SURVEY SAYS – Did You "Clique" in High School?

It was only a couple of weeks ago that we made an inquiry about college majors (see  SURVEY SAYS: How Relevant is Your College Major? ) – but this week, we took it back another level – to high school – and asked readers if their “experience” there had a big influence on their current job.   A plurality – 43.2% – said no, but nearly as many ( 38.7% ) said “maybe.”   The rest – 18.5% – said yes.

Recognize “Able?”

Most ( 57.9% ) of this week’s respondents felt that their high school friends would recognize them now – at least by personality.   Roughly 16% said those friends wouldn’t recognize them, and slightly more (17.4%) weren’t sure.   Just over 9% said “I hope not.”  “I am so glad you specified “personality”, since the physicality may be quite unrecognizable!,” exclaimed one reader.   Other comments included; “I’ve gained a little weight, and I have a much better hair cut, but I still look the same…. “ , “I have much shorter hair, glasses and lost a lot of weight. “ , while another was “…much more outgoing and outspoken than I was in high school”.

Of course, being recognizable may be a function of staying in touch with those friends – but nearly half ( 49.6% ) are no longer in regular contact with their best friend from high school, and more than one-in-five ( 21.5% ) said it “depends on what you mean by regular.”   On the other hand, 28.9% of this week’s respondents have maintained that contact.

By the way, a plurality of this week’s respondents ( 35.8% ) graduated in the 1980s, 31.7% in the 1970s, 17.5% in the 1990s, and 13.3% go back to the 1960s.   Less than 1% each graduated as far back as the 1950s, and the same percentage has graduated since 2000.

But then I asked readers to share which of the inevitable high school cliques they had been part of - and things got REALLY interesting.   First off, nearly a third ( 30.9% ) identified with "more than one" of the several cliques listed.   Additionally, many simply selected more than one of the cliques (which means that it can add to more than 100%).  

We had more "preppies" than any other clique category among this week's respondents ( 27.7% ), though jocks weren't far behind ( 20.2% ).   Roughly 16% said they were "nerds", while 14.9% were cheerleaders , and 13.8% class officers.   One in ten claimed they were "geeks", while hippies ( 4.3% ), class clowns ( 3.2% ), and greasers, pot head/doper, and "punks" were represented by 1% each.

"Others"

We did, of course, have a large number of "other" selections.   In this group a number said they weren't part of ANY clique (or at least none of those listed), while some - admittedly from smaller schools, said that, over the course of their high school career they were essentially part of ALL the cliques presented.   Among the cliques noted, but not in the survey list; "brains" or honors, "band geeks" (by my count, this was the most popular entry not on my list), drama divas, headbangers, cowboy/cowgirls, and wallflowers.  

One reader said "I played a sport, was pretty smart, loved art, and was photographer for Yearbook. I'm not sure what that made me...I was just careful to blend in as much as possible."  Another reader explained they were "just a face in the crowd."   Another said, "None of the above -- do you have a category for just your average teenager without a clique?

Among my favorite verbatims this week:

"What I tell my kids today when they are made fun of for being smart. That the smart ones in school are probably going to be everyone's boss when they get older. Getting older makes you realize that people spend a lot more time being "old" in their life than being young, and the maturity factor makes being older more enjoyable in many ways than being young. In high school 30 seemed old, 40 was unimaginable, and 50's and 60's were practically in the grave. I didn't anticipate that I would be pretty much the same person on the inside, other than more knowledgeable and mature, at age 18 than at age 50."

"When we weren't in class or study groups, my buds and I hung around a certain tree on campus so we were called "the tree people". We attended an all girls Catholic high school, so while we definitely had well developed senses of humor (they never found out who put the dry ice in the toilet before Sister X sat on it), there's no way I could be categorized."

"You could not pay me enough to go back to high school. The constant self-doubt was torture and college came as a relief. The realization that people do not really care what your parents do, how fashionable your clothes are and what you look like was liberating."

"You could not pay me enough to go back! College, yes, but high school -- no way!!!"

But this week's Editor's Choice goes to the reader who offered an assessment that I'm not sure I agree with; "Thank god that life isn't like high school."

Thanks to everyone who participated in our survey!

Tune in tomorrow for reader answers to the question "If you knew in high school what you know now, what, if anything, would you do differently?"