High School's Secret Life - Emily White

Throughout this essay Emily discusses life in high school. She describes the various cliques as tribes. I believe she uses this comparison because in high school you have a certain social circle you pertain to. In this circle are other individuals who have similar interests etc. In high school you usually don't step beyond your clique unless you need something from another clique. As I look back on my high school days I can't say I disagree with White's views. I went to Dartmouth High School and you could say there were "tribes" so to speak. Our tribes were grouped by who grew up in a fortunate or less fortunate family. The "popular" students had money while everyone else was just average or barely getting by. Then it was broken down further by the stereotypical tribes jocks/cheerleaders, nerds, and so on. Everyone was more or less cordial with one another, but we knew our place. An undesirable person could speak with a popular person, but once the conversation was over there was chance of talking behind the persons back. Be kind, but trust no one kind of attitude. You could go from clique to clique exchanging conversation or what have you, but at the end of the day we were true to our tribes.