Word: grouping
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...slightly raised area due north of the entrance to the cafeteria is home to the Double '00 Hoes (the name's an inside joke--they define themselves by not sleeping around). All seniors, friends since sixth grade, mainly but not exclusively blond, involved in every sport, play and leadership group the school has, they are called "the Clique" by outsiders, who admit that the "Hoes" own the school. Most of them skip the school cheeseburgers and unpack a brown bag of fat-free Yoplait, a Nutri-Grain cereal bar, some carrots or an apple. Sometimes they splurge on an Otis...
...much. There are clubs and tribes, unwritten dress codes and anxious social climbers who admit to their fear of being seen talking to the wrong person. And yet there is something almost diverse about the divisions: "It's very cliquish here," says junior Lauren Bell, "but each group is actually very mixed--it's not all the jocks, all the preps, all the punks, and I like that." Lauren sometimes considers herself an outsider, albeit a straight-A, cheerleading one. "You become a target, not really for looking different, but for thinking different from other people," she says, "like...
That chilling little drama took place last week, and now, 20 minutes before the opening bell, 10 fully caffeinated members of the Webster Groves staff, led by principal Voss, are discussing what to do about it--beyond the temporary suspension the student received straightaway. The group comprises what the school calls a Safe Team. It includes all the student's teachers, a guidance counselor, the school's part-time social worker and its police liaison officer. The team's first concern is to get the troubled student the help he obviously needs. But there's another mission, and an undercurrent...
...fact, the snoop-to-student ratio at Webster is quite high. Voss has selected 60 kids for her Principal's Student Leadership Group, whose duties include reporting any incidents or smoldering resentments that might lead to trouble. Kids who look or act different at Webster know the walls have ears. Meanwhile, Voss and her assistants, walkie-talkies in hand, routinely roam the halls between classes. In order to avoid the appearance of a police state, it seems, Webster Groves has had to create a real...
...midsize city. She teaches some of the best kids in the school and some of the worst, but like many teachers, it's the ones in the middle she is concerned about. "In trying to be something for everybody, we're not doing an intensive job for any group," she says. "There's something noble about this mission, but it doesn't always serve students well...