The Social Ladder by Alex Lim
We are living in a world where position is everything. A high position means you have control over the lower ones. A low position means that you have no access to the benefits of the higher ones. So some people spent half their lives trying separately to climb all the way up. Some succeed, some fell. Some of which are unable to win the more scheming or capable. But one thing is for sure: they are all prey to the social construct built unwittingly by the people themselves.

Since medieval times power is highly sought for. The reason is fairly obvious: The more power you have the better you life will be and the more control one will wield over other people. And control can be very addictive. So wars are fought, people are killed, families shattered for this very control and power.

But of course being a teenager article this is obviously about the teenagers, isn’t it?

The school student social structures have not changed a lot since it was first erected. The main high levels are still the jocks, or the sportsman and women of the school. In US this may include the cheerleaders, but in Singapore that is scarce. The reason for the popularity of the jocks is uncertain. Some believes that they represent the school and are the only reliable ones able to bring glory to the school; some think that they are the embodiments of physical perfection. Unfortunately, they are highly susceptible to rumors and gossips, making them fairly easy to dethrone. The alpha male either has high persuasive powers or high physical powers. These also meant that they are easily replaceable by more able candidates, thus shortening their reign. All and all, this caste is most likely going to stay in the school system for many years to come.

The next group of people are the normals. They are the normal students studying in the school not holding any important offices. They form the bulk of the caste system. They are also the least privileged of the lot, and are given only the bare student rights. They are highly susceptible to the jocks and most of the time unable to retaliate. They are the most low profiles of the students and are hardly recognizable by the teachers.

The last group of students are the geeks. These are the most intelligent of the lot, or are inadequately dressed, thus labeled as such. Geeks can range from highly popular individuals to poorly understood subjects of bullying behaviour.