Being an Outsider

“That kid’s a dork! All he ever does is homework. He doesn’t even get drunk!” These are one of the many stereotypical statements that are constantly being made among teenagers of various age groups. Why is it that the kids who get good grades, who don’t play sports, or do not drink and do drugs are always considered dorks or nerds? It seems as if these types of individuals do not fit in with the “in-crowd”, or the popular groups. What qualities does a certain individual need to have to fit in, and what qualities do they lack which makes them not? Many people struggle, and do things that they normally wouldn’t do to be accepted into the in-crowd, while others don’t seem to mind at all and are perfectly happy with their social status. There are several small aspects that separate the in-group from the out-group, and vice versa. Popularity was determined by only few factors at the high school in which I graduated from. The popular kids were either those that partied, those that did drugs, and those who played sports. The individuals who were not into any of these activities simply were not popular. They were not all necessarily looked down upon by the popular people, but they certainly were not welcome in the cliqu

In high school, I wasn"tmt considered popular, or a dork, I was floating about some where in the middle. The people that were looked down upon and constantly picked on and harassed by the popular people were the "nerds" and the "dorks". One of my good friends"tm little brother was considered a "dork" at our school because he was in the band. He hated having the label of being a dork, and he tried many things to gain the respect of the in-crowd. One time I saw a football player duck tape a member of the band to a bench. The more he tried to gain the attention from the in crowd, the more of a fool he made himself out to be. Some of them were acquaintances with the popular people, but most of them "were not good enough" to be hanging around with the in-group. The idea of being included or excluded from a group of people will always remain. When I would hang out with the "dorks" the popular people would make fun of me and say things like "Hey, Bremer"tms thinking about becoming a dork now!" When I would hang out with members of the in-crowd, my friends that were considered dorks would think that I was betraying them to try and become popular. I never really cared too much about popularity or status. I got along with mostly everybody, and didn"tmt care about what people thought. The standards that our society sets for people will always remain, and every one at one point in their life will be classified as an outsider, and there isn"tmt much we can do about it. The popular people would stereotype all of these people before even getting a chance to know them. They think just because of certain activities they do or don"tmt do that they are automatically "losers". He soon realized that it all wasn"tmt worth it and became happy with being a "band nerd".