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“Stereotypes are everywhere,” said Harley Bennett, 17, a student at Canon-McMillan High School.
It’s a rain-chilled morning in December.
Four girls, including Bennett, lounge, legs tucked under or beside or in front of them in the square of desks of their second-period psychology class.
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The word “stereotype” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “something conforming to a fixed or general pattern” – synonymous with “overexposed” or “generalization.”
“Stereotypes are a joke,” according to Autumn Richie, part of the group of girls.
She shakes out her blonde hair and touches her Coach purse. Her perfume straight from Victoria’s Secret, smells of flowers.
“People think you dress a certain way and that makes you a certain way. It’s ridiculous.” Bennett turns to her, agitated, but in agreement.
“It’s not about how you dress,” she said.
“Not anymore. No one makes fun of you for how you dress.”
After a short but sincere discussion over affixing labels to certain styles or trends and how it feels to be judged, the girls collapse in giggles, and the argument, if one can call it that, is over.
The concept of what’s “in” and trendy, counterculture or the outsider, along with teens’ judgments of one another, was up for conversation at January’s Young Observers meeting. Defining oneself in high school can be a tricky thing, as this roundtable of middle- and high-schoolers agreed.
Jenna Campbell, a freshman at Avella High School, said in high school, nobody is as he or she seems. Kids feed off each other.
“People try really hard to be different, which makes the people who actually are different mad,” said Bethany Longstreth, a senior at McGuffey. “It’s hard to explain.”
The students said being an outsider, or against the mainstream, means different things to different groups of students. They said there are those who consider themselves “different” – and then there are students who are different.
“In eighth grade, you were weird to wear skinny jeans and Converse sneakers,” said Longstreth. “What they made fun of us for the year before is what they’re using to be cool.”
Students said that it can be frustrating when one chooses a certain style that represents their individuality, and as time passes, that choice develops to become acceptable by the mainstream; no longer is this choice unique to the individual.
On the other hand, being different from the mainstream in general can become what is, in fact, popular.
“The anti-conformers are almost as bad as the conformers because they try to conform to ‘the other side,’” said Corrina Tender, a junior at Burgettstown High School.
“People always wanna do what’s cool,” said Katie Chuey, a junior at Canon-McMillan High School. “No matter who it is, we all want to be accepted.”
Chuey said it’s cool to be “the outsider” but when there are 60 students and they’re spending a lot of money to make their case, in regard to fashion, at least, it negates the idea of being against the grain. She said “the real outsiders” aren’t a part of a large group.
Tender said it’s easy to see through people. “It’s like when someone’s trying really hard to be funny but just repeating the same jokes,” she said. “You just look at them blankly.”
Ryker Minch, a junior at First Love Christian Academy, said as teens age, their identity stays with them. “Whoever you are in middle school, you still are in high school.”
Campbell said, however, it’s easier to accept yourself as you age.
“Everyone always wanted to fit into a group, I know I always wanted to fit into a group,” she said. “But now, I’m starting to accept that I am my own person.” She said the popularity factor no longer matters with age.
Tender said at her school, there is a camaraderie among her classmates. She said the idea of labeled groups doesn’t matter as much among her peers because they’ve grown up together and, as a result, share a lot of the same interests. Therefore the cafeteria tables are a mix of individuals; no one cares about trendiness, athletic ability, intelligence or style.
Longstreth agreed, but said it depends on one’s peers.
Her class at McGuffey has a similar outlook, she said.
From band members to athletes and cheerleaders, everyone gets along as equals.
The group agreed that being in school together from K through 12 affects how they see each other, but in some groups, there is close-mindedness and stereotypical stuff “that hasn’t gone away.”
“Everyone thinks of themselves as an individual – I am my own person, but they look at everyone else and they fit them into a label,” said Tender, explaining the cycle of stereotyping.
“In high school, you are your friends,” said Minch.
Others don’t see you, they see you within this group of people you surround yourself with, he said.
Alex York, an eighth-grader at Commonwealth Connections Academy, said although he is still in middle school, he notices how students’ identities and likes and dislikes, even musical tastes, affect how others see them. “Even in cyberschool,” what you like and who you are like matters. “I guess it kind of counts.”
Students agreed that there will always be those who try hard to fit in – some do it to seek attention, others just aren’t mature enough to know who they are yet as an individual, said the roundtable, particularly if they’ve been bullied.
“If they’ve been made fun of all those years, then they don’t really have a way to get back to maybe who they really want to be,” said Chuey. She explained maybe it’s a pride issue to lean toward trends to fit in – accepting what is accepted by the mainstream because one feels he must.
Minch said, “I think we’re way too complicated.”
