It gives them an identity. In some cases it's even healthy. But Mr. Orfei agrees that all teachers are looking harder at cliques. Cornell, the University of Virginia professor, says he's talked with adults who, years later, retain unhappy memories of high school. He sees it as part of a larger picture.
Human beings tend to gather into groups.
We need to start to address it with schoolchildren and hope they won't do it as adults. Matthew Schwarzfeld, a senior at Pelham High, says he's had many years to study the clique system in his school and recently wrote a paper in which he wondered if he and his friends would mature out of such tendencies as adults. Before bookmarking this page in your browser, click here . The Christian Science Publishing Society. All rights reserved.