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The Great Sheep Debate

The Great Sheep Debate



My high school was relatively small. To put it into perspective, I graduated with eighty-six people. In my class there were the usual cliques. There were the smart kids, the athletes, the cheerleaders, the drug users, and the slackers. But somehow I didn't fit into all of this. I wasn't, and still am not, the smartest person in the history of the world. I'm way too clumsy to play any sports. I wasn't the right size to be a cheerleader. I wouldn't even consider using drugs, and I certainly am not a slacker. I was just Nikki the girl that no one liked. I just wasn't like them. I dressed differently, and had my own opinion, and that just didn't fly with them.

Day in and day out, I saw the struggle. It happened most with the incoming freshman every year. I saw people almost killing themselves with dieting so they could fit the cheerleader mold. I saw some of the most intelligent people not apply themselves, just because it's not "cool" to be smart. I really think that is sad. These people could really have made something of themselves, but instead they chose being "cool" over having a future. I was teased and mocked for attempting to be an individual. Even one of my teachers told me one day that I only dressed differently so I could get attention. Her saying that really made me think. Is it really so bad to not want to be a conformist sheep? Has the world really come to either being alike or being miserable? I hope not. I'll admit to sometimes wishing I could be like them. But I know that I wouldn't be here now if I had been.

As Doris Lessing said, "It is the hardest thing in the world to maintain an individual dissident opinion, as a member of a group" (334). She also said, "the hardest thing in the world is to stand out against one's group of peers" (334). I don't exactly find this to be true. High school wasn't exactly the easiest time for me, but I got by. I would have rather gone through it without friends,...