Perfectly Shaped By Trends and Reputations

By Samina Ludlow                                                                                                                   

Edited By Hilma Bjork and Abbi Jeffers  

 

 

The moment when you walk through the hallway looking at the facial expressions of the rest of your fellow classmates and you start to wonder what they're thinking when they look at you. Rachel Simmons, the co founder of the Girls Leadership Institute has many questioners about the good and bad reputations of teenagers. Many of the askers say that their reputation is one of the most important things that they focus on when going into High School.

 

According to an AIS-R middle school survey 80% of middle school agree that they dress based on what their peers think of them. "The way you present yourself, tells a person about your character," says Mahnoor Sheikh, an NJHS member.

 

Many links from Google Scholar (a search link to articles written by people with a phd) have said that junior high and high schools in the U.S have the same character. Nearly all the students are peer pressured to dress and act a certain way for example smoking and wearing abercrombie. Most students simply want to be accepted by their peers and yet no one is the same.

 

"I think that how you dress shows your personality. For example if you wear shorts every day, you are kind of athletic. If you wear sweats a lot, you are kind of lazy" - Zainab Nadri an 8th grade student. Forbes magazine says that we are what we wear and with that comes a reputation. Forbes magazine is saying that peer pressure changes some of our personality.

 

What about the 20% that don't dress based on their peers?

 

"I think people see me as the relaxed guy who doesn't care about a lot of things. Which makes me ‘weird’. I don't think it's just the clothes I wear that builds my reputation, but the way I act" - Timothy Dukes. Tim is an example of a person who is not peer pressured to dress and act like everyone else he is also influenced by his friends who don't care either . Though he has a reputation of being a weird person. He has a reputation like all of us, but he simply doesn't care what type of reputation he has. The reason most of us conform into a certain character is because peer pressure has made us. Most students want a well liked reputation amongst our fellow peers.

 

"I will still be the same person tomorrow as I am today" - Mahnoor Shaik.

 

Your reputation is based on what you do, what you wear, and how you act towards other people. If a student were to wear all black 24/7 then people may have the impression that the student might be goth. Another example is if a student shows a lot of skin then one might think that student is always looking for a boyfriend/ girlfriend.  If a student has gotten in to fights before, peers may see them as an aggressive person or if a student lies and manipulates his/ her peers people might see them as unhonorable.

 

Out of a small pool of students, (including some students that care about their reputation and some that don’t care) 6/9 said that they will not change in a years time. They said that they will keep their style and reputation throughout college and even when they have kids but in a more mature version.

 

An article from the website, Succeed Socially, said that as a person matures, the less they think of what others think of them and that this lessens social anxiety. Succeed Socially, has said that students that have lessened their social anxiety tend to socialize more than people who have started out with low social anxiety.

 

Peer pressure has shaped AIS-R’s reputation and character. AIS-R students have a bad reputation throughout Riyadh, for example many high school and middle school student are following the trend of smoking. But AIS-R also has a very good reputation. According to Expat blog the American school is the second best school in Riyadh.  Being known for how expensive and our academic progress, AIS-R has been shaped throughout the years by students, teachers and principals.