Hierarchy at school among children. School hierarchy - myth or reality. Is there hazing at school? Social roles of girls
People, we remember school, some with nostalgia, some with a smile, and some of us still shudder in horror, remembering our school years.
Just like our parents once did, we now send our children to school. We want them to learn to be successful, kind, reasonable, the best.
Our children go to school, study, get grades. We worry about them, worry about them, guide them, try to support them. But let's figure out what awaits the child at school. Think back to your childhood. Do you think a lot has changed since then? Not in the school hierarchy system.
Arriving at school, your child finds himself in a rigid system of social relations in the classroom. In elementary school it hardly shows up at all. Almost all first-graders are largely influenced by their parents.
However, already in elementary school, the class is divided into two categories: those who work for status and those who work for the diary. The status is assessed by the leader and classmates, the diary is assessed by the student himself and his parents. Whose grade is more significant for the student, he chooses that side.
As you probably remember from childhood, the sharp structuring of the hierarchy begins in the puberty period (ten to twelve years). This is especially evident in classes that do not retain their composition from elementary school, but are reassembled.
At first, everyone looks closely at each other, and after “grinding in,” the final composition of the groups is formed, roles are formed for almost the entire remaining time of the class’s existence. The level of the school hierarchy reaches its peak value in the sixth to ninth grades.
Your child’s place in the school hierarchy depends on how confident he is, his self-esteem, independence from the opinions of others, his character, and many other factors.
The range of school roles in the school hierarchy is small. Here they are:
Social roles of boys:
Alpha.
The main role of Alpha is to organize the class, maintain a unified structure and control this mass. For example, if Alpha wants to leave lessons, the class leaves with him. Or Alpha wants to be loudly indignant at the actions of the teacher - the whole class is even louder indignant after him. Not a single more or less serious decision should be made without the knowledge and consent of Alpha. And, naturally, the persecution of the local Omega is organized by him.
Second Alpha
Quite a rare occurrence. Represents another student in the class with leadership qualities. The peaceful coexistence of two alphas is possible because the alternative Alpha does not participate in the ranking fight in any way; he already has somewhere to spend his potential.
In the presence of the second Alpha, Omega lives more calmly, since he is the only one who can come to his defense. But since there is still no time to constantly protect him, the presence of such a defender in the class does not remove the status of a victim from an outcast.
Betas
There are one or two of them in the class. Alpha's only friends. These are people whom he trusts and whose opinions he listens to. They can be from ordinary families of average income, or from families of intellectuals. Beth is either not as good at speaking as Alpha, or lacks charisma, so they cannot directly control the class. But they control through Alpha.
Scales
The majority, as a rule, are half a class. They follow on the heels of Alpha, fulfilling his whims and ingratiating themselves if they are guilty of something. Sometimes they receive resources (sometimes material, but more often moral), which are conquered by Alpha and his retinue. Compared to Gammas, Alphas and Betas receive more, Epsilons receive nothing, and Omegas even give away.
Epsilons
These are what are commonly called “gray mass”. In terms of quantity - the remaining male component of the class minus Omega. People don’t go to school to feel “cool,” but because they have to.
Omega
The central person in the entire hierarchical system. An absolutely necessary component for any close team. As you know, when there is a common enemy, the team unites to mercilessly fight it. The class, in which there is a pronounced Omega, is friendly, cheerful and seemingly healthy.
If a victim leaves the class for some reason (or becomes stress-resistant), a replacement is usually found from among the Gammas, or the class is divided into several groups, between which intergroup processes begin.
Social roles of girls:
Girls in the class also form hierarchies that at first practically do not intersect with the hierarchies of boys. Crossing occurs only at 13-15 years - the period of puberty.
There are usually several girl leaders, and from the very beginning two or three almost non-contacting interest groups are formed. Until the age of thirteen, girls are not interested in Alphas or boys in general. In rare cases of intersection of groups, girl leaders have authority over boy leaders.
Due to such heterogeneity of the female part of the class, an outcast girl who is bullied by everyone does not arise often. In general, the hierarchical structure of girls is much less stable than that of boys, and over the years of study it can change quite a lot.
Alpha.
Basically, they are either girls with a reputation as the first beauty and, on top of everything else, a bitchy character, or excellent students with high self-esteem. In the first case, Alpha is the trendsetter in the class.
The main feature of Alphas is that they become teachers' favorite students. The teacher may not listen to the Alpha boy, but he will definitely listen to the opinion of the Alpha girl.
The Alpha Girl has an exclusive, undeniable and non-negotiable right to the Alpha Boy. Compared to the Alpha boy, her position is not nearly as strong in the class, because the female team is never and nowhere a cohesive structure in which everyone is “for each other.”
The absence of an Omega girl can make the leadership position generally purely symbolic, especially when there is more than one group of girls. If there is more than one Alpha girl in the class, then there will be a permanent war between them.
Betas
As a rule, two or three Alpha girlfriends. Alpha needs them to spread gossip and provide small services, for example, escorting them to the toilet, providing an apartment, etc. if necessary. But they are not real friends, as in the relationship between Alpha and Beta boys. And they are not much different from Gamma girls.
The reason is female nature, according to which girls can only completely trust guys, and they always have rivalry with other girls.
Note that Alpha girls prefer to take more plain-looking people as friends. This is due to the fact that not every Alpha will like the fact that her girlfriend is fighting off the guys, so she looks for more homely girlfriends in order to look more advantageous in front of the boys against their background.
Scales
They are in a more advantageous position than Gamma boys, due to the fact that Alpha still respects them and practically does not take out his anger on them.
Epsilon- it's the same gray mass.
Omega girls are chosen according to the same patterns, but more attention is paid to appearance - often these are the ugliest, stupid or poorly dressed, or unable to take care of their appearance.
The most common type of bullying of an unwanted girl is completely ignoring her, but this is practiced in more highly cultured classes, in elite lyceums, etc. In less cultural ones, bullying is not fundamentally different from the male version.
An ideal example of possible bullying in relation to an Omega girl is shown in the Soviet film “Scarecrow”.
Please note that the teacher almost never takes the side of the victim of bullying and generally tries to hide the very fact of hazing in the class as much as possible. This happens for a very simple reason: any recorded fact of bullying a child is a stain on the reputation of both an individual teacher and the entire teaching staff of the school, with mandatory sanctions.
In addition, the deterioration of the reputation of the educational institution will lead to an outflow of the most useful clientele for the school, which will push children out of nowhere, and they may simply sue for money. Therefore, the teacher will most likely respond to any complaints from a problem child or his parents using the template “the problem is with you.”
Further fate. life.
Beta boys, of course, are the ones who do best in life. Guys who know how to gain trust where necessary and skim off all the cream at the right moment, becoming Alpha in the adult understanding of this term.
The school leaders themselves, who do not have real penetrating power and inner core, are used as a tool, as a source of charisma. Most state leaders perform precisely this function.
If Alpha was on the side of the hooligans, then the matter usually ends with imprisonment for a long time in places not so remote, death from a knife in one of the fights, or death from a drug overdose or accident.
As for Alpha girls, most often they marry successfully (to the same Alpha or Beta boys).
If an Alpha girl marries a Beta guy, then she can advance her spouse up the career ladder thanks to her charisma and charm, and ultimately the ex-Beta becomes an Alpha and achieves wealth and fame.
Gamma boys remain Gammas throughout their adult lives. With female Gammas, too, in principle, everything is clear: after school, they, as a rule, marry early to similar Gamma guys.
Epsilons settle in completely different ways, but more often in a nice, quiet place.
It's the hardest thing with ex-Omegas. After school they have to relearn how to communicate with people. Of course, they are used to the fact that no one loves them, and they will be punished for the slightest mistake. If in a few years Omega can overcome these complexes within himself, then things will become easier.
Some ex-Omegas can be found well settled in this life, which can be explained by the ability to survive stressful situations developed over difficult years. Some Omega boys, thanks to youthful hardening and innate abilities or pathologies (for which they were not loved in childhood), achieve such success that Alphas and Betas could not even dream of.
If you notice that your child has taken the place of “Omega” in the rigid system of the school hierarchy, then this is a serious reason to sound the alarm! He cannot cope with this problem on his own; he can only count on your help and support. As a last resort, be prepared if you need to change schools. In any case, consult an experienced psychologist.
GirlsThe girls in the class also form hierarchies, which at first practically do not intersect with the hierarchies of the boys. Crossing occurs only at 13-15 years of age - the period of puberty. Girls usually have several leaders, and from the very beginning two or three almost non-contacting interest groups are formed. Under the age of thirteen, they are not interested in alpha guys or guys in general. In rare cases of intersection of groups, alpha girls have authority over alpha guys, since the guys don’t yet have any particular strength superiority, and the girls can even hit you between the legs.
Due to such heterogeneity of the female part of the class, the outcast girl who is bullied by everyone does not arise often. In general, the hierarchical structure of girls is much less stable than that of boys, and over the years of study it can change quite a lot.
Alpha.
Basically, they are either girls with a reputation as the first beauty and, on top of everything else, a bitchy character, or excellent students with high self-esteem. In the first case, the alpha is, as it were, a trendsetter in the class. The main feature of alphas is that they know how to butter up teachers. The teacher may not listen to the alpha guy, but he will definitely listen to the opinion of the alpha girl. An Alpha has an exclusive, undeniable, non-negotiable right to an Alpha guy. Compared to the alpha guy, her position is not nearly as strong in the pack, because the female team is never and nowhere a cohesive structure in which everyone is “for each other.” The absence of an omega girl can make the alpha's leadership position generally purely symbolic, especially when there is more than one group of girls. If there is more than one alpha in the class, then there will be permanent bickering between them.
Betas- these are two or three girlfriends of a bitchy alpha girl. They serve the alpha to spread gossip and provide small services, for example, accompanying him to the toilet (an alpha will never go to this filthy place alone), providing a “hut” (mirror, cigarettes, excuses to ancestors/teachers) if necessary. But they are not real friends, as in the relationship between alpha and beta guys. And they are not much different from gamma girls. The reason is in women's nature, according to which they can completely trust only guys, and they always have rivalry with other girls. Finding themselves without their leader (for example, ill), betas become completely disoriented and can serve as an excellent target for sudden retaliatory attacks from omegas. This is how beta girls differ from beta guys who have the title “i.” O. "alphas" always cope with dignity. Note that alphas prefer to take more plain-looking people as their girlfriends. This is due to the fact that not every bitchy girl likes the fact that her friend is fighting off guys from her, so she looks for more homely friends in order to look more advantageous in front of the guys compared to them.
Scales- henchmen of the alpha who carry out more dirty tasks than the betas (letting someone write off, taking them to a stall for cigarettes, keeping an eye on some guy). However, they are in a more advantageous position than the gamma guys, due to the fact that the alpha girl still respects them and practically does not take out her anger on them. They are fiercely proud of their belonging to the alpha party and try to imitate it in everything. Although they are still afraid of her disfavor.
Epsilon girls- it's the same gray mass. Cm. Epsilon guys.
Omega in a pack of girls, they are chosen according to the same patterns, but more attention is paid to appearance - often these are the most terrible freaks of the class, so stupid or poor that they are not able to take care of their appearance. In some teams there are two or even three such female omegas. Also, females are more jealous of “popularity.” There are times when a girl begins to be bullied only because she is trying too hard to please everyone, and not least the guys.
The most common type of bullying of an unwanted girl is complete and total ignoring of her, but this is practiced in more decent women's communities. In older people, bullying is not fundamentally different from the male version.
An ideal example of possible bullying in relation to omega is shown by the Soviet film “Scarecrow”.
Omega girls have a much greater chance of increasing their ranking potential. The best example is Natasha Guseva, who before filming the film was a classic omega, a nerd and a “slut” (in her own words), both in class and on the set. In the classroom, it’s clear why, but on the set, the hatred was explained by banal envy of the competitor who received the main role, while the boys’ disdain was explained by the fact that in between takes she did not smoke with the others, but read textbooks. With the release of the film, the former omega became girl No. 1 in the Soviet Union in one day. Another thing is that she herself didn’t need it, but the example is impressive.
Types of bullying
For the time being, there is no lawlessness when harassing omegas. The rules are approximately the same as in the army and in the police:
-if you hit, do not leave marks or injuries;
-do not bring the victim to a state of complete despair, because the consequences are unpredictable
There are many ways of relatively harmless bullying, but there are several universal ones that anyone who has studied at school is familiar with.
From the side of the herd
Bunny, aka Dog(Ukrainian Tsutsik). A good sports children's game in which the driver tries to take possession of the ball, which the other participants in the game throw to each other. In a variation adapted for bullying, an object belonging to the victim is used instead of a ball. Most often a hat or backpack. This game is played very often and not in relation to the omega - anyone who
a) stupid enough to leave a small throwable object on the desk
b) is present in the classroom at the start of the game
c) won’t break in with a cradle.
Tumbler: A variation of the "bunny" in which the victim itself is used as the object. The victim is surrounded and then one of the participants pushes the other, then, in touch, the second plays back to the third, and so on, until the victim becomes dizzy and falls. This is a dangerous type of bullying for an omega, since with the proper skill, the victim can get lashed out by almost all of his classmates if he knocks down the one in whose direction he is flying.
Moreover, it has been proven in all cases that the victim who bumps into a third-party subject who was previously uninterested (for example, girls) receives a portion of hatred from him for an unjustified push (it is useless to make excuses), and not the one who arranged all this, although the third-party subject sees everything perfectly well and aware of everything, but will not break the rules of the hierarchy - because he is afraid of feeling in the same role as a victim. This method is an excellent opportunity for a Caudla to test his authority in the group or consolidate/confirm power - if someone stands up for the victim and objects to the alpha, this is a reason to take note of the presumptuous cadre.
Hydraulic firing: a type of yard game “hydraulic war”. Some thugs load weapons with urine, which, in principle, violates paragraph two of the rules for working with the victim during bullying.
Pneumatic firing squad: a type of yard game “pneumatic war”. It differs favorably from hydraulic shooting in that it can be used directly in the classroom!
Ay! A thick and long sewing needle is taken and during the lesson, the person sitting behind sticks it into a soft place for the person sitting in front. In the eyes of the teacher, the offended person becomes the violator of discipline in the lesson. The procedure can be repeated several times per lesson.
Marking: The goal is to smear the victim with something or stick a piece of paper on his back. The most popular material is chalk. Less popular is lipstick. A type of entertainment: Gamma draws the word “HOL” on the palm, which is imprinted on the victim as “LOKH”. Some are experimenting with spelling other short words backwards. If you're lucky, the smeared victim will also be scolded at home for ruining his clothes.
Superman— advanced “labeling”. Anything can be used: shit from a gym class, chewing gum, a feminine pad.
Women's locker room. Sometimes the pack does the following to an omega: they throw him into the women's locker room and hold the door. But more often a simpler trick is used: the omega’s clothes are thrown into the locker room. Here, either the clothes will fly out of the locker room back into the corridor (dirty, which is not bad) or they will remain there waiting for the omega to come for them in a negligee. There is also an option with a women's toilet. What’s remarkable is that by the age of 18-19 you will already be dreaming that someone would throw you into the women’s locker room and hold the door, but, alas.
Hide and seek- one of the things belonging to the victim is carefully hidden or stolen. After which the whole class laughs at the search process and listens to the victim’s tirades.
Striptease— the goal of the game: to pull off the victim’s pants or skirt at the most unexpected moment for her (say, in physical training while doing pull-ups on the horizontal bar or while walking along the corridor). Additional points are awarded when the victim performs this action with his own hands (for example, a long thread clings to the back of the skirt and is thrown over the girl’s shoulder; the victim, trying to remove the thread, pulls on it, thereby lifting up her own skirt). For girls, there is a more cruel version of this procedure: the omega is surrounded by classmates, and her clothes are torn off, holding her by all the limbs. It is especially effective to undress an omega in front of guys.
Slander— undesirable rumors are spread about the victim, discrediting her. As a rule, the topic of slander is associated with various sexual perversions or violations of the law.
Out of sight- the victim is locked in a classroom or closet, or piled under a large pile of desks or chairs. Then the victim can be observed from a distance. In this case, one should take into account the likelihood of using brute physical force (knocking down a door, flying chairs and desks across the classroom)
Cowboy aka Get used to the sea motion(verbal) - in the toilet, when the victim relieves himself, a classmate comes up from behind and shakes the victim, holding his belt, until he wets his pants. However, in practice it is almost never used, since having time to turn around, the victim may well “drench” the joker.
Ignoring- used most often in the herd of “females”. All communication with the victim ceases. Her remarks are not heard, her actions are not noticed. The most idiotic form of bullying. Ineffective when applied to people who don't care.
Passive bullying- the easiest option for baiting an omega from the herd. In this case, they simply try to bypass the omega, refuse to sit at the same desk with him or take him on the team during the game (often citing the fact that he always makes mistakes or has some oddities). Also, during passive bullying, all kinds of name-calling and jabs are used towards the victim. Most often, this method is used in elite lyceums and gymnasiums, where the rules are too strict to carry out active bullying. Again, ineffective against people who don't care.
Cha - the herd gathers around the omega, grabs his clothes and pulls in different directions. Each session ends with things increasing by several sizes and their further use becomes difficult. Omega, who comes the next day in stretched clothes, is exposed.
Collapse- preferred for bullying an omega nerd. While answering the teacher, the victim's chair moves 5-10 centimeters from the initial position. Upon completion of the answer, the victim sits down along the usual trajectory... Fall, pain, humiliation, reprimand from the teacher is guaranteed (in case of a particularly (un)lucky fall + concussion)
Rams. Two low-ranking victims are needed. It begins with each of them getting to the bottom of each other, word by word, until one begins to pour streams of shit on the other, and, accordingly, vice versa (and this will definitely happen, because the lower the position of the victim, the more diligently he will denigrate the other). The showdown may well lead to a fight. And given the morale of the fighters, the fight can be very brutal. And with the corresponding consequences further. The main advantage of the method is that the provocateur’s hands are always “clean”, and those targeted always remain guilty for outsiders.
Matchmaking- when a herd deliberately pushes low-ranking individuals of different sexes towards each other with slogans like “fuck her, prove that you’re not a homosexual”, “we found you a chick” and the like. Both patients find themselves in a completely awkward and hopeless situation. Also, bullies can try to do awkward things (like force you to touch an omega girl’s breasts, kiss her, etc.) under the threat of beating her or starting to consider the omega a homosexual.
It should be noted that a particularly favorite place for herd baiting is the locker room. After which the omega bypasses her and changes clothes anywhere, which twice a week brings pleasure to the others. In many cases, the process of torturing the victim is recorded on a mobile phone camera by gammas observing it from the side, and then the video is distributed to the entire class via bluetooth.
From the teachers' side
Being exposed to ridicule - they simply stupidly call the omega to the board or force him to get up from his seat and cover him with curses from head to toe. As a rule, they are accused of stupidity, worthlessness, laziness, etc.
Call for Gratitude- often used with the previous method. For the omega's tricks with the words “Say thanks to %username%” the whole class is punished. As a result, the omega, at the first opportunity, receives love from his punished and innocent comrades.
Gagging— they call the same student to answer every lesson, and they chase him through the entire program and do not calm down until they hit a “pair.” This can go on for weeks. Memorizing a textbook usually doesn't help much.
Expulsion from class- if the omega has already specifically annoyed the teacher, then he simply kicks him out of the classroom during the lesson. However, this only benefits the omega: he simply heads home to avoid further bullying.
It is worth noting separately that the teacher almost never takes the side of the victim of bullying and generally, as far as possible, tries to hide the very fact of hazing in the class. This happens for a very simple reason: any recorded fact of bullying a child is a stain on the reputation of both an individual teacher and the entire teaching staff of the school, with mandatory sanctions from the District ONO (this is at best). In addition, the deterioration of the reputation of the educational institution will lead to an outflow of the most useful clientele for the school, which will push children out of nowhere, and they may simply sue for money. Therefore, the teacher will most likely respond to any complaints from a problem child or his parents using the template “the problem is with you.”
From the parents (yes, yes, this also happens)
Litigation- Some parents like to go to court for the slightest reason. Do not be surprised if you are summoned to court in the case of “how your Vasenka pushed our Masha” with huge sums of moral compensation and exaggeration of the injuries received.
Parental committee- if you somehow did not please the parent who heads the parent committee, you can be prepared for the biggest meanness and troubles. This parent will convince all teachers and other parents that he is “right,” and you will be in trouble.
Senior classes
At the age of 16-18, the hierarchical structure of the class inevitably changes. Firstly, it becomes mixed. Secondly, the formation of a new structure is greatly influenced by how large the locality in which the school is located is.
In terms of city population
If the city is large enough, then in high school the integrity of the hierarchy is gradually destroyed. This is due to the fact that members of the pack outside the school walls have more important things to do than pester the omega. In addition, other useful activities allow students to develop and mature faster. The omega's role as an object of bullying is decreasing; he can finally walk around the school calmly without fear that something will fly at him. Unless years of panic and self-doubt have already made him an antisocial loner. But it's still better than what it was before.
From the point of view of ranked battle, everything becomes sluggish and uninteresting.
It's a different matter when the city is small! In this case, on the contrary, everything becomes even tougher for the omega. Young people have even more strength and energy (hormones are raging), but there are still no decent activities in the town. Therefore, to diversify sensations, more and more sophisticated experiments are carried out on omega. Now with a sexual connotation, since sexually mature girls are included in the bullying, in front of whom the guys need to show off.
In this environment, protection for the omega guy often comes from an unexpected quarter - from the most beautiful and popular girl in the teenage community. But this is not connected with maternal instinct and not with the desire to show female kindness and good upbringing, but with the same thing - the desire, with one’s own high rank, to go against the herd, subordinating it to one’s will. Unlike a guy, no one will touch an alpha girl. It is also important for her to humiliate the alpha guy she often dates. In her heart, she despises the outcast omega even more than the other girls.
From a class structure point of view
At the transition to grades 9-10, the composition of the class itself is reshaped: many go to technical schools, including almost all the alpha gopniks. Many people are transferred to special schools and lyceums with an in-depth program, where the team is not a collection of all stripes from the area, but a team where everyone knows why their parents pushed them here. In this case, although the gradation is visible, no one touches or pesters anyone: the average level of intelligence and calmness in such places is higher. And they also keep order more strictly.
As for schools, the remaining people are usually redistributed among a slightly reduced number of classes (since all individuals with below average intelligence went to vocational schools, and above average - to more elite places), as a result of which connections now precisely permeate the entire parallel. On the other hand, a bunch of gammas and epsilons now don’t know what to do and why finish off the omega at all, so the structure most often changes almost completely and becomes similar to a university one: many comrades study in neighboring classes, so the circles of communication remain the same according to old connections , as a result of which the parallel and the class itself are divided into several non-hostile and equal companies. And the people are slowly growing up and often have more important things to do than school.
Omega's adult life
After school, these are classic hickeys, nerds and beatards who find it very difficult to relearn how to communicate with people. Of course, they are used to the fact that no one loves them, and they will be punished for the slightest mistake. If in a few years the omega can overcome these complexes within himself, then things will become easier. If the alpha was from the gopnik side, then the ex-omega, after graduating from school, gets off with just a fierce, rabid hatred of the gopnik, but not misanthropy.
Some ex-omegas can be found well settled in this life, which can be explained by the ability to survive stressful situations developed over difficult years. Some omegas, thanks to youthful hardening and innate abilities or pathologies (for which they were not loved in childhood), achieve success that alphas and betas could not even dream of.
If during the bullying there was even the slightest sexual subtext (and in 100% of cases this is the subtext of same-sex relationships that are abnormal from the point of view of homophobic communities), then an adult omega is guaranteed to receive pathologies in the intimate sphere.
Conclusion
If you are a member of the Gamma community and below, then after graduation you may suddenly realize that you can’t continue like this and you should start achieving something more. Fortunately, at university and in life in general, the rules and values are completely different, so the main rule for you will be to throw all that school rubbish out of your head and get settled again. However, if the student body consists of more than half males, then the first two courses of bullying can be ensured, because males mature two years later than females. But if everything goes well, yesterday’s alphas will have a slight advantage over you, and it may even be easier for you. Therefore, you need to push yourself at the beginning, try, and everything will work out.
And of course, omega, in order not to be subjected to repeated humiliation, should by all means and means avoid ending up in the Russian army and prison.
To bring all of the above to a common denominator, it should be said that a school hierarchy of this kind has always existed - since it is a group of motley people kept in the conditions of some kind of (semi) closed system, such as a prison or army.
The degree of resemblance to hordes of baboons depends on:
The integrity of the establishment itself: initially they try to weed out the really stupid rednecks, then they will try to either prevent an aggravation or hide precedents, which, unfortunately, also happens.
Stability of hierarchy in the classroom. The more important ranking fuss distracts from the bullying.
Redneck class. If there are more rednecks in the class than non-rednecks, the problems described above will certainly arise - the rednecks are more susceptible to herd mentality than the rednecks cut into their narrow circles.
Ratio of boys and girls in the class. More girls - less bickering.
Home environment and parental control over children's development.
Simplified version of the article
based on materials Lurkmore.ru
Original article + additional information
It would seem that the main purpose of the school is to provide knowledge to students, educate and develop a culture of communication. But why then do many children want to change schools or start skipping classes? It comes as a shock to most parents to realize that for their beloved child, school is like a cage with sharks. The reason for this is the clear distribution of roles for each student in accordance with unspoken rules.
Most often, the division of the class into subgroups is noticeable. Having watched enough American films about school, in particular the series “Gossip Girl”, the film “Mean Girls”, students want to imitate the queens. There are many shocking videos on the Internet dedicated to the humiliation of classmates. Modern cinema about the school from director Guy Germanika confirms these truths.
Features of the school hierarchy
Each class has its own hierarchy. Moreover, from the teachers and children. But not a single class teacher admits to this. Because convincing, holding conversations about equality is the direct responsibility of teachers, which they do not want to do.
Teachers conditionally divide the class according to the following criteria:
- Academic performance.
— Personal sympathies.
— Financial component of parents.
Academic achievement and personal sympathy are interconnected. If the teacher does not like the student, he is unlikely to become an excellent student. But a student with average abilities, with the support of the class teacher or another teacher, can receive excellent grades. The attitude towards children from wealthy families is ambiguous. Some try their best to please parents and schoolchildren in order to receive gifts and financial rewards. Other teachers are jealous and deliberately bring down the student. The student-teacher relationship depends on the behavior, effort and abilities of the child.
The hierarchy in an educational institution is significantly different from the division of the teacher. It consists of the following groups:
Leaders. Among boys and girls there are so-called leaders. They decide who to bully, what classes to take, what music to listen to, what movies are cool, what clothes to wear, who deserves to join their elite and other issues. Almost everyone wants to date them. It is very rare that excellent students lead such a group, but such cases do occur. There are aggressive leaders who punish disobedience. For example, in the book “Scarecrow” Mironova was such a cruel leader. Somov was also a leader who studied well. Among boys, the leader becomes either the strongest one or the one with a good sense of humor.
Friends of leaders. They are envied by other students because they have powerful patrons.
"Cool." This group almost competes with the leaders or closely merges into one whole. Such students smoke, drink, swear, skip school, hang out with high school students and are respected people in the area. Studying is not held in high esteem for them. Girls from this group start dating high school boys earlier. But woe to contact or not please them. They can challenge you to a fight or just beat you up. Teachers believe that nothing good will come of such children, and they strive to quickly graduate them.
"Sixes". They want to be friends with the cool or the leader at any cost. Such classmates are not respected, but they are used. They don't have an opinion. Therefore, most often they are framed. For example, they incite someone to steal something from a store, but they themselves run away, leaving a classmate to deal with the problem. Even after such an incident, the “sixes” are still ready to serve their idols.
Ordinary students. They communicate well with all groups.
"Nerds, nerds." So, in slang they call excellent students. If they don’t become arrogant and let them write off, then they have a chance to rise up the hierarchy to be friends with the leaders. Otherwise, go down below.
"Scapegoat". Everyone has a classmate who is different from the others, who is blamed for all the troubles. Teachers also choose a student to yell at and lower grades. Such a child’s classmates also begin to bully him. But the leaders will not allow anyone else to offend their scapegoat.
Outcast. These children are bullied among classmates for denunciations to teachers, harshness in statements, gossip, appearance, and worldviews. The biggest mistake these children make can be considered a “victim complex.” Even if they are transferred to another school, there is a chance of the situation repeating.
"Invisibles." They seem to live in their own world. They do not communicate with anyone or make friends with their own kind. They are not remembered at the alumni meeting, they are not recognized on the street. It is not known what is worse to be an outcast or invisible.
New student. For now he is at the lowest level, because they are keeping an eye on him. His place in the hierarchy depends on his behavior.
The grouping of schoolchildren by interests is unstable. Yesterday's friend of the leader may turn out to be an outcast. An outcast girl can join the elite by becoming the girlfriend of the class leader or the leader of the school.
Does hazing exist at school? Naturally. A group of “cool” high school students like to offend younger students and take their money. Or the girls from the gang bully the unwanted girl, humiliating her.
Why are teachers inactive? Because they don’t want to contradict the leaders. Only a teacher from God is able to defeat such a social system together with the children’s parents. More communication and love - and then the relationship will reach another level.
