Post by shanicerivera on Sept 14, 2008 21:30:59 GMT -5
The topic I would like to talk about is the “them” vs. “us” situation at school, and whether or not high school could ever break down the barriers so that everyone feels apart of the school. For my very on opinion would be no, I do not think that this cycle could change. The reason I feel this way is because everyday in many high schools you would hear many stories about kids being rejected from a certain click or popular group.
In my own life experiences I am friends’ with many people, but being friends with a certain group of people does not mean that you are going to be in their click or group. I have friends, but I am not in any certain group or click for the simple fact that I am not entirely like them such as, I don’t dress the same or I’m just not into the things they do, but I don’t stress my self over it. Not everybody has to be in a group or a click to define who he or she are, although now a days numerous kids feel that the only way to fit in is to do whatever they can to be in a group and be an “us” instead of a “them”. I fell like all that needs to be done is to be yourself and except yourself for who you are I personally don’t think my differences from others is a problem I think of it as a uniqueness.
Form the book there are many encounters of this situation with the whole barriers of high school and clicks. In the story Nineteen Minutes the character Josie deals with self-esteem issues, click issues, and the issue of finding her true self. With her situation, she wanted to be so much like the “popular” crowd that she dropped her true friend Peter, which was always teased. In the beginning she stood up for peter, but then she saw that being friends with Peter was not doing anything for her, so she decided to change. She not only dropped Peter, but she began to change herself and did things she has never done before and slowly but surely she began to realize she was not happy the way she was because it wasn’t her. “Then one day, when I looked in the mirror, I understood. I looked into my own eyes and I hated myself, maybe as much as all of them did. That was the day I started to believe they might be right.” (Pg 161). She finally realized that she had to be who she was in the inside. This may not be noticed in kindergarten, but once kids get into third grade that’s when it starts or might start, and once kids start middle school that’s where it really begins because that’s when kids starts noticing who is getting invited to parties or get togethers’ with the “cool kids”. Kids I think just need to see themselves for who they are instead of what group they could be in and stop seeing their differences as quirks. That’s why I do not think the barriers could be brought down because it has gotten to be so much of a problem that it has become somewhat of a cycle and now people thinks it is normal for these problems to go on at school.
In my own life experiences I am friends’ with many people, but being friends with a certain group of people does not mean that you are going to be in their click or group. I have friends, but I am not in any certain group or click for the simple fact that I am not entirely like them such as, I don’t dress the same or I’m just not into the things they do, but I don’t stress my self over it. Not everybody has to be in a group or a click to define who he or she are, although now a days numerous kids feel that the only way to fit in is to do whatever they can to be in a group and be an “us” instead of a “them”. I fell like all that needs to be done is to be yourself and except yourself for who you are I personally don’t think my differences from others is a problem I think of it as a uniqueness.
Form the book there are many encounters of this situation with the whole barriers of high school and clicks. In the story Nineteen Minutes the character Josie deals with self-esteem issues, click issues, and the issue of finding her true self. With her situation, she wanted to be so much like the “popular” crowd that she dropped her true friend Peter, which was always teased. In the beginning she stood up for peter, but then she saw that being friends with Peter was not doing anything for her, so she decided to change. She not only dropped Peter, but she began to change herself and did things she has never done before and slowly but surely she began to realize she was not happy the way she was because it wasn’t her. “Then one day, when I looked in the mirror, I understood. I looked into my own eyes and I hated myself, maybe as much as all of them did. That was the day I started to believe they might be right.” (Pg 161). She finally realized that she had to be who she was in the inside. This may not be noticed in kindergarten, but once kids get into third grade that’s when it starts or might start, and once kids start middle school that’s where it really begins because that’s when kids starts noticing who is getting invited to parties or get togethers’ with the “cool kids”. Kids I think just need to see themselves for who they are instead of what group they could be in and stop seeing their differences as quirks. That’s why I do not think the barriers could be brought down because it has gotten to be so much of a problem that it has become somewhat of a cycle and now people thinks it is normal for these problems to go on at school.
