Word: preps
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...TOWN in southeastern Connecticut has earned the stereotype of being ridiculously wealthy and old world. There is an annual debutante ball, a high percentage of prep school students, and a number of country clubs that tacitly discriminate against all non-Wasps...
Many would object to me using as lofty and academic a term as classism to describe the slights I have received in my life. They would argue that greater tragedies have befallen humankind than some whiny prep school brat getting her feelings hurt, and they would most certainly be right. The upper class is definitely not a persecuted minority, and we do live in a society structured by class--a structure that admittedly has benefitted me. But discrimination on a personal or social level, be it against the political majority or minority, makes people flat agents for their particular group...
...that level is not necessarily acceptable when it is translated into offensive behavior. Men and women are capable of recognizing and resolving their most instinctive reactions, and functioning on a level that is decent, fair and just. Discrimination rooted in those resentments is odious and indefensible. Even against whiny prep school brats...
Perhaps one of the most time-honored traditions is the summer reading list, and my prep school was probably the number one upholder of this tradition. My school was determined, no matter what, to keep the summer reading list as strong an institution as homeroom and lousy cafeteria lunches...
...twentysomething generation has yet to make a substantial cultural statement. People in their 20s have been handed down everyone else's music, clothes and styles, leaving little room for their own imaginations. Mini-revivals in platform shoes, ripped jeans and urban-cowboy chic all coincide with J. Crew prep, Gumby haircuts and teased-out suburban perms. What young adults have managed to come up with is either nuevo hipster or ultra-nerd, but almost always a bland imitation of the past. "They don't even seem to know how to dress," says sociologist Hirsch, "and they're almost unschooled...