to clique or not to clique

I have a suspicion that all high schools — big or small — are the same. And if that’s the case, then they all have cliques.

At a young age, I realized that cliques were what made school so miserable at times. Cliques are segmented groups of people, and some of them just seem to be universal — the athletes, the popular kids, the nerds, etc.

My high school definitely had those groups, and unfortunately, I didn’t fit into any of them. Sure, I had acquaintances in all of them, but that was it. Instead of dwelling on my lack of a social circle, I kept busy by getting involved in as many school activities as possible. You name it, I was in it (except sports; I never was athletic!). I don’t know if that was the right choice or not, but it helped make my high school experience far better than it would have been otherwise.

Lately I’ve been thinking about this clique thing though — probably because I just got done reading a book that dealt with the issue a lot. I was thinking, if cliques hurt so many people, then why do we keep them around? My guess is they form a social hierarchy that’s been around for ages. Still, that doesn’t make them right, and I personally would love to see those barriers broken.

So CG!s, how do you deal with cliques? Are you part of one? And if you’re not, how do you stay happy?

XOXO,
Karen
CG! Editorial Intern