Abstract
The rebirth of high school cool.
Zach Morris and A.C. Slater were the coolest guys at Bayside High. In the ‘90s sitcom “Saved by the Bell,” Zach and A.C. appeared to have it all: they were star athletes, charming, and admired by their peers. Unfortunately, they were always getting D’s and F’s in their coursework. Zach almost didn’t graduate from high school.
Do younger cohorts of teenagers still feel that being good at sports is a sure path to popularity?
Zach and A.C. did not value academics—they were too busy playing sports and socializing. Popularity at Bayside was seemingly determined by being a jock, being good looking, or having money. In fact, the most academically gifted students at Bayside, like Samuel Powers (a.k.a. Screech), were clearly placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
Although the show purposely exaggerated this disdain for education for dramatic and comedic purposes, there is some sociological evidence that youth culture in the U.S. has historically undervalued educational pursuits. For instance, sociologist James Coleman studied the behaviors and attitudes of students in several U.S. high schools during the late 1950s and noticed that one of the values common among teenagers was a type of anti-intellectualism. He found that teenagers showed little interest in education because academic achievement among teens did not translate into increased popularity. In fact, much like the teens who attended Bayside, Coleman observed that teens focused more attention on sports, dating, and cars because these were key features of gaining popularity among their peers.
While Coleman provided an important snapshot of the values that teenagers believed were important for being popular in high school, his glimpse into the lives of teenagers took place during the late 1950s. Indeed, society has changed dramatically since Coleman’s seminal study, and it would be interesting to see how these values have changed among teenagers over the past several decades. Using one of the largest ongoing surveys of teenagers in the U.S., Monitoring the Future (MTF), we can see trends in teenagers’ perceptions of high school popularity going back to 1976 (e.g., do younger cohorts of teenagers still feel that being good at sports is a sure way to be popular?).
Who’s Cool
Monitoring the Future (MTF) has collected data on 12th grade students each year, asking the same battery of questions on high school popularity, including, “How important is each of the following for being looked up to or having high status in your school?” The options given are (1) “Coming from the right family”, (2) “Being a leader in student activities”, (3) “Having a nice car”, (4) “Getting good grades”, (5) “Being a good athlete”, (6) “Knowing a lot about intellectual matters”, and (7) “Planning to go to college”.
Importance for high status in high school
Source: Monitoring the Future
The graphics show 12th graders’ attitudes regarding whether material possessions (i.e., “Coming from the right family” and “Having a nice car”), educational achievement (“Planning to go to college,” “Getting good grades,” and “Knowing a lot about intellectual matters”), or extra-curricular involvement (“Being a good athlete” and “Being a leader in student activities”) are still seen as important for being popular in high school.
The figures reveal both change and consistency in teenagers’ perceptions of what makes them popular in high school over these four decades. First, since the ‘80s, 12th graders are somewhat less likely to see material possessions as vital to gaining status in high school. Second, being a good athlete has remained the most important characteristic in gaining status in high school. More than half of 12th graders in every cohort sampled by the MTF indicated that being a good athlete was very important for high school status.
Although athletics continue to lead, academics are catching up. Academic achievement has had the largest increase in importance among 12th graders. In the late 1970s, 31% indicated that planning to go to college was of great importance for gaining status, but that has since jumped to 55%. We also see an 11% increase in the importance of knowing a lot about intellectual matters and a 6% increase in the importance of getting good grades for gaining status between 1976 and 2013.
The Future of Cool
The consistently high place of sports as one of the best routes to become popular is not surprising given that participation in youth sports has increased dramatically among girls and boys over the past four decades, and still remains the most popular extra-curricular activity in the U.S. However, this continual emphasis placed on sports among teens does not necessarily expose a persistent anti-intellectual culture. Research consistently finds that high school student athletes academically outperform their peers who are not involved in sports. In other words, the stereotypical dumb jock we see on shows like “Saved by the Bell” is not actually the norm across high schools in the U.S. Rather, good students tend to self-select into extra-curricular activities such as sports.
New waves of teenagers seem to define popularity in more well-rounded terms. The cool kids may be the overachievers outperforming their peers in the classroom, not just on the playing field.
Statistics now show academic achievement has grown in importance as a way to gain popularity in high school. Planning to go to college, getting good grades, and knowing a lot about intellectual matters has increased in importance as a route to gain popularity. Today, the overwhelming majority of high school seniors expect to attend college. According to the MTF data, roughly 82% of 12th graders in 2013 indicated that they would earn a college degree, 32% higher than in 1976. Increased opportunities to attend college that may have been closed for many during the ‘70s and ‘80s, may be influencing how teenagers define popularity in terms of academic achievement. Given the higher access to post-secondary education and high level of interest among teenagers in attending college, academic pursuits may be seen as a more accessible route to achieve popularity during high school.
This doesn’t mean that narrowly defined nerds like Screech have equal footing within the social hierarchy of high schools today. The trends outlined above, and the growing emphasis placed on building a solid resume to gain entry into selective colleges, suggest that new waves of teenagers define popularity in more well-rounded terms with respect to academics and extra-curricular activities. Popularity today may reflect a combination of athletics, academics, and other pursuits such as performing arts. In other words, the cool kids in high schools today may be the overachievers who are outperforming their peers in the classroom and not just on the playing field.
Given these trends, Zach and A.C. wouldn’t have a chance at the homecoming king’s crown at today’s Bayside High. If the producers of “Saved by the Bell” wanted to bring the next installment of teenage life at Bayside back in 2015, the lead character would need to resemble Jessie Spano – the athletic and eagerly Ivy League-bound high school standout.