In High School, which faction did/do you belong too?

[Endangered Specie]

Poll question: In High School, which faction did/do you belong too?

[JohnKleeb]

1. I am not really anything

Can talk to any group though I am a shy person, I sorta dress like a skater but with a preppy touch, I got friends with connections heh, and some without.

[southpaw]

2. I was a member of the Drum Line

We were a faction unto ourselves.

[ChoralScholar]

48. Amen... Low brass here... we only wished we were as cool as the drummers

EOM

[BluePatriot]

54. Everyone knows the brass section is better ;) (n/t)

[flakey_foont]

3. Hippies!

[amber dog democrat]

4. I missed out on highschool entirely.

for what its worth I have a BS Degree from the University of Texas, a GED - earned after I got out of the Navy, and a 9th grade education.
I wasted my time in other ways - but never attended highschool

It probably would have helped me if I did. - but any clique would have been the furthest out and least involved....I never was a joiner.

[eyesroll]

5. I was a self-identified intellectual/nerd...

...but my friends can best be described as "freaks" (a la "Freaks and Geeks.")

[LastKnight]

6. Ghost

seen and heard only when i wanted to be, and sometimes not even then.

-LK

[WoodrowFan]

44. same here

felt nice and safe that way.

[rbnyc]

7. I was a cross-clique person

I hung out mostly with people outside high school and a bit older, but in school I got along with the computer/chess/role-playing types, the arty/theater types, the stoners, the preps, the christians, the goths, the punks--really just about everyone but the jocks. I did not get along with the jocks at all.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

8. Indie snob / outsider rejects.

Is anyone even vaguely surprised?

[RandomKoolzip]

18. That musician/druggie/record collector/sarcastic intellectual faction.

The same one I belong to today (minus the drugs.)

[Swamp Rat]

20. I hung out with you guys ocassionally as we did all those things in common

but I never "belonged" to any group.

[RandomKoolzip]

25. Exactly. The only group I belonged to was my band.

Otherwise, I never felt any real affinity with any "defined" clique. I mean, I passed joints to jocks, nerds, rich kids, theatre kids, and burnouts alike.

[Swamp Rat]

31. We are kindered spirits

I rejected cliques all together, but I've never tired of jamming with other musicians. I just woke up after a long night of playing music in the Marigny (few blocks from the French Quarter). Fun fun fun! Though, it's tough on the body when one gets older, it keeps the mind young.

[Q3JR4]

9. Um, yeah. A mix of those.

[rogerashton]

10. There weren't any goths

in my day -- maybe protogoths, bikeless bikers -- and there is a category from my high school left out: military. We had HS ROTC -- and there was a clique of ROTC officer types. (No time for sergeants, of course.)

On edit -- gangstas (in a segregated white HS) were called hoods -- I guess I was a little hoodie, sometimes --

[ClintonTyree]

11. I crossed over............................

several categories. I graduated in 1968, so I was in the fringe hippy crowd (there weren't many of us) I was in the band, I was an intellectual and a jock. A true renaissance man! :smoke: Or maybe not.

[Ladyhawk]

12. Intellectual Nerd/Geek Reject

:)

[tigereye]

15. there wasn't really a difference between

intellectual and nerd when I was in high-school, sorry to say. Or maybe I didn't get the difference. :)

[Ladyhawk]

16. Yes, and intellectual nerds were always rejects. Right? n/t

[name not needed]

13. Stoner

[mourningdove92]

14. Indeed, me too. Stoner, the only way to get through

high school.

[JohnKleeb]

38. why am I not surprised heh

I actually promised to stay off pot till college. Now booze, thats another story.

[bearfan454]

17. I hung around with the stoners.

I graduated in 1974.:smoke:

[catmandu57]

19. Hippie/Stoner

Until they threw me and a couple hundred other hippie/stoners out the same day for never going to class.

[Swamp Rat]

23. Yep

I got kicked out of a few high schools for not showing up.

[Ready4Change]

21. Other - Misfits

Each clique thought I was a member of some other clique, but let me hand out with them. Jocks thought I was a brain, brains thought I was a jock, etc... Don't think anyone thought I was a stoner, and sure no one thought I was one of the uber-popular crowd. But I wasn't shunned by either of those groups either.

[richmwill]

22. Other- "Popular"

The clique/faction that everyone wanted to be in. My friends and I ruled our high school unmercifully ;). If you were with us, you were set. Against us, and your high school years were living hell, you spent it as an outcast. Don't get me wrong, we weren't "mean" to people- on the contrary, we were very nice. I can remember many times when one of us would see a kid sitting by him/herself in the cafeteria, we'd walk over and ask them if they wanted to come have lunch with us. We were just a clique (represented by all groups and races of people) who really looked out for each other.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

24. I fit in intellectual and social reject and some people think i'm goth

because I wear black all the time.

[Reverend_Smitty]

26. I was an intellectual

and believe it or not we were the popular ones in our class. Don't believe me, our class president (yes it was a popularity contest because everybody wanted to hang out with him) and a good friend of mine often participated in many intellectual endeavors including starting a Philosophy Club. No one would dare call him/us uncool!

[bigwillq]

27. I hung out with the jocks

I played baseball for two years but associated with the jocks both male and female. I guess you can say that I was a member of the "cool" group as some of my sister's friends called us.

But I wasn't a snob. I swear!

[Richardo]

28. Again, you left out the all-important "Band/orchestra/choir Nerd"

We were a world unto ourselves...and the rest of the school would not have it any other way :)

(I say 'again' because of this thread --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x1541989#1542005 )

[Bertha Venation]

29. we didn't have goths or gangsters

We had stoners. I would've been a stoner but I didn't get stoned and didn't sell my soul to rock & roll.

So I was a nobody. A very important faction of any high school society.

[nyhuskyfan]

30. I've always thought the Nerd/Geek label needs to be redefined

I was one -- I'm male, I was 5-2 as a sophomore with braces, baby fat, a bad haircut, and ranked in the top five in my class. I had plenty of time to study, of course, but I was also kind of smart, particularly in math. I heard all the insults that get thrown at the smart kids.

By the time I was a senior in high school, though, I was 6-2, lost the baby fat and the braces, was a two-sport varsity athlete (basketball, baseball) and could sometimes make eye contact with a female, although it was too late in my high school to salvage much of a reputation in that regard.

When I got to college (an expensive highly-regarded liberal arts school), I enjoyed the fresh start and took full advantage of the social opportunities. I lost much of my intellectual curiosity, and skated by with a 3.0 GPA with little effort. I was no longer a "nerd" and felt glad to be rid of the stigma. I still wanted to do well in school, but I didn't push myself at all -- I did whatever I had to do to get by and not much more.

In hindsight, it ticks me off that I was made to feel inferior for being smart. I wonder what I might have been able to achieve in a society where intellectual achievement was applauded by people other than your own parents. The nerd/geek labels come from those who feel like they are at the top of the social ladder and want to keep those below them way below them. Rather than try to achieve academically and learn something from the smart kids, it's much, much easier to just attach a label and make fun of them (and give them an occasional wedgie). The same attitude continues into adulthood -- as people who consider themselves "just plain folk" constantly thumb their noses at the "intellectual elite" and "latte-drinkers" and "French".

So I've always thought that this society will officially turn the corner into enlightenment when calling someone a nerd is a compliment. That's not to say that the jocks and future blue-collar workers of America should then be second-class citizens. Instead, it's meant to say that we should acknowledge that it takes all types to make up a society and that whenever a young student somewhere finds that they are good at something (sports, art, academia, music, etc.), society should reward it and encourage that person to make the most out of their ability. When we're giving smart kids a negative opinion of themselves for being smart, we're doing something seriously wrong.

I grew up in Connecticut and am a big UConn basketball fan. This year's men's basketball team won the national championship behind a 6-9 center named Emeka Okafor (the second pick in the NBA draft and a member of the current Olympic team -- although he doesn't play much), who was born in Houston to Nigerian parents. He graduated with a degree in finance in 2.5 years and a 3.75 GPA. He credited his academic success to his parents, and his father was quoted in an article as saying, "Where I come from, you can be the greatest athlete in the world, but if you aren't educated, you're nothing." It's funny that Nigeria has that attitude, and it's considered third world.

Sorry for the long post -- the de-nerdification of culture is my personal mission in life.

[tigereye]

33. you could say we got our revenge

in the job market... maybe. Being smart, or at least interested in knowledge and the life of the mind is not something I have ever apologized for. And no one should have to!

[redqueen]

32. Social reject I guess

Started as a nerd, but stopped trying in the 10th grade. Didn't help, though.

[Magrittes Pipe]

34. Floater.

I smoked dope, but I was not a stoner.

I played baseball, but I was not a jock.

I was in AP classes, but I was not a brain.

I drank a lot of beer, but I wasn't a party boy.

I told lots of jokes, but I was not the class clown.

I anchored the morning announcements, but I was not an AV kid.

I played lead roles in school plays, but I was not a dramatist.

I was in a band, but I was not a "musician."

I got along with, and hung out with, all those kids. I was popular (in that most people liked me, and hung out with me because they wanted to) but I was not Popular (with a capital "P" indicating that if someone hung with me, they would be instantly granted popularity -- i.e. the AV kids hung with me, but they were still considered geeks).

[achtung_circus]

35. An admixture of stoner

with healthy portions of class clown, know-it-all (which most teachers loved) and every girl's best friend.

[no_hypocrisy]

36. Social reject is a misnomer. I rejected the mass population that

broke into cliques of kids with no courage to be original and independent. I'd do it again. I'd rather be by myself than be compelled to change to fit in.

[Baja Margie]

41. Started surfing when I was 12 (Catholic School)

so it was the SURFERS, and then there was a crossover with the SURFERS and the first coffee shop HIPPIES and INTELLECTUALS and the ROCKERS and the PURPLE OWSLEY people, then I missed a year to live in the Haight,(hitchhiked with my friends and hopped a freight in Santa Barbara), then I was kicked out of High School, ended up I had to go to a ALTERNATE completion school and finally landed at the University of Exeter in England and finished up at San Diego State University.

I still surf and rock.:crazy:

[SarahB]

37. definite other

I was the bad girl of the chorus geeks which isn't saying much because they were all complete good-two shoes people, so I wasn't really "bad" at all. I was known for being more outspoken if I had a strong opinion about something (but I was usually more quiet for the most part) and was involved with stuff that had to do with "causes" (like Amnesty). I really didn't fit, but I wasn't an outcast either. I was reserved, so people thought I was "stuck up", but I was just reserved and hated the concept of "cliques" and playing all the stupid games people played. I wasn't an outcast either because I was cute enough that I got attention because of that. I really don't know what I was-- a bit hard to be defined (oh yes I'm a complex women) but at this point, it doesn't matter much about high school. What I am now is what counts-- ironically, still a bit undefinable. :7

[PittPoliSci]

39. i was beloved by everyone!

Well, just about. Most of the jocks didn't really care for me, but they didn't hate me either.

Pretty much the entire band crew, emo kids, punks, hippies, stoners, nerds, and whatever else I may have left out (that weren't the most popular of the popular) loved me. Why? I had a way of annoying the shit out of the most popular people, and the rest of high school society, generally appreciated it. I think it was because I didn't take a shit, while dishing out a big serving of it to those who begged for it. I never really fought anyone (other than a few shoves), but I did embarass the jocks in class if they said something stupid. They had it coming for picking on me and my ilk...

[flamingyouth]

40. Probably intellectual

Was always in the honor society, edited the school paper, took honors and AP classes. But I was also in the weirdo branch as well. The lines were blurred at my school. :D

[VOX]

42. Ghandi-quotin', guitar-pickin', long-haired, Intellect-chew-al...

Hung out with the hip "Little Berkeley" crowd. I was a pretentious little shit, but my intentions were always true and honest. Good group to hang with. Still in touch with some of them, all of whom are still true to their early beliefs.

[Susang]

43. I was in the Zelig group

I managed to have friends in all of those groups but didn't really belong to any of them.

[Amaya]

45. Intellectually geeky hippie.

There weren't many of us. It was pretty tough.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

46. Nerd/Jock..................

Hung with the nerdy, D&D crowd, but ran varsity cross-country. However, many don't look at CC runners as jocks, so there you go.

[Susang]

47. One more thing...you forgot theater "fag"

Probably the closest to any group that I would have considered myself a part of. ;-)

[baldguy]

49. Stoner/head-banger

We could go to the Media Center, check out a turntable & headphones, & listen to Pink Floyd or Foghat at full volume for a full period.

[Cuban_Liberal]

50. Multiple.

I was a jock/geek...

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

51. I was one of the "brains"

I had a finger in every pie: student government, flag/drill team, service organizations out the wazoo, student newspaper/creative writing magazine, orchestra, drama - you name an activity, I was involved in it! My biggest disappointment was not making Girls State (roughly the equivalent of Boys Nation; remember the picture of President Clinton meeting JFK?)

[Nocturnes]

52. So who else voted goth

And were you also in the early 80s?

[HEyHEY]

53. I was a little Mod

Basicallt, no suit back then....but I used to Skateboard, and listen to REAL punkrock....but I usually just wore a pair of jeans, T-shirt and talked to people in all different groups from the stoners, to the jocks to the brains to the cheerleaders.... I liked anyone who was nice.

[absolutezero]

55. i was "that kid"

i was in marching band, head of the av club, listened to punk rock and hung out with skaters, took advanced science/math courses, joined track/wrestling and hung out with all the jocks. i was the guy everyone knew and nobody hated (with the exception of some girl who thought i was racist after suggesting we mount bin laden's head on a pike in time's square...it was on 911 and she insisted the jews were behind it about 30 seconds after it happened). I managed to get along with all the social groups...except the gangstas, they pissed me off.

[kodi]

56. gosh, i had good buddies in about all the groups polled.

played athletics and member of CFA, but hung out with the jewish intellectual kids, worked on cars with greaser buddies (and let them cheat off of me in math classes), went to preppy parties, smoked dope with anti-social types, and played in a garage rock band.

no one could ever peg me as a part of a group or clique, although in reflection it seems that i was accepted by most of them.

either that, or my classmates knew my dad was in the mafia.

[nini]

57. Vanilla Ice wannabees.. are not gangsters.

trust me.. there were REAL gangsters where I came from and Vanilla Ice types would get the shit beat out of them if not worse. Just my observation from someone who unfortunately knows too much about that element :scared:

[hyphenate]

58. I guess it would have been considered

the nerds group.

We're talking early 70s here, and some of the categories didn't exist then. The school was basically all nerds (you had to take an exam to even get into the school), as well as all girls. The group I spent most of my time with were like me, big TV watchers. Star Trek was one of our favorites. We were also into science fiction and fantasy, and we had already established the "Tolkien Society" which eventually became the Fantasy and Science Fiction Society.

We were also heavily into the school magazine, and writing both stories, poetry and photography.

[cally]

59. Where's the politicos?

I was in student government and volunteered in politician's offices. I was also in the intellectural nerd group but I hung with many. My beliefs fit more with the stoners, I was accepted by the 'popular crowd" because I was in Journalism, and my classes were with the nerds. I just didn't fit in and I hated HS. I don't think anyone, including my parents, knew how miserable I was.