When you go to high school, or even junior high school, you are labeled with a stereotype. You could be called nerd, if you have a high intelligence, preppy if you have a taste for expensive things, or punk if you were rebellious and enjoyed listening to punk-rock music. These unique stereotypes can be very accurate, but only for the people who strive to be labeled as such. So many people cannot be roped together and be called one in the same, everyone is different, and that is what makes us human. We will never be exactly like another person; we are all unique in our own ways.

Stereotypes are basically a hypothesis of another person. By picking some certain aspects they possess and labeling it, it allows room for one to gain further insight on that particular person. When you are labeled as a certain stereotype, it is because the others do not understand you, and wish to get to know you. That is the positive way of thinking about this topic. The negative view of it is, when you are labeled as something it is so the others can outcast you from their social group. It is cruel, but people of high school and junior high school age usually are due to the pressures cause by their peers. In everyday life, stereotypes could be a way to make fun of someone who is different, and laugh at them as if they are idiots when they are not.

Imagine a young boy who wore skinny jeans, baggy designer tank-tops, and vans. What would you think of him? Would you believe he was a fan of skateboarding? Or someone who did drugs and freeloads off of his friends? Now imagine this, He is actually a straight A student. He is very involved with sports, and frowns upon smoking, drinking, and drugs. If you don’t believe me, this kid is actually my kid brother. Here’s another thing to think about. A pretty, quiet girl who is very studious and receives good grades. You would think she was innocent, and naïve in certain area’s correct? Well, what that girl was the most vulgar person you could ever know? Stereotypes and appearances aren’t correct.
There are many truly awful stereotypes bouncing around, like every Muslim is a terrorist, every black person is a criminal, or every Mexican is lazy. Then there are the stereotypes involving gender, like woman cannot drive, and are overly sensitive or men are very masculine and strong. All these things sound silly, don’t they? Even though everyone understands and jokes about how silly they are, these stereotypes are still around and spoken. Even if they are understood people cannot help but to feel this way. Stereotypes are also ways that build intolerance if this sort of thing sticks around, secret hate of each other will never go away.

My point in this is, stereotypes are horribly cruel and can hurt many people. It allows room for people to mock each other about things that are not true. If you have had someone say something about you, based on your appearance and labeled you a stereotype that you do not fit, it hurts. If you are the type of person that wants to be that stereotype in order to fit in, don’t bother and be yourself. Stereotypes are unnecessary in life, and if slowly we stop paying attention to them, they can go away.