I practically grew up on movies and shows that take place in a high school setting, and have always wondered what inspired movie directors to portray groups of individuals as “the jocks,” “the nerds,” “the freaks,” and “the mean girls.” Before starting high school, I was pretty convinced that this hierarchical caste system actually existed, and if I didn't earn myself a spot at the top of the social pyramid, my next four years in Brooklyn Tech would be nothing short of dreadful. Now being a senior and reflecting upon my last four years in high school, I’m starting to realize that my initial perceptions were completely flawed, mostly thanks to one of Hollywood’s most infamous myths: the high school from hell. Now, just because there isn’t an evident social hierarchy in place doesn’t mean that people don’t have particular groups of friends. They do, but judging by my experience, there isn’t one social group that has dominance over all the others. In reality, everyone willingly intermingles with each other, whether it is due to common hobbies or interests or cultures or favorite Netflix shows. There isn’t any macho school bully that regularly picks on the geeks and nerds and steals their school lunch. Although there might be a few girls that are mean or unpleasant, there aren’t any “mean girls” that only wear pink on Wednesday. Yet, movies continue to portray the high school environment as some jungle, where there must be a queen and her “monkey say monkey dos”, a pack of gorillas, and all the other animals maintaining the status quo.

When my senior year research teacher, Ms. Rowley, gave my class the option of studying any topic we wanted, keeping in mind that we would have to write a twenty page research paper on the topic by the end of the semester, I immediately knew I was interested in investigating Hollywood films and their influence on the social dynamics of teenagers. After brainstorming and conducting further research on this subject, I realized that Hollywood films and teen cliques don’t necessarily have a direct influence on one another, so comparing the two and treating them as two separate entities was my best bet. I would watch and rewatch classic high school films, such as The Breakfast Club and High School Musical, searching for common characteristics and quotes that may resonate with teenage audiences, and therefore inspire them to adopt the same personalities as their favorite characters. As I examined these movies, I thought to myself, “Do kids really believe that this is what high school is like?” I also read and analyzed various academic articles written by credible psychologists, authors, and sociologists, which introduced me to factors that played a more crucial role in teen networks than I expected: regionality, class size, participation in after-school activities and socioeconomic status. This information helped me decide the types of schools I wanted to focus on in my research. Region? New York City sounded plausible. Class size? Well, this ultimately depended on the size of the school. I attend the largest specialized high school in New York, so that’s one school. Bronx Science High School is another specialized high school in New York that is famous for its competitive sports teams, rigorous workload, and impressive student social scene; another viable option. I needed to switch up my pool of candidates. Two specialized public high schools, and the first three factors were covered; what was missing? Colombia Grammar, a private school; its attendees most likely come from a wealthy background, and could easily be compared to characters from movies and shows like Clueless and Gossip Girl. Identifying my topic and subjects propelled me closer to my ultimate question, “Do stereotypical high school cliques in Hollywood movies accurately portray the social dynamics of specialized and private high schools in New York City?” This is how my quest for answers began.

My survey questions were mainly inspired by Daniel McFarland, a professor of Sociology and Organizational Behavior at Stanford University, and his social network ecology method. In his study, he developed a system, which included three types of functioning networks that youths group themselves in: hierarchies, characterized by social dominance, clusters, characterized by social balance and security, and segregation, characterized by familiarity and homology. After examining this information, I decided to incorporate it in my survey to figure out how students in private and public high schools perceive the system of their surrounding network. This, in turn, helped me better understand how teens function in the social environments… or at least how they think they do.

After two weeks worth of distributing, collecting, and analyzing the surveys- drumroll please- the results were in. My brewing questions- is there a status quo? Is it maintained? Are there cliques? Are the cliques “exclusive” and hard to infiltrate? What high school films did you watch growing up, and did they influence your opinions of what high school would be like? *Deep breath* WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? (Just kidding, that’s a whole other research paper)- were finally answered. Bottom line: I was right (I knew it!). While films have influenced students’ perception of high school, the social behaviors of New York City’s high school students, both private and public alike, do not reflect those of Hollywood high schools’ teens. One thing I did observe that reflected some high school themes is that private school students are more inclined towards associating with people that come from similar backgrounds as them, whether it be growing up or living in the same neighborhoods or their financial status. But, they don’t form exclusive cliques; their self-stratifying behavior is triggered by a need for familiarity, which is why their groups tend to be relatively homologous. Specialized public school students, similarly, bond over similar interests, usually due to their avid participation in after school activities, such as sports teams and clubs. In fact, this is typically why most of the public school students identified their school’s social network as a “cluster.” Public schools tend to have bigger class sizes than private schools, so while social groups are present, there is a likelihood of a friend of a friend to be a friend- in other words, “you CAN sit with us.”

Now, my high school career is almost over. This time next year, I'll be in college, so it'll be interesting to see how social behaviors of college students vary from those of high schoolers. Will they bond over similar career goals? Electives? Sports? Clubs? Mutual friends? What will my network of friends possibly be like? Unfortunately, there aren't many movies set in a college setting, so no preconceived notions that'll terrify me this time; I'm going in blind. Wish me luck!