Chapter 1: Stereotypes in the High School Education System

Chapter 1: Stereotypes in the High School Education
System
There is a complex variety of stereotypes within the high school education system which play
a role in the high school experience for individual adolescents, contributing to their identity.
These stereotypes and labels are derived from varying factors including race, gender,
socioeconomic status, appearance and values. Stereotypes have evolved over time due to
changing beliefs and values, as well as the introduction of communication technologies, such
as social media. To assess the role stereotypes have within the high school education system,
it is necessary to understand what the various stereotypes are and how they are viewed within
society.
A stereotype is associated with the development of beliefs concerning the traits supposedly
possessed by most members of a society . The awareness of these ‘social categories’ become 2
apparent in adolescents’ lives quite early . This begins at just 30 months of age where 3
children are labelled as a gender and show some limited knowledge of gender stereotypes.
“As soon as a baby is labeled as boy or girl expectations are put into place. These
expectations will determine what color clothes it will wear, the type of toys that it will play
with, and what type of behavior is considered acceptable” . Across the childhood and early 4
adolescent years, students are able to distinguish among a wide variety of occupations,
activities, and attributes on the basis of gender, race and status. This aligns with the
questionnaire results, which found that 74% of respondents were familiar with at least 2 or
more high school stereotypes 5
. Of these respondents, 36.8% attended high school from
1980-1989, 5.3% attended from 1990-1999, 10.5% attended from 2000-2009, and 47.4%
attended from 2010-present . This demonstrates that the presence of stereotypes has endured 6
2 Allen, 2000 cited in Igbo, J. N., Onu, V. C., & Obiyo, N. O., Impact of Gender Stereotype on
Secondary School Students’ Self-Concept and Academic Achievement, 2015
3 Rowley, Kurtz-Costes, Mistry & Feagans, Gender stereotypes about mathematics and science and
self-perceptions of ability in late childhood and early adolescence, 2007
4 Garcia, Labels and its effects on deviance: correlation between internalization and deviance, 2013
p.3
5 Questionnaire, 2019
6 Questionnaire, 2019
631681928
over time with a slight increase in recent times . An individual’s knowledge is shaped 7
through interactions with others and through the norms and values constructed socially and
historically governing a person’s life . During high school, these stereotypes are a basis for 8
social categories and groups which distinguish adolescents. This notion was investigated in
the questionnaire where it was revealed that 50% of participants had been stereotyped in high
school . Of this 50%, 57.9% were females, demonstrating that females are generally more 9
likely to be stereotyped than males . 52.6% also felt that they did not perform behaviours 10
that are categorised within this stereotype . This exemplifies that stereotypes in high school 11
are generally not a true reflection of the actual person as they are oversimplified based on
societal norms.
Typical stereotypes within high school can include; ‘jock’, ‘nerd’, ‘class clown’, ‘outcast’,
‘queen bee’ and ‘emo’, although this is only a small sample. These stereotypes are premised
on assumptions of sporting ability, academic achievement, social behaviour, physical
appearance, social status, race and gender. When participants were presented with images of
particular stereotypes within the focus group, they were asked to give their opinions on the
typical behaviours associated with these stereotypes. For example, an image of a teenage
male wearing a varsity jacket, holding a basketball and talking to a female from an American
movie was presented. Male participant 1 described him as a “jock, American basketball
superstar, the cool kid” . Female participant 1 stated “He’s cool, popular, he’s a bully 12
maybe, or he could be just a bit of a charmer” demonstrating that the female participant
looked beyond the ‘typical’ behaviours of the