Monday, August 21, 2006

Choose Your High School Archetype

So, which character from the the John Hughes filmography did you relate to best: Criminal, Basket Case, Jock, Princess or Brain? This article is a few years old, and I post it mostly for fun...but I've always been fascinated by how we perceive ourselves in high school and how those perceptions change as we grow up. A quote:
"Life is like high school, according to two researchers who tracked a sample of high schoolers through their early 20s to see if the teenagers' perceptions of themselves accurately predicted what they would be like as young adults."
For a more official account, check out the associated academic paper (pdf) with some conclusions about the impact of engagement in extracurricular activities (sports, clubs, bands) for teens:
"We have found that our measure of activity participation at grade 10 is related to identity, peer group composition, and to achievement-related values. It is also an important predictor of alcohol use, GPA, educational and occupational attainment, civic engagement, and psychological adjustment."

3 comments:

Heather said...

Honestly, I think I fell into almost all of the listed categories during parts of my high school life. What does that mean, I wonder?

Jeremy said...

I think in the movie (I really need to watch The Breakfast Club again), that's the realization the characters come to; that we've all got some ratio of each type, and that the ratio might change over time.

It's probably just part of discovering and creating our identities in those crazy years. Radical, frequent swings might indicate a lost soul, but some exploration is necessary to figure out who we are. Seems like that solidifies for most people in their early 20s now -- probably happened much earlier in previous generations.

Jason said...

Oh, criminal, for sure. The bad boys of John Hughes films always attracted me. Then again, I was most like them anyway (except I didn't really do a lot of illegal things, just what might be considered 'bad').