And I suppose we shouldn't really be laughing but instead trying to help these poor souls who have quite clearly lost their way..
It is ridiculous the way society can create so many groups and cliques. I guess school is where it all starts, on one end of the scale you have the populars, the Regina Georges' of today.. and on the other end you have the so-called geeks, loners, freaks..
But one thing that I have noticed which is rather lovely is that once you leave school, those kind of cliques don't seem to matter so much anymore and everyone grows up. And you learn to be proud of who you are.
But I think schools need to change the perception that being different is a bad thing. Instead they need to reinforce the idea that individuality is important and nobody is the same.
I fear for the next generation. I worry that they will have no understanding of the concept of playing with one another. Colouring in will be an activity long gone, and forget about 'pretend' games. Any imagination will be lost and soon the concept of tooth fairies and Santa Claus will be long gone.
If you compare nowadays to society around 100 years ago, the main differences seem to be the technological and scientific advances. Yes, as people we are a lot more outspoken and no longer so afraid to say what we think, but the original cliques still exist, they're just slightly more modernised.
Surely the problem with society is each person's own experiences? I mean I am considered massively mature for my age (my dad says I'm mentally about 90). But that's because of my experience. I know what its like to have a young life taken away, I know what it is like to kiss a frog and he turns out not to be a prince. These two factors alone causes me to have a mature attitude as I am aware of real adult pain that you wouldn't chose to inflict on a child. I am also given a lot more responsibility than an average 18 year old. All these factors make me different. And whatever has happened to you when you've grown up makes you different. As a child we are massively sheltered by those around us (to the best of their ability). All children are the same because of this, the rarely come across some who has yet to have different experiences. Think about it, until 16 (now 18) they are all in the same school, learning the same things, gaining the same experiences. It's only when we leave that we start to meet people from different walks of life. That's kinda why there's cliques in schools, and those freaks tend to be the ones have the different, and sadly the bad experiences.
ReplyDeleteAs for a child's imagination, they will never lose that because of their age. All children have amazing imaginations, it just depends who they go on to use this. JK Rolwing for example, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs all are very imitativen people. I think you are confusing imagination with creativeness, which sadly actually is decling, but only because there can only be one idea that works well, and 100 years ago was when they created all these amazing thinks. Sadly we are not as unique as promoted. People have the same ideas, same likes and dislikes and even same walks of life. So cliques aren't bad. They are just a collection of like minded people. Once we accept that we aren't as unique as we are told be that's when cliques break down
I agree with what you are saying in the first paragraph. However I do believe that peoples imaginations are no longer given so much opportunity to flourish, it isn't often that you see young children playing on their own. I would go so far as to say that creativeness isnt actually declining, instead people are expressing it in different ways and perhaps instead they are expressing it later on in life. Because imagination allows one to be creative, if you haven't shown this imagination when young, then it may take a while to show later on.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, people may have the same likes etc, but we are still all different and should all be treated as such, instead of being pushed into different subcultures and groups. I guess cliques serve to teach you more about the bigger world and what subcultures may exist. But I personally don't think they are a good thing because they restrict you, and as you know in some years they are more apparent, and there is less mixing of groups, particularly if that group doesn't see you as 'cool'.