Abomination said:
I remember my last two years of High School when they introduced this very policy... back in 2002 and 2003. Do you know what happened? A mirror situation. The younger kids, arrogant in their sudden immunity from any of the clout previously possessed by the older years, turned into right little bastards. Their high pitched mewling and insults are ignored or brushed off by teaching staff should they be mentioned by older children as something to be left alone.
That's right, an entire generation of dickbags was spawned.
Thankfully, in the last half of my last year of high school the policies were supposedly "active" but now no longer enforced. Many a young lad had a sore shoulder or thigh in response to mouthing off at their elders (our school specalised in that method of 'curbing', a solid knee to a brat's thigh or a swift jab to the bicep - you know, injuries always hidden under the sleeve or shorts of a uniform). And so the lesson was learned by all... the older students learned to not abuse their status less it be taken away and amount for nothing and the younger students learned to not poke the bear.
Exactly, protecting them to much turns them into little shits that are worse than us.
That said, we don't ever attempt to actually hurt anyone that way.
mew4ever23 said:
Where's the "I never saw this happen in my highschool" option?
Seriously though, shouldn't matter how long you've been there, You're there to learn.
Not in my school your not.
Jamash said:
I'm not really too clear about the American definitions of High School, Senior and Freshman, so what ages are we talking about here?
What is the age range of High School and how are the age groups/years divided?
What age are Seniors?
What age are Freshmen?
When I went to school in the UK, Secondary School lasted from ages 11-15 (then College for 16-18), so I can't really envisage much of a hierarchy between 4 years of adolescents (even the most senior students were relatively young and immature), but I guess it's different enough in the US for this to be a thing.
Not by much, well, actually a little.
In the US Secondary School (We call it High School) is grades 9-12 which results in about 13-14 years olds in freshmen and 17-20 year olds in senior.
Spinozaad said:
American school culture confuses and infuriates me.
Over here, every "clique" has their own table/seats which somehow grows organically over the course of the year (to be reset at the end of every year), but there's no such competition or anything.
Of course, the first month of the year the brugklassers (first year kids) will be "pranked". As in: sending them to the wrong class when they ask for direction or shit like that. The moment they know their way around, this ceases.
Because why would you interact with the kiddywinks anyway? You're bullying them? Whoa, such a mighty senior you are.
Of course, my understanding of American high school is based on movies.
No, heres the thing; we do stuff more similar to what you said. We don't bully, I don't know why everyone uses that word in this thread.
Mr.Cynic88 said:
My generation has a severe problem coping with the "real world" right now because they were raised in an academic environment that taught us everything should be fair and gave us unrealistic expectations for adult life. Life's not fair, nepotism exists, and the more "type A" people will assert superiority over weaker groups whenever they can. It was like that in Rome, and it's like that today - it's a basic part of human nature.
I'm 24, so high school is a pretty distant memory for me, but that also allows me to look at those years with some more life context. Like most people have posted, my school didn't offer much senior privilege (besides giving them first dibs on the limited parking lot) from an administrative standpoint. Naturally cliques formed and some people were treated better than others, but in hindsight I think that is an important aspect of school, and of growing up in general.
I didn't encounter much bullying, but I think that's because I quickly developed a quick and sharp tongue, so people picked on easier targets. People learn from their environment, and if schools keep trying to remove "bullying," kids will be even less prepared for the real world. If a kid doesn't learn to deal with bully behavior young, what is he going to do as a delivery driver fighting over the best tickets against four grown men who are trying to support their family. If he doesn't learn how to be fake and kiss the ass of somebody of higher social standing, how is he going to make connections in college or the working world?
I have a history degree, and an overarching human trait is that we always treat each other like shit. Stopping kids from developing their hierarchies will only make them less capable when class time is finally over.
I agree with this, when the administration stands up for them I think it makes it worse. (Again though, we don't bully)
Libra said:
All I can think of when reading the OP is "glad I didn't go to high school in the US". Frankly, the whole 'this group of students is better than this one' or 'deserves to be bullied by this one' mentality scares me. Sounds more like an army base than a school.
That is actually an apt comparison now that I think about it. (The food we get doesn't help the thought). That said we don't through knives into peoples hands or kick them.
The_Echo said:
In my high school, all of the classes existed on the same level and intermixed regularly. Almost certain there wasn't a single group of friends in the whole school that didn't span at least two grades. Hell, some of us were friends with the staff!
So I never experienced "senior seniority." To me, it's always seemed like a thing endemic to movies.
From reading I'm finding that a lot of schools are obviously different from mine. Due to the way my schools set up (as a tech school) we don't have really any intermingling between the classes; in fact the seniors are more likely to be paired with freshmen for things.
That said inter-grade communication isn't unheard of, though it normally happens via sports or clubs.
Jordi said:
I frankly find the OP's position ridiculous. Pain, suffering and a common enemy can end up making people stronger and more united. It can also traumatize people and stifle development. If the bullying isn't too extreme, the consequences might not be so bad, but I really don't trust a bunch of adolescents to make that call. If you truly believe that being abused is a lesson that everybody should learn, then why the hell would you outsource it to the senior kids? Are they going to teach that lesson to everyone equally? Are they going to take into account how well each freshman can deal with it? Of course not (actually, they might do that last thing, but they'll get it wrong entirely by bullying the weakest kid the most). If you really think this needs to happen, why not have trained professionals do it?
Furthermore, the idea that you are inherently superior or inferior to other people is not a lesson anyone should learn. What kind of message would it send if the school would condone your bullying because they think you're an inferior human being? And what about the seniors? What kind of sad shell of a human being would you have to be to pick on kids that are four years younger than you at that age? They are learning that it's okay to pick on people who are weaker than you. It's not. It never is. This is simply an extremely bad lesson to learn.
And maybe the bullying is usually not bad enough to do any real damage. But look at the OP's mindset: "Well it's actually a climbing order; the sophmores know they're better than freshmen but still below juniors and seniors; juniors know that they're near the top but still below seniors and seniors are tippy top by seniority." Seriously? They know they're better/worse than some other group of people because they're one year older/younger? Guess what: your value as a human being is not determined by your age or who you can beat up. The sooner you learn that, the better, and this system is obviously not doing that.
Again, we're not a blood sport and bullying is a strong buzz word used by our administration. We don't pick on particular freshmen and we don't hit them or make them feel absolutely terrible about themselves. The comments normally come down to "Get out of my way freshy" or "This is a senior spot freshmen, get the hell out" or if we're really assholish "Your opinion is invalid freshman"
We're not picking on certain freshmen and abusing them, we just display an aloof "go fuck yourselves" attitude to the freshmen (That said it is also not uncommon for seniors to "adopt" freshmen that they look out for)
