It’s a sunny day, flowers blooming and the grass is green...BRRR!!! The school bell rang signalling lunch to start. Students scrambled out of their classes and overflowed the hallways in a hurry to buy lunch. “Hey! I’m sorry but that seats taken. A ‘popular girl’ stated clearly to a ‘not-so popular’ girl. A hurt look sprawled across the ‘not-so’ popular girl’s face. One mississippi, her eyes strolled her surroundings, only to be rewarded by stares of passing students. Two mississippi, a blush crept onto her face. Three mississippi, she sped away, noticing that no one ever took the seat. BRRR!!! The school bell rang once again to signal the end of lunch. Yet the girl observed that no one ever occupied the seat.
It’s a sunny day, flowers blooming and the grass is green...BRRR!!! The school bell rang signalling lunch to start. Students scrambled out of their classes and overflowed the hallways in a hurry to buy lunch. “Hey! As I told you, that seats taken! And I am SO sorry!” The ‘popular’ girl spat out rudely. The ‘not-so popular’ girl however did not budge. But quietly muttered “But no one sat there yesterday...” The ‘popular’ girl glared at her, settled her bag on the seat. “Well it IS and I am SO sorry!” The ‘not-so popular’ girl then shuffled away nervously, silent as a rabbit.
What is the real definition of popularity? The state or condition of being liked, admired, or supported by many people. But in the last few years, it seems like popular people have a lot more ‘power’ over not-so popular kids. Is that really popularity or bullying? If you hangout with the popular kids, they most likely talk about ‘mature’ topics, and you might feel left out. The risk is that after you feel left out, and you might change to fit in with them. But the truth is, they don’t have the power over you.
Popular kids shouldn’t be bossing over you, they have no right to say ‘you just simply aren’t good enough’. Words hurt and so do actions. We are all humans and they is real benefit to be mean and unfair. In fact, studies show that average popular kids have lower grades than non popular kids. Popularity increase bullying too, when you have the power, you have the choice to take advantage, and the result is bullying. 20 percent of U.S. students in grades 9-12 reportedly have experienced bullying or are feeling bullied, while 28 percent of students in grades 6-12 report the same. Experts agree that most incidences of bullying occur during middle school. 70.6 percent of teens have seen bullying occurring in their schools and approximately 30 percent of young people admit to bullying themselves.
Surprisingly, popularity of their own kids is a problem to parents too. Some parents worry about their child's prom and are aware that not-so popular kids are disliked by popular kids. In other words, popularity today is another word for ‘likability’. But even if you are popular, doesn’t mean that you might not experience being rejected and left out. Those are things that are normal in life. Be nice and live a fair life. And the truth is, you won’t be popular forever.
Written by Karen
I am an 8th grade teacher in Wisconsin, USA. My students are new to Investigative Journalism. They read and have responded to various articles you have written. Although we are not ready to blog individually, I would like to share their response with you:
ReplyDeleteWe agree with your article. The only thing we suggest is some more elaboration and details. Does this happen at school? How often?