6th Grade SAS Naper

Social Classes in Sixth Grade

An editorial by: Cam Evans, Nina Jourdan, and Oneida Habarurema

 

“Avoid popularity if you want peace”-Abraham Lincoln.

 

According to SAS sixth grader Aislin Lyman, “Social classes in sixth grade have taken over all the activities and socialization that we do.” Many others agree with her. There are two different “classes” in 6th grade. The lower class is the “unpopulars” and the higher is the “populars”. Some people just come in and are automatically popular and other people come in and have to work their way up. Some people come in and don’t become one of the “populars”.  

 

There is really no logic behind how to become popular and what makes you popular. In our grade, most people think the “populars” are exclusive and mean. Sure, some of them usually only hang out with other “populars”, but that isn’t true about all of them. They are still all unique, so we shouldn’t have a stereotype. There are some that hang out with everyone no matter what social “class” they are in.

 

The sixth grade would be so much better off without these social classes. People wouldn’t be afraid of getting judged or they wouldn’t be afraid of who they are.  Like Aislin said, the social classes have taken over all the things we do. It’s like we aren’t really all individuals any more because we “need” to be like this, act like this, or dress like this for people to actually want to talk to them and be seen with them.       

 

Social classes in the sixth grade community are categorizing people in a way they shouldn’t be. There are some people classified as “the lower social class” or “unpopular”. The people in the “lower” social class are just as good as the people in the “higher” social class. Everyone is created equal, so everyone should at least try to be friends with each other. Our sixth grade community shouldn’t classify each other within certain social classes because it makes people feel like they are not important, or that they are less than someone else.

 

In a good community, everyone should be kind to each other. It helps things run more smoothly. If everyone is nice to others, people wouldn’t get into arguments as easily, and there wouldn’t be people ignoring each other. If you imagine a good community, people don’t walk by other people like they can’t see them. As Anthony J. D’Angelo once said, “Smile. It is the key that fits the lock to everyone’s heart”.

 

When people think of our sixth grade class, they might not think the best things of it. We want to be known as a good community and class at St. Andrew’s. Social classes should be eliminated so that everyone coming into our grade will feel welcome and be friends with everyone.

 

We can fix the problem of social classes by hanging out with other people we don’t usually hang out with rather than always forming little circles. For example, take the lunch room. In lunch, we always sit in our little “groups”, meaning we never sit next to different people. If we want to change, then we should sit next to new people everyday and make new friends. I’m not saying you have to be best friends with everyone but at least be on good terms.

 

In our grade we also have little cliques, which means there are always the same people hanging out with the same people everyday and they are usually exclusive. People want to change, but never take their words into action. Some people might be afraid to talk to other people they don’t usually talk to because they might be afraid that person won’t like them, you will never know if you don’t try.

 

If you want to fix it, then try to talk to other people and become one big group, not several different groups.This quote is perfect because people want to try to be popular, but it’s saying don’t even try, if you are aiming for peace. Therefore if people just stop trying to be popular then we could finally have peace in our grade.              

                                                         

We can still change and create a stronger community with no social classes where everyone can be who they are. We should become a community where no one has to pretend to be someone else to avoid judgement by others. Everyone should be able to express their feelings and not be afraid. The 6th grade community can change: even if we start small we can change for the better!

 

Editorial notes for discussion: 

• So, do you think our grade has social classes?

• If so, what can you do to change this and to make our grade peaceful?

 

 

The Uni-Saders

by Ethan LeBlanc

 

Have you heard of the Uni-saders?  I, Ethan LeBlanc, AKA “Billy”, am one myself. You may have seen us ride the unicycles at Rhythms Night. You may have also seen the first phase of documentary about us, produced by Mr. Agnew.  I am are here to get an inside look at this community, so I went to the founder of the Mr. Agnew himself, to ask a few questions. He told me about the inauguration of the club:

 

A teacher named Mrs. Horn had a rusty old unicycle in her classroom, and the students would start trying to ride it. One of those students was David McDonald, the girl’s assistant lacrosse coach. Mr. Agnew was talking with the coaches about physical exercise, and David said that he should try out that unicycle. “A unicycle?” he thought. Over the next couple days, whenever he had twenty or thirty minutes off, he would go to the tennis courts and ride around on the unicycle, but always fall; yet, Mr. Agnew persevered and eventually prevailed.  About a week before Rhythms Night, he could take a lap around the gym. Between the rhythms routines, he would always ride around the gym and wave at the crowd. The crowd would go wild! “He can ride? Whoa!” Mr. Agnew said: “If anyone wants to start a unicycle club, then you should let me know.” His inbox was filled to the brim with emails. So many people were so excited about it. That was the birth of the Unicycle Club.

 

I asked Mr. Agnew about his thoughts on the documentary and he said, “This is the first phase of the documentary. I want to expand the unicycle club to multiple schools to share the art of perseverance, to carry it to other areas of your life, and to show that school isn’t just about getting an A; it’s about working hard to get that A.”

 

Mr. Agnew’s goal is to have the club in one hundred schools. The club has already spread to Casis; Casis will spread Uni-Saders to other schools. Mr. Agnew is trying to get people to understand the perseverance that unicycling demands and to prove that unicycling helps children develop skills and confidence they will use throughout their life. For me personally, since first grade, I have grown as a student because of unicycling in my life.