Do popular kids exist?

It may seem as a silly question.

But at least in my schoolar experience in Mexico. I have never seen something alone those lines.

In all the schools I have ever been (now I am in college), I have never seen something like how disney channel portrays a Popularity Food Chain. You just hang out with the people you like and ignore those that don't, easy.

It seems that In Disney Channel shows what I call a "jerk" or in spanish someone that is "muy mamon" or "muy payaso" is called "popular".While those people in Real Life (in my experience) are actually very disliked, disney portrays them like if everyone wanted to be like them? .... really?

In Disney Channel seems that liked people are always jerks.In my experience likeable people are the ones with many friends.

What you guys think? Is just me or this "Popularity Food Chain does exist in Real Life?

edited 9th Feb '11 6:18:17 PM by FallenLegend

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Yes. They just aren't the typical jock, and usually have just as many enemies as friends.

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In America and Canada, at least.

Except for 4/1/2011. That day lingers in my memory like...metaphor here...I should go.

In my personal experience, the "popular kids" of popular culture are an invention of entertainment aimed at teens. Most such entertainment targets the social awkwardness that adolescents tend to go through by whipping up character archetypes to personify the mostly-imagined divisions that teens like to see in their peers.

The "popular kid" characters hereby spawned are meant to represent what most kids are anxious to be (well liked, successful at endeavors of academics and extracurriculars) while at the same time giving teens an archetype they can blame for their lack of such qualities (they're all JerkJocks and Libbies in TV-land).

Again, in my personal experience, those teens who actually are successful in academics and sports while being generally well-liked achieve those things... by being nice, smart, athletic, and likeable.

I didn't notice a popularity food chain in my school. People separated based on common interests, and I can't recall that any one interest group was 'superior' to the others.

But then I was never the most observant or socially conscious highschooler, so it's possible that it existed and I never noticed.

Be not afraid...

All righty then. Well, obviously everyone's an individual, etc.

However, there's a rough system you can make out. The most popular people of all will be very sociable, friendly, nice, etc. People who are basically jerks will be somewhat less popular. But you can still be popular without being very nice at all.

Except for 4/1/2011. That day lingers in my memory like...metaphor here...I should go.

The most popular kids tended to be pretty nice people, in my experience. It was the moderately popular-ish ones you had to watch out for.

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@ Ultrayellow

What's your definition of "popular" here? People who have a wide circle of acquaintances, or people who are generally well-liked?

I was actually a popular in high school, mostly for dating cheerleaders. People made their own assumptions. Then I became a sports guy and now? Nearly every single teacher there knows my name, and even some students who did not know me.

Charisma is the key. You gotta make yourself likable, and say the right snarks at the right times. Boldness is another key.

edited 9th Feb '11 6:28:17 PM by NickTheSwing

The popular kids at my high school were along the lines of student body leadership, school paper writers, and such. Basically really, really nice and active people.

I'm not sure my junior high had any notable popular kids. Grade school the class size was so small being popular was a rather relative term

My high school was too small to have cliques.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

My high school has like 4000 students.

My junior high definitely had a popularity food chain  ^*

, and I was definitely near the bottom.

I never noticed one in my high school, but some of my friends in younger grades said that was because I was at the top.  ^*

In general, even if there's not really the Hollywood-esque "popular crowd" there is always the "unpopular" crowd.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw

This is what I saw at my high school as well.

In my experience, Popularity Food Chain does exist, but not in the age group they typically portray it. Generally, it's 9-13 year olds who act that way. And The Libby only acts that way to the unpopular kids, while acting cheerful and friendly to anyone with social status.

Oh, and generally the lower you are on the popularity chain, the more clearly you see it. Generally the popular kids deny that popularity even exists, meanwhile their less popular classmates describe them as The Libby.

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Oh, there is a popularity food chain. You just dont see it unless you're already on the bottom.

^^^ Me too. My school was kind of odd because the popular kids weren't mean, but it was clear that a certain group of kids weren't popular at all.

I suppose you could say that certain cliques (not individuals) are more popular than others. A person is rarely popular unless he/she belongs to a certain clique, although it is possible for the contrary to happen.

edited 10th Feb '11 5:21:48 AM by snailbait

"Without a fairy, you're not even a real man!" ~ Mido from Ocarina of Time

That's wierd. I always figured that if there was a popularity food chain in my school, perhaps I was so far down it I wasn't even aware it existed. It never occured to me to think that the bottom people were the only ones who noticed it and the top were oblivious.

edited 10th Feb '11 5:24:34 AM by LoniJay

Be not afraid...

Perhaps you were so cool, you didn't even notice you're cool

In my junior high there was the "cool" group, but it was quite fluid, more like a natural personality thing than subcultures and stuff. Hip-hop and urban Black fashion were all the rage those times, but it wasn't a marker for exclusivity. It passed into chavs on one side, and into the casuals on the other.

"Atheism is the religion whose followers are easiest to troll"

Ettina and Silent Stranger have it right, in my experience.

I didn't really notice popular kids at my high school. There were informal, loose cliches, but everyone mingled with everyone.

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@Ettina: Middle school, or my private school's eqivalent, had those sort of cliques. I ended up sitting with my future group of friends on the outcast table. I also noted the behavior of the popular kids being nice to one another while treating everyone else like a lesser.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.

I don't think my school had a "popular crowd" that was anything like the stereotypical sort you'd see portrayed in the media. You'd certainly have particular groups of friends, but there was never any kind of pretension that one somehow possessed status superior to another, and they never seemed to be divided on the basis of interests or anything like that. If it was, there was a lot of overlap at the very least.

When I was in school, the popular kids were usually very nice, which is how they stayed popular. They were also usually smart and hard workers - the valedictorian was a really popular guy.

Groovy.

Of course popular kids exist! I got one right here in my pocket! >:3

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