Elias, M. (1996, August 19). "To teens, a nerd is still a nerd: School social patterns unchanging." USA Today, p. 6D.

OVERVIEW

Status remains important in the youth culture, according to a new study of social systems in eighteen high schools in various states. Murray Milner Jr., a sociologist at the University of Virginia, reported his findings to the American Sociological Association.

Male athletes (or "jocks") and attractive girls are still at the tops of the high school pecking order in many places this study found. "Socies" or well-dressed "preppies" who are cool and make the right parties come next. "Nerds" for the sin of being preoccupied with academic success are classed by teenagers as being very low on the acceptability ladder. At the bottom rung are "dorks" considered "hopelessly inept" in regards to clothes and social events. This general pattern seems to have sustained itself through several decades with local and temporary disparity.

"Kids typically date only within their own status level"—a designation set generally during the freshman year and is only exceptionally upgraded. Downgrading is a threat to most. "A girl dating a star athlete who gets injured and can’t play finds his status—and hers along with him—suddenly declining. Even being seen talking to classmates ‘beneath’ one’s status can pull students down fast."

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. What most impresses or disturbs you from this article and study? Why?
2. Do you think there is any relationship between status, stereotyping, and stress in high school?
3. Why is it that most students can identify status groups or stereotypes other than their own?
4. Are these social patterns at all present in your town and high school? How are they different?
5. What are alternatives to the hierarchies of status and dating?
6. Is there anything parents, teachers, and youth workers can do to reduce the negative aspects of status and stereotyping? What might teenagers themselves do to improve the social life of their schools and neighborhoods?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Junior high school as well as senior high school has sharp demarcations between those who are cool and those not so acceptable. In both cases there is the possibility of cruel remarks, humor, and emotional injury.
2. Most social scientists would see status hierarchies as a fertile soil for discrimination. The sharper the lines of high school societies, the more possible is the rise of later racism, sexism, and other discriminations.
3. Youth work should create alternative, safe, and inclusive communities. Wilderness experiences, experiential education, and service learning are some of the most effective antidotes to social stereotyping and discrimination.

Dean Borgman cCYS