I imagine that all of you can relate or agree with me in saying that cliques exists everywhere and at every age level. I believe that cliques can be very detrimental to one’s self esteem, especially while going through middle school and high school. There are always certain cliques such as the popular crowd, the jocks, the nerds, the loners, and the drama kids. However, now that we are in college there are also cliques including frat boys or sorority girls, in which you have a sort of “try-out” to join these two groups. They deny many students from joining their brotherhood or sisterhood. These students that have been denied are left feeling rejected by their own peers.
High school and middle school are far worse with cliques than in college. In my opinion, middle school is where the cliques start to begin and form within the students, therefore stereotyping the students for the rest of their middle school and high school careers. These cliques, such as the popular group, the jocks, loners, and drama kids, could lead to ridicule, therefore causing a low self-esteem and self-consciousness.
Stereotypical cliques such as the drama kids are portrayed as somewhat of an outdated outcast, as shown in the movie Mean Girls. This portrayal, however, can make these kids feel as if they don’t belong with the rest of their classmates. If there were no such thing as the stereotypical cliques kids wouldn’t feel as pressured to fit in and wouldn’t feel like they’re outcasts.
One of my friends in high school, who was on my lacrosse, but she was also involved in the band and theater department at my high school and was labeled as a drama kid. She was in a bunch of the plays throughout high school and sometimes got made fun of for being in them. She got upset a lot when people made fun of her and I always felt really bad that they were making fun of her. She was extremely good at performing in the plays, but the kids didn’t care they just saw her as a drama geek. Even though she was an athlete as well, she got ridiculed for being in the drama program, therefore lowering her self-esteem. By the end of junior year she was reluctant to go out for the school play because she didn’t want to be made fun of anymore. Being stereotyped in a clique can really damage one’s self esteem and affect the way people act and live their lives out.