barriers1

[samanthabonora]

Ever since elementary school there has been a certain knowledge that only few would be known as, “the in-crowd”. To be part of these select few took less effort than we ever really thought it took. There were really only a few rules to be being “popular”. Some of these were, to never stand out too outrageously much and to find someone who was “less popular” and noticeably “un-cool” to pick on.
Matt says that in a typical High School setting there is a “them” vs. “us” that exists. The, “us” that Matt is talking about is his crowd of friends which happens to be the popular crowd, and the “them” that he refers to is basically everyone else, or more along the lines of Peter’s small group of friends. As described in the book, Nineteen Minutes, it tells us, with an example, that to become part of someone like Matt’s crowd you must fit in with them. Sometimes this will include situations like where if one person is spotted being extremely different or just being in any way “un-cool” they will be called out on that and the rest are obligated to follow. For some reason this action will somehow make them feel better about themselves, unite them, and give them a feeling of power over others. Because what this really does is, not make them higher, but make everyone else think that they are lower than them.
High school is very difficult to picture with no barriers protecting the “in-crowd” from everyone else. However if people were to stop picking at everyone else’s flaws and little mistakes, that we all will make at sometime, high school just might be able to become a place so that each and every student feels a part of the school.
So in conclusion I do think that it is possible for high school to be a safe scenery for kids and that not every group of friends has to have a certain role, status, or level of importance. All kids don’t always have to get along, but they should have a say in just where they fit in depending on where they want to be, not because there happened to be someone lower than you who was vulnerable and an easy target to be made fun of.

[glennb]

I agree with your first paragraph in the sense of how easy it is to be popular. I have seen it happen before an it does happen. Popular students do sometimes single out students who act in a different manner then they do.

However, I do not agree that kids will stop picking on other kids. I believe that kids will always make fun of other kids as a mean to feel higher than them. It is something that young children do naturally without even thought sometimes. I do not think that High School could ever be a place without students being bullied.

[asalerno]

I agree with most of your essay. I agree with you when you say, "High school is very difficult to picture with no barriers protecting the “in-crowd” from everyone else. However if people were to stop picking at everyone else’s flaws and little mistakes, that we all will make at sometime, high school just might be able to become a place so that each and every student feels a part of the school." I think ever since we started high school bullying has gotten worse in the sense of picking on people, not so much physically bullying someone.
However, I do not agree with you when you talk about the "in-crowd" since elementary school. I think a lot has changed since then. Also, in elementary school we were all friends and no one was really picked on up until middle school.

[alexandranoel]

I agree with your essay for the most part. I do not agree that everyone will eventually fit in and stop bullying each other, because that is something that is never going to happen, even though you said if people accept each other more it can reduce, which that can happen. I also agree that being popular is something that is set out at a young age, and achieving it is easy by picking on others and just fitting the image. Some think that high school is where the majority of cliques start forming, but i believe they start at a much younger age, between elementary to middle school. I agree that all different groups of kids should be accepted in high school, though.

[cgeorge]

I agree with most of what you said Sam. Since we were little, our personalities have been forming. The way some kids may think and act will determine who they turn out to be. It's pathetic how some people think by making others beleive that they are perfect will actaually make them that. Nobody's perfect and everyone has flaws. Popular kids are just better at covering them up and try to make sure that anyone they think is "lower" than them will start to think that too. If people start to see the flaws in them, they think they will become unpopular themselves.
Here's the thing though, everyone has their own defenses. Making other people look bad may be a way of defending what everyone thinks of you. This however is not the right way. The popular kids that do this do infactneed help themselves. They need help dealing with how they handle situations. They need help with dealing how other people see themselves. And most of all they need help on dealing with how they see themselves.