The article above is the work of a 16 year old student, Hailee, which explains her feelings about cliques and labels used by adolescents. She describes cliques in a mostly negative light, arguing that though seemingly harmless, being labeled in such ways can only prove to hold back teenagers in life, and suppresses open-mindedness. The writer also believes cliques to be avoidable and that she herself was never labeled. She suggests that cliques limit friendship and opportunities for new activities and experiences. The article ends with the writer advising teen parents to talk to their children about cliques and remind them to keep an open mind about all people.
In what ways might the writers age and background affect how the reader may perceive the information given? Do you think the teenage author may have perhaps just been lucky in having not been a part of cliques in high school? Or do you think she may just be refusing to acknowledge labels given to her? Do you think it is possible to go through life without being stereotyped or being inadvertently placed into a clique? What aspects of the writing either compel you or prevent you from taking the writer seriously?
I chose to respond to prompt 3. speak for yourself. The commenter on this article speaks very negatively of cliques. She uses intense words like leader, fear, infringe of freedom, and so on to describe them. I think she is a little too harsh when viewing cliques and maybe doesn't look at the from the other side.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I am not trying to say cliques are a great thing, but I think this commenter is a little extreme in what she has to say. The article talks about how there can be positive sides to cliques. What I thought of while reading this article is, what is the difference between a clique and a close group of friends? In high school I had three best friends, who became as close as my family. Does that make us a clique because we hung out a lot and did almost everything together? I think what some people look at as "cliques" could just be a really close group of friends that everyone in it trusts. Do you think cliques can be positive?
I do see the negative sides of cliques. I have seen it first and second hand and know how much people can hurt their peers. I am just trying to look at them on the other side and maybe play devil's advocate.
I am responding to this post with prompt 6. Stake Your Claim
ReplyDeleteThere are two major claims repeated throughout this article. The first is that cliques are avoidable and the second is that cliques limit people both socially and experientially. Both of the claims are supported by nothing more than the fact that a 16 year old who is in the midst of experiencing cliques at their most extreme, is the author. However the author provides no academic support or examples of for her statements. She never provides an example of someone she knows being held back by the group of friends they associate with or an example of something she has gotten to experience because she is an independent girl that isn't held down by anyone around her. The only support offered in defense of her statement that cliques are avoidable is that she has made it through three years of high school without becoming a part of one. Also the last commenter disagrees with what is generally being said in the article which proves that this is not a experience shared by all in high school and that her statements about cliques being restricting on ones life needs more support.
I went to a relatively small school with a graduating class of 200 my year. We had cliques but they weren't necessarily negative. A lot of them provided kids with a solid social net that allowed them to be confident and try more because the people around them would support them. However we did not have a big problem with exclusion at my school which I think is the most negative attribute of cliques. I agree with the previous commentator that my clique was simply my good group of friends. People may have labeled us at times but I never felt the effects of being labeled. This was my experience was anyone else's similar or different? Do you agree that the author does not provide enough support for her statements?
The author within this article clearly has a stance against cliques. Prompt seven has the respondent inquire as to what the article is trying to accomplish, and whether or not it works. In my opinion I believe that the author does their best to dissipate cliques, however the author does not use any sort of evidence other than their past experiences. The author uses generalizations as well to get their point across rather than actual facts which hurt their argument. Overall Hailee the author does her best to convey a sense of tranquility with everyone in high school, yet it appears she does not prove her point in the best way. Such a style of persuasion does not allow the author’s point to come across.
ReplyDeleteTheodore Roosevelt once said “Groups help everyone in society progress”. Hailee does a poor job proving this quote false as groups are consistent with what the old president once said. The writer does little to provide any examples of what parents could do to stop teens joining cliques. The author then ends with a subjective comment rather than objective. In various ways the authors article does not work.
just a follow up on my comment...I posted one on the actual site as well but whoever wrote the article has to approve it before it is posted.
ReplyDeleteI am responding with prompt 7. The works.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article I looked at the comments that were left, and there happened to be only 1. The one comment also agreed with the whole article and basically stated things in different words than the article did about cliques. For this reason, I would say that the article has not done anything for people. However I did agree with the article and many other people who read it might of as well and never realized it until reading it. Therefore the article may have done something and had purpose for some people's knowledge and values, but based off of the one comment, I cannot make that judgment and have to say that the article hasn't done much.
I am responding to prompt 5: Who do you think I am? In this article the author poses a few questions to the reader. She asks: "Who wants to be labeled? Who wants one word to define who they are, and what they can give?" and "...who wants a bunch of friends that are just like you?" In the way that she presents these questions it seems that she expects a "no" answer. By beginning each question with "who wants" she seems to believe that none of the audience would want to be labeled, or be defined by their clique, or have friends just like them. By saying "who would want" that she is implying that it is ridiculous to want whatever that is. She does not really mean for the readers to respond and comment answering these questions, she just expects that they agree with her argument that cliques are mostly a bad thing. Therefore she is inserting herself as an authority, she does not really need the readers opinion, she insinuates that she already knows what they feel.
ReplyDeleteIn my high school there were many cliques, even one of students who thought they were vampires! But not everyone belonged to a clique, some people remained independent of a group of friends and either hung out with a lot of different kinds of people or remained mostly anonymous and not very close to anyone in the school. So I agree with the author that it is completely possible to avoid cliques. The fact that she is a teenager and is experiencing the effect of cliques first hand makes her information seem believable and true. This makes the reader more compelled to agree with her point of view and to take her seriously.