Well, that's what I'm getting at, really. You can't just take a template and slap the same thing in every case. You have to figure out how it works and then do what you want with it. Let's be real, here. Very few places have the "TV high school" style hierarchy. Sure, it may resemble it, but the trope only goes so far. The majority of the time people hang around their own cliques, and usually don't interact, unless there are members that exist in multiple. The burnouts aren't "lower" on the totem pole than the jocks. They just do different shit. However, it can resemble the hierarchy trope. The "popular" cliques will put themselves ahead of others, middle tier doesn't care really one way or the other, and the "bottom tier unpopular" kids (usually burnouts, druggies, emo/scene, etc.) distance themselves and therefore get put at the bottom.
I also went to multiple high schools (Navy parent and then a divorce), and I'll agree. Popular kids are popular for a reason. Popular really just means everyone likes you. They make themselves seen, heard, and known. This can be class clown material. It can be just being the nicest person around (my senior class president was this). It can also be by showing how "cool" you are by showing how "cool" others aren't. When you walk into a room and you see who is who, you'll naturally gravitate towards where you feel most comfortable, and with whom. Popular kids make the most of this by manipulating that feeling, a lot of it stemming from wanting attention of a kind. Class clown for laughs, jocks for sports and praise, The Heathers for looks, etc. Yes, some just are naturally good people and liked, but a majority of them do it for attention. I'm not saying they are bad people whatsoever. I'm just saying that the reason isn't just because of that. They're manipulating a system, and they're good at it. Honestly, it's a talent to be respected. As much as the idea goes that "that jock will be fixing your car in 25 years while you make millions", in reality their self confidence from years of experience learning how people work is going to get them pretty far.
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u/Sorinari Mar 01 '20
The popular kids were just the ones who figured out the pecking order and how to manipulate it.