Persuasive Essay: The Use Of Labels In High School

Words: 692
Pages: 3

Geeks, freaks, fatties, nerds, popular, queen bees, wannabes, emos, jock and the list goes on. Australia in the 21st century is taking longer to just grow up because of the labels in high school or anywhere, we all get them eventually. We work so desperately to get them or we just want to leave them behind. Often by year 10, all the labels are pretty much set. These labels pretty much reinforce stereotypes and they prevent us from accepting the people and getting to know the real character. Those labels shape who we are in the future and not everybody wants that.

When I was in year 5, I was given a label. Nerd. I was smart. I loved the idea of homework and I was simply a goodie-to-shoe. I had many friends too, although they were mostly boys.
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You can’t define yourself with one word. You are so complex that you can’t have one word that can describe all your feelings you’ve ever had. People change. Students feel like they need to be accepted by their peers. People want to be like somebody else and other will take a different approach and try to stand out. Either way, those people are trying hard to impress others. Neither is the right path. As Taylor Swift said, “Be yourself. No one else is better”.

To a label, there are certain requirements. I hate that people think I am a nerd just because I'm smart. I hate that people think that I should act geeky or in a certain way because of my label. I hate all of this stereotyping because they are creating a concept of who I am based on what they see, but they don’t know who I really am. Someone smart can like sport. Someone sporty can like cooking. Someone who loves to skate can love music.

Labelling seems almost harmless. It leads to stereotyping, racism, discrimination and sadly, bullying. Labelling leaves students pondering about their social identity and changes themselves depending what everyone else will like and not themselves. It’s that yearn for popularity everyone tries to strive for. The feeling that everyone loves them and those feelings can go in the wrong ways. Ways that can ruin lives