Upperclassmen Stereotypes
“Ugh, freshmen,” says Oscar Jaramillo, senior student at V.I.S.A, when passing by the halls between classes. Usually, younger people are seen as obnoxious, immature, annoying, and simply unready. For instance, it is a common prejudice for upperclassmen to think all freshmen are down right annoying. This stereotype may come from the never ending relationship between age and experience. “Age is just a number,” so why do employers keep asking for it? Age is simply one of the only things about you that can not be altered or changed. Are adults really mature? Or are they simply trying to live up to what society defines ‘grown up’? The same question can be asked with younger people, are they really reckless and worry free? Or do they not have enough expectations to live up to?
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In school, there is two social classes for students, the lowerclassmen and the upperclassmen, a social status hierarchy.
Even though the upperclassmen began as freshmen, they believe it is their right to discriminate the ‘newbies’ as they were discriminated themselves by the previous Juniors and Seniors. Aforementioned, this stereotype most likely originates from the relationship between experience and age. Most may say, maturity and responsibility grow with age but, really, it depends upon the environment the individual grew up in. So, why can’t the younger people be evaluated before assumptions are
created? The fact that most middle-aged people believe that millennials are gullible and technology dependent is a large part that may contribute to this stereotype. Even though the smartphone can be a very useful tool that can help with academic and with entertainment purposes, they are seen as distractions, respectively, by these ‘old school’ people who accustomed to a technology-clean life. These individuals may just lack experience with them. For instance, as a child have you ever heard the “back in my day” or “when I was your age” nostalgic rants from your grandparents? Or from any elderly figure. These talks may lead to criticism about your actions, which ultimately leads to assumptions about all younger people who use some sort of technology.
In school, there is two social classes for students, the lowerclassmen and the upperclassmen, a social status hierarchy.
Even though the upperclassmen began as freshmen, they believe it is their right to discriminate the ‘newbies’ as they were discriminated themselves by the previous Juniors and Seniors. Aforementioned, this stereotype most likely originates from the relationship between experience and age. Most may say, maturity and responsibility grow with age but, really, it depends upon the environment the individual grew up in. So, why can’t the younger people be evaluated before assumptions are
created? The fact that most middle-aged people believe that millennials are gullible and technology dependent is a large part that may contribute to this stereotype. Even though the smartphone can be a very useful tool that can help with academic and with entertainment purposes, they are seen as distractions, respectively, by these ‘old school’ people who accustomed to a technology-clean life. These individuals may just lack experience with them. For instance, as a child have you ever heard the “back in my day” or “when I was your age” nostalgic rants from your grandparents? Or from any elderly figure. These talks may lead to criticism about your actions, which ultimately leads to assumptions about all younger people who use some sort of technology.