<p>my school is alright too because everyone pretty much knows everyone. I mean, there are cliques in my school, and a lot of them, but in classes, everyone talks nicely to everyone. Behind their backs though…j/k…only some do that. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t define my self as popular, but A LOT of people know me, and especially last year, even more knew me. I guess because i am like the only Hindu there, and im really skinny, and im a vegetarian…that is how many people know who i am…in fact, many people have said hi to me, and out of kindness, i say hi back, then later to my friend: “Who the heck was that??”</p>
<p>my entire school has about 1200 kids, which is an average size…</p>
<p>and not the freshman, but the Junior High Kids i have seen are TINY! I think like the average height of the 9th graders is like barely 5ft!!!</p>
<p>it’s interesting - the original “popular” kids from elem. and middle school are still the “popular kids”; however, an additional “popular” group emerged at the beginning of high school - these kids are pretty intelligent (all A’s, some B’s, pretty intense courses relative to majority of school, lots of comm service, class/club officers) and all hang out together.</p>
<p>then there are the very intelligent kids - the ones that go to governor’s school, take most difficult classes, pretty much top 10 or 15 of class, comm service, some research, club officers, etc. popularity here stems mainly from leadership and the natural respect granted to those that do well.</p>
<p>there seems to be an ironic overlap as well, as marijuana is more abundant in this very intelligent group than many others in school. </p>
<p>ive noticed a refreshing integration of groups senior year as well. i find myself with kids from different groups quite often now. makes the year seem very promising.</p>
<p>If you are popular but not smart, that is worse than being unpopular and smart. All the dumb, popular airheads in highschool are in for a huge surprise when they graduate high school and/or college. I’ll leave it at that.</p>
<p>Anyways, here is my take on the situation: If you are an articulate speaker, then you will make friends much easier than someone who fumbles through his or her sentences (and being smart is not always a factor).</p>
<p>“If you are popular but not smart, that is worse than being unpopular and smart. All the dumb, popular airheads in highschool are in for a huge surprise when they graduate high school and/or college”</p>
<p>You cannot simply assume this. In fact most of the jocks from our school go on to the major universities around our region. And if someone whom has been popular for a long time has good connections, you need to think about what that brings to them logically. Most of these alumni go on to start a business in their region providing themselves with substanial income despite the lack of a degree. Having good skills with trading and oratory and gaining self respect tends to provide higher income than someone without these skills even with a 4 year degree. You do realize that the top 1% of America does not make money with their income or CEO position, but rather their BONDS which are accumulated through CONNECTIONS and inheritance, right? If you hang on to what you believe, YOU’LL be the one in for a suprise after college.</p>
<p>At my school, the popular kids are the ones that do the ASB stuff and officers work and spirit stuff and yadada. </p>
<p>The same kids are in charge of all the clubs and organizations and stuff like that (we don’t have much and for what we have, the same people are in everything, including ASB + officer positions). </p>
<p>The jocks or whatever aren’t very well known cuz no one cares about sports at my school, except for tennis. We get a huge turnout for tennis and most of the kids in it are the Overachievery kids (with the officer positions and yada). At my school, people don’t really mix with each other. Whites hang out with the whites (and then there are varying degrees of popularity)… etc.</p>
<p>Well, appliedmath, that comment was a broad generalization. Sure, I agree, there are and I know some incredibly popular kids that are also very very smart. What I’m talking about are the stereotypical people that all they focus is on being popular but have no brains. I was referring to that group that are popular in high school but have the IQ of a banana. Sure they can be the captain of something and be known in the whole school, but without brains (or as you said, connections) they won’t win out in the end, whether that means attending a uni or getting a good job.</p>
<p>Umm they had a sping semiformal for the 8th graders last year and not only did somebody spike the punch, but three got caught doing drugs and were suspended…how pathetic do you have to be?</p>
<p>Haha, I thought that was kind of funny personally.</p>
<p>I think it’s safe to say that my high school is def not the norm…all the “popular” kids are the ones who are smart and study, but are also involved with tons of sports, school plays, tons of extracurriculars. I think it’s awesome to be valued and respected as an intellectual, and I feel bad for you CC’ers who come from high schools where jock-types determine what’s cool and what’s not. I just think that is so incredibly lame. Anyway, I come from an incredibly small school (around 300 kids, 77 in my grade) so maybe this explains part of it.</p>
<p>yeah popularity def doesn’t matter. not to sound conceited or anything, but i was like the most popular girl in my old school, and i switched schools in 9th grade. im not in the popular group at myy new school, but i know a lot of people and have a lot of friends and go to a lot of parties. a lot of my friends are in the ‘popular’ group, but i wouldn’t be categorized as popular. this girl from my old school who was in the ‘unpopular’ group, but it a great person, was best friends with a ‘popular’ girl from my new school this summer. so its totally up in the air whether you’re popular or not, it just depends on which group you identify with.</p>
<p>I agree. I’m a “floater” mixing well with pretty much any group of positive kids, (except stone-cold stoners). Still, because service is practically a prerequisite for even applying to high-caliber colleges, I find that things I do are generally noticed and known about. That’s how you get popular. Don’t care what other people think and if they say something bad, just do like Jay-z and brush your shoulder’s off. (With you fingers, not with your whole hand, btw) Ok i need sleep.</p>
<p>actually, reputation IS important. friends are very important. be surrounded by people with similar interests. even tho u might not see them after highschool, the memories will remain. </p>
<p>unfortunately, my reputation wasn’t as great in middleschool and elementary school and my memories of then aren’t that great.</p>