece really describes what's been going on in our school for the past few years. People breaking up into small groups, and unfortunately it may not change. But all we can hope for is that everyone comes together and becomes one. But we all know that its going to be a difficult task to complete.
ReplyDeleteSophie I agree with you, for the most part. I think that what Matt is saying is almost exactly what I wanted to say. As an eighth grader,I know that it takes a lot of courage to stand out in a school, even if it just means wearing different clothes or as you have suggested Sophie, sitting at a different lunch table. We are so afraid that we will make a bad impression on our egos that we are disallowing ourselves to be able to form friendships by this constant need to sustain our egos.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do agree with you on that thought, I do not agree with you in saying that people that are "sporty" refrain from making friends with other people, or let other people be friends with them, because that is snobbish and although this is true for some individuals, not all. I also disagree that if a sport just disappeared that sporty people would not change friends and their lives would just stay the same because that would not be true. They would lose a team, something that they love, and they would have to find a replacement for that, leading them to different people and new things. Overall, I do agree with your main idea that cliques do affect schools and friendships, which is sad. I also hope that our generation is able to start making changes with this.
Yes as Autumn was saying, I really hope that our generation will start to make the change of the substantial 'cliques'. I do agree that sometimes if you do not play one of the sports, you do get unincluded like you kind of said, but sometimes it isn't all about that. I know that I feel bad for this, but some people that do play the same sports get unincluded, and then some people that don't play sports get included instead of those people, so I feel that it goes both ways. I like how you had the courage to write this piece and finally tell people what you see as one of those 'inbetween' type of people, and now that I read this I do kind of think differently about how this works at our school. I think all of us should just step up and make the change to change those cliques and allow other people to be I guess 'invited' into their group, because just because they do not play the sport of that group, they might have great personalities and get accepted by the big group. But about your piece, I think it was great, and you had really great voice. Nice job on everything
ReplyDeleteYou already know that I agree 100%! This is really well written as well. It really makes the reader understand the diversity between the two groups. I'm glad you decided to write about this[:
ReplyDeleteGREAT JOB SHARKY(:
I agree with you, Sophie, and with Taylor. I play a rec sport and I don't plan on never playing for the school, I just haven't yet. I know soccer is the most popular sport here, but I actually don't really like soccer, and soccer just doesn't like me. I'm proud to say that I love to play softball, and I'm actually quite good at it. I think that people should stop joining sports because they think it will make them look cool, even if they stink at it. Embrace the sport you're awesome at, even if it's dorky, at least you will be succeeding and not be looking like a wanna-be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Taylor about the pulling unity part. I think 8th Grade is hard for this because we are all middleschoolers and were the top dogs in the school but I think that come freshman year, we might be leaning on each other a lot more. I think that every one has their bestest friends but we should also make friends with people we thought we'd never be friends with. We might learn something. And remember, how many of these people will we actually keep up with after high school? What are the chances of seeing each other besides class reunions? Not a lot? Cliques are only a part of our life for a short while. If they seem heartbreaking right now, in ten years from now we won't even care.
I agree that since our school is all about sports, the people that don't are usually excluded from social groups. But me being on many sports teams for our school, I have a different perspective. If you play a sport but aren't a star on the team or aren't very good people treat you like you aren't a part of the team and discard you. I agree with you on a lot of things with this problem and thought it was a good idea to write about this. Good job
ReplyDeleteAbby said it really well, and it's something I forgot to mention in this piece, but some people do extra sports or sports they might not enjoy as much just to keep up what's expected of them. I don't know from firsthand, but it seems like a lot of pressure to be on so many things, and like Autumn said, we shouldn't be afraid if we stop doing one sport, and be different, or like Abby said, play a sport that people think is dorky, or might not be as familiar with, and be proud of it. Thanks so much for your opinions guys :)
ReplyDeleteI do agree with most but not all as most others are saying also. For instance it is almost nature for people who play the same sport to be in a clique, since they are all a team, a family. There is an obstacle of breaking off of that clique because I guess it would almost be breaking off of a family. I'm not trying to say though, that we aren't allowed to but it's just that we don't want to. Also I'm not saying that only soccer players are friends with soccer players ect. Very nice, thoughtful post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Sophie. At our school, it isn't all about cheerleaders and jocks, it's about sports teams. In middle school, people try so hard to fit in and be included, but never to stand out. Like Autumn said, we are so afraid to be different, because it means that people might judge us. The problem with all of this is that having these "cliques" prevents us from getting to know more people. We join all of these clubs to get to know others, which I guess can be a good thing, but it shouldn't be for an image, it should be for us. As everyone has been saying, we shouldn't be divided, we should be together. There may be people in our school that have great personalities, but we may never know that because they aren't involved in sports. Now is the time to be different, to just be ourselves, and do things because it's what we want to do. This is what middle school should be about. Like Abby said, 10 years from now, none of it will make a difference.
ReplyDeleteYou did accomplish your goal of writing a controversial piece. In this case I both agree and disagree with you. In this though it seems as though you split it into only two groups; the sporty group and the rest of the world. Where as I disagree that there are only two main sections I think that this is more of just the general way of categorizing the school, but if you work deeper into it there actually are many combinations of this were people who aren't in sports do hang out with the people who are.
ReplyDeleteI can see where you're coming from on this piece, but I really don't think that sports fuels all of the cliques that occur in our school, while they do form many friendships, I think the various cliques aren't limited to jocks, cheerleaders, and non- athletics oddballs. I actually believe that sports can strengthen and weaken cliques as well as create them, but I don't think that those who don't play sports are ostracized. In this piece I liked your writing and thought you presented your opinion well, but you should have expanded.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the fact that our school is separated into to people who play sports, and those who don't, but I don't agree that it is the thing that is totally keeping people from making different friends. People just don't like change, and since a lot of people have grown up together they are comfortable with the friends they have and see no reason to make new ones. When a new person comes to school a lot of people just ignore them, because trying to make friends with them might change the whole dynamics of their group of friends. So I think that people not wanting to make new friends is maybe partly due to if you play sports or not, but mostly because people are afraid of change. Nice job with this post Sophie, you really did force people to make their comments meaningful.
ReplyDeleteI don't entirely agree. First off I hate the spelling of clique so I'm going to spell it like click. Just because you play sports at this school doesn't immediately make you part of a click. I play soccer and I'm still ignored by pretty much everybody. There are many more clicks here than what meets the eye. It is incredibly annoying.
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