School CliquesLaughter and excitement echo throughout the playground on a bright, sunny day typical of elementary school students - classes, recess and the hurt feelings of the "popular" girls in the school class, because they called another classmate's clothes ugly. What gives these girls the privilege of destroying the feelings and self-esteem of others comes down to one word: cliques. This word can bring pleasure, joy and happiness, or sadness, low self-esteem and depression to students of all ages. A clique is a formation of people, much like an army, a leader and followers. The problem with cliques is that they promote fun and excitement while deep down they also destroy followers and viewers. A clique may seem cool, but a person can survive without it, because sometimes it does more harm than good. Cliques have been a part of school life for generations (Johnson 89), and as the years go by, it seems like they are getting worse. Cliques are, at their core, friendship circles whose members tend to identify as mutually connected (Adler and Adler 56). A person can see how a clique relates to an army by having a leader and followers, and how cliques have power over others in rank, similar to how an army has power over a country. A clique functions as a body of power within the rank; integrating the most popular individuals, offering the most exciting social lives, and arousing the most interest (Adler and Adler 56). A clique is made up of a leader, the one in control; followers who do what the leader says; and the wannabes who would do anything to be part of the clique. Researcher Laura Sessions Stepp, who wrote Our Last Best Shot, Guiding Our Children......middle of article ......sues that formed earlier is that many nine-year-olds do not yet have the emotional equipment to handle rejections and minor torments (Adler and Adler 90). Friendships are destroyed and ruined when one friend is accepted and the other rejected. Eva, a twelve-year-old girl attending school in New York, said: “Being popular isn't worth it if you're not happy. It’s better to be yourself” (Johnson 90). That's life too, being yourself and being happy, and if a twelve-year-old knows that, we all should have seen it too. Works Cited Adler, Patricia M. and Peter Adler. The power of peers. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1998.Johnson, Beth. "Back to School 2001: The Problem of Cliques." Good Housekeeping August 2001: 89-90. Meltz, Barbara F. "College Cliques: A Common Challenge." Boston Globe September 27, 2001, sec. H: 8.