Released From Prison

In the essay "Symbols of Category Membership" a linguistic anthropologist studied the way young people begin to classify each other – a process that began in junior high school but continued into high school – and how these identifications affect the rest of students’ lives. While “jock” and “burnout” might not be the lingo that you used during that time of your life, did you have similar categories when you were in high school? How did people in your high school express and reinforce their identity? For instance, Eckert looks at how the high schoolers expressed class not just through clothing, drug use, and activities, but through linguistics. Feel free to include some of the typical slang/jargon/or terms that people in the different groups.

In my highschool. There was so many different "cliques". Here they are... the "in" crowd. the Italians, the jocks, the Albanians, the Chaldeans, the Hippies, the burn-outs (screw ups), the Black group, Theater kids, the Nerds then everyone else who prefered not to assosiate themselves with a large group. Each one had a different place that they would stand in the "commons" every morning before school starts. I guess the "commons" is the one large room where everyone had something in common. The world was quite symbolic for the way my school was ran. Personally, I absolutely hated highschool and everything about it. My school represented everything wrong with the way the American school system was set up. One example of this was the fact that my highschool yearbook included a page dedicated to specific students who had expensive cars, then another page for students who had beater cards. If you were in the "in crowd" you had a Hummer, A Rangerover, a Cadilac, or a BMW that you parents bought you. Not only did they point out the rich kids from the less rich kids, the student council also created a "makeover event". The student council chose "ugly, not so fashionable people" out of the school, and asked them if they wanted a makeover. Many people were insulted but thought they may need a makeover since the student council picked them. They gave them a makeover then also added that section to the yearbook. Yes, my school was a disgrace. I felt like I was in jail everyday. Symbolically the architect of our school also designed the community jail in our city. My school was extremely segregated. Each race was very tightly packed into their own group. The different races such as Albanians and Chaldeans didn't get along. They would constantly get in fights. Supposedly there was a war in history where the Ablanians verse Chaldeans. I don't know the details of this, am I'm sure neither did the highschool students. But each of the two groups recognized that "war" and continued to establish the separation at school. However, I lived in a very rich area so their was no real violence or gangs. It was just a bunch of superficial kids with rich parents that didn't know anything else than drama and money.
The girls in the "in crowd" would LITERALLY pretend they were part of the series "Laguna Beach on MTV". They thought they were the "Laguna Beach" of my town. They even made up fake names for themselves such as "crazy" and "Bebe" and "lush". My school was a terror and I felt like I was released from prison when I graduated.