Attention all Staters (Americans)!!

[Smeagi-chan]

Hi!
I was wondering if I could steal away a little bit of your time?
I'm doing an research essay for my Media Studies class and I'm looking to interview/question some of you guys to use in it.

My topic is the portrayal of social groupings in American highschools by Teen Films and how accuratly this portrayal it with reality. What a mouthful!...Its a working title...
I'm going to analyse three films from the 80s and then another three from the 90s-2000s. Then through interviews see how true the Hollywood Hightschool is in reality.

So thats where you guys come in! I have a few questions and if you guys could answer them to the best of you ability then I'd really appriciate it!

- What was your experience with social grouping in Highschool? The cool kids, nerds, which one where you if any?
- Was there a stronge seportation between groups?
- What would you say the ratio of 'Black' to 'White' people was? What other races where there?
- Was finacial status a factor with social groupings?
- Ummm, anything else that you think could be usesful XD <3

So yeah, give some long answers that I can quote <3
These may sound like strange questions but I grew up in New Zealand and Australia, so I have no experience with the workings of American schools, and have always wondered how much of what TV portrays is realistic. Both here and in Aus there really isn't that much division, everyone talks to everyone, unless your just a real freek or b****, there are no stronge groupings really.
Also, growing up in Australia particularly, there really wasn't any racial difference, everyone was White, maybe a few Asians, but very much prodominantly White.
(I really don't mean to offend anyone with how I speak about peoples appearance, put it down to inexperiance)

Thanks, I really hope all that made sense, and as many answers as possible would be AWESOME!

[Tensei Kaori]

- What was your experience with social grouping in Highschool? The cool kids, nerds, which one where you if any?

I pretty much went my own way. I had my friends, but alot of the time I was just on my own. I did hang out with the band people sometimes, and later with Hiroshi, but as for a "grouping" I guess you could say I wasn't really in one.

- Was there a strong separation between groups?
Not really. There were obviously groups, but there weren't walls between them. People would intermingle, and alot of people were part of more than one "group".

- What would you say the ratio of 'Black' to 'White' people was? What other races where there?
I can't put a number to the ratio, but my school was predominantly white. We did have a few people of other races, and we also had some transfer students, but I don't remember the countries form which they came.

- Was finacial status a factor with social groupings?
Nope. I mean, there was a large number of well-off people at my school, but if it ever became a social factor I never noticed it.

- Ummm, anything else that you think could be usesful XD <3
Just a warning that my perspective might be skewed somewhat from the norm. I went to a small, private, Christian Highschool and had just under 60 people in my graduating class. Everyone knew everyone, and while there were little social groupings, the school wasn't fragmented into a hundred highly exclusive cliques. Also, being the "lone wolf" type for much of my K-12 career, I kept my nose out of the social scene as much as possible, and thus alot of the social subcurrents and divisions among my peers just might have completely escaped my notice. It wouldn't be the first time. XD


So there ya go. Hope that helps!

[strangevisitor]

Well, might as well throw my $1.87 into the ring...why is it $1.87? because everyone ELSE has 2 cents >

Experience with social groupings- Yep, they were all over the place. The Jocks, the Cheerleaders, the Drama Students, the Academic team, the Band...Umm...do D&D players count as a group? because that's what I was in, lol.

Strong group separations?- hecks yeah. Pity the foo' who tried to sit at the Jock lunch table and wasn't a Jock. Same with the Cheerleaders, but they'd usually start mocking you if you got too close

Ethnic ratios! Whee!- Living near east Cleveland, in good ol' Ohio, there were a good number of blacks, about an equal amount of whites. We had a small smattering of Indian(hindu) and a couple Philipeno(sp?), but that was it.

Financial status as a factor with grouping Yup. The bubbleheaded cheerleaders always had the nicest clothes in the hottest fashions, driving around daddy's car, and seeing how many dumb jocks they could rope in today. If you couldn't afford 'the goods', you were barely allowed to be part of the group.

Other junk!- I lived in the suburb of a big city, so I guess you could say that my school was fairly 'average' in terms of all this junk. kinda stereotypical, y'know?

[Kiri]

I don't know how much my opinion really counts since I went to a small, private school; and most Hollywood movies tend to focus on bigger public high schools. Therefore I won't slight you if you discount my answers, as I don't know how pertinent they are. ^^;; If I can remember, though, I'll ask my brother to come fill this out. He goes to a huge public school here and he'd be able to answer these questions far better than I.

What was your experience with social grouping in Highschool? The cool kids, nerds, which one where you if any?
There were social groupings, but they weren't very big, and they tended to intermix due to the small number of students. I had friends who were math nerds and friends who were musicians and friends who were in sports. Most of us had known each other since we were little kids, though, so there wasn't as much focus on cliques. Also, even though we were all friendly, I think we did tend to hang out with people who shared our interests (which is really the sensible thing to do in any social situation). For example, I spent the most time with the people who were in choir with me, or who happened to like Japanese animation (all one of her!).

Was there a stronge seportation between groups?
As I said above, not really. The disparity was there, but it wasn't that obvious. Sometimes you'd hang out with one group, sometimes you'd hang out with another.

What would you say the ratio of 'Black' to 'White' people was? What other races where there?
Well. Considering it was Kansas... predominantly white. There was one black boy in the whole school (which would make it... what? 100:1? Something pitiful like that). I don't remember there being people of other races there, either. Hutchinson/Buhler/the surrounding areas were pretty well German or Amish communities, so there wasn't a lot of variety. There were a few asians (one of my friends was Taiwanese, and there were several students who came over for a year or two from Korea to study), but for the most part the student body was made up of caucasians.

Was finacial status a factor with social groupings?
No. Not really. I mean, everyone knew who the "rich kids" were and to some extent we were a little prejudiced against them, but no one was ever excluded because they had too much money or didn't have enough.

[chuwawa]

Well....I was a bit of an anomally. I wasn't considered "popular," but because of the activities (and my personality) I was in, pretty much EVERYONE knew who I was in High School. So, I was around a lot of the popular kids, but I also mixed in with the errr "less popular" kids as well. Lessee...


What was your experience with social grouping in Highschool? The cool kids, nerds, which one weere you if any?Well, there were a few kids who just thought they were better than others, and tried to revel in their false sense of superiority, but most of us had sense enough to ignore them and knock em down a peg or two when they tried to act uppity.

There were several cliques, but these tended to be more towards the whole "we've known eachother forever and we're gonna stay that way" kind of idea. Since I was sort of a "social butterfly," I was put in a lot of these groups. I personally considered myself to be a giant nerd, but everyone else just thought I was "crazy and weird." Hence, I was with the popular kids (many of which were cheerleaders in show choir with me), and also with the angry, anarchistic, "I just gotta get outta here" people as well. So...yeah, I might skew your data a bit.

Was there a stronge seportation between groups?
Not really. I mean, yeah, it was obvious when people sat together at lunch that the popular kids sat with eachother, but no one would outright kick some poor uncool" kid off their table. They may not talk to them, but only because they felt awkward around this person. Sometimes (especially one girl. She was the captain of the cheerleading squad...had such a soft heart) they'd even invite people sitting by themselves to sit with them. Sorta out of pity, since people just seemed so lonely when they ate by themselves.

One thing I did notice, however, was that people in the more "unpopular" groups tended to seperate themselves from others more quickly, and seemed to enjoy labeling others into specific categories. The popular kids didn't do that. Weren't really concerned with anyone else. Least in my grade, they weren't. Younger grades...well, those girls were judgemental beyond recognition, but that's another story >,>

What would you say the ratio of 'Black' to 'White' people was? What other races where there?
Actually, blacks outnumbered the whites at my school. Hispanics have gradually becoming more prominent, but Asians are pretty much nonexistant (one or two every few years).

Interestingly enough, the older a class was, the few blacks you had. Actually, that goes for the whole class in general. Mine, for example, started with over 200 students Freshman year. By Graduation, we had maybe....145? So, though we have more black people in the schools, enough of them would sadly drop out over the course of four years that the graduating class still had whites outnumbering them...maybe by 20 people, if that much. Eh, just a little bit of extra info for ya.

Was finacial status a factor with social groupings?
Eh. Not really. Financial status got you more pull when you were actually dealing with officials, though. But with students, well...nah. We didn't care how much money you had, cause we were big enough jerks to make fun of you regardless. Peh.

If you need anything else, lemme know. Social groupings is sort of a favorite topic of mine.

[Kiri]

These are my brother's answers to the questions. ^^ Hope they're helpful.

What was your experience with social grouping in Highschool? The cool kids, nerds, which one where you if any?
I guess I was placed in the goth/metal/emo group.

Was there a stronge seportation between groups?
Yes. All the 'gangstas' hang out on one side of the hallway, my group hangs out on the other, and the other groups like preps, jocks, and @$$holes do whatever they please.

What would you say the ratio of 'Black' to 'White' people was? What other races where there?
More whites than blacks, and there are thousands of hispanics (exaggeration XD).

Was finacial status a factor with social groupings?
Yeah, it seems that way. You can always tell who the rich kids are and who aren't, because the rich kids always have the nicest stuff. They pretty much shun everyone else.

Other comments:
Public school sucks.

[Smeagi-chan]

Wow, thank you so much all you guys, that really did help, and I mean ALL the answers were helpful **nods furously** Hmm, This has given me a lot of material to work with and some awesome ideas on where I'll go with this part of the essay when I get there, so a super thanks again guys, and sorry it look me while to answer XD The school been close the last week, and I don't have the internet myself, such a poor starving student, woe is me XDDDDD <3

[strangevisitor]

you're welcome! ^_^

[Kiri]

Glad I could be of use. ^^;

[Tensei Kaori]

You're quite welcome! I'm glad it helped. ^^

[chuwawa]

^_^ Not a problem. Glad I could be of help!

Course, now I'm just uber curious as to how your paper turns out.

[Tensei Kaori]

As am I! ^^

[Kiri]

Yes. I think we should get to read it! XD

[Tensei Kaori]

Indeed! I quite agree.

[Smeagi-chan]

Haha XDD Sure! I'll find a way to post it up when I'm done XD (it'll be 3000-5000 words XD) And I'll tell you my mark too when I get it '^ ^' <3