Critiquing a Clique Site :: Essays Papers

Critiquing a Clique Site Looking back, I realize that as a high school student, I was a member of a clique. I was in the â€Å"band geek† clique, but still, it was a clique. We had our own members, we snubbed some of those that didn’t belong in our group (well, the ones who had their own cliques and that snubbed us first), and we all got along well enough. This is what high school is about: groups. A high school student has to be in a group of some kind, or else something is wrong with that person in the eyes of other students. This is the way of the clique. That is why I have chosen to do my research paper on cliques, and I have chosen to do this paper for those people who know everything about the internet, and nothing about cliques. I found the site, http://www.mgh.org/wcc/teensite/adults/articles/cliques.html. This site deals with healthy choices for kids in grades six to eight, and was published by the Marquette General Hospital in 1998. This site is a good resource for parents a nd teens alike so they know how to deal with the pressure of cliques. The hardships of being in a clique can take their toll on a young teenager, first being part of the in group, then having a falling out and being enemies with those who were friends just days before. This is just one part of the dark side of cliques; the other, more worse part is being a scapegoat for a clique. This is usually a former member of the clique that was outcast, or it is an outsider that has been picked to be the target of humiliation by the clique. There is also the torment of being a former member no longer liked by the group. This ridicule is different for boys and girls: girls will most likely be ridiculed verbally, or will be given the silent treatment; boys will become the target of physical abuse. This site is to help parents learn how to deal with such treatment. The site says first for parents to be proactive. This will help them learn about their child’s social status, and will help them learn about their child’s friends. One of the best ways to find this information is to be active in the child’s class, volunteering for field trips, and helping out will give the parent some idea about what is going on in the class.