Author Cameron Crowe wrote the book “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”. Crowe attended high school as a student to research the way kids behave in high school for his book. Crowe focused his book on the way kids mentor each other or as he puts it “cool coaching”. The theory behind “cool coaching” is that kids are segregated from their parents and other adults a large portion of the day and therefore have no one to look to for as an example. During this time kids that are unsure of themselves look to other students to show them how not to be a loser and how to be “cool” or “in” to survive. Crowe found that this type of mentoring was imperative to being able to cope within the tribal like hierarchy that only happens in high school.
Schwind, J. (2008). Cool Coaching at Ridgemont High. The Journal of Popular Culture,
41(6), 1012-1032. Retrieved January 09, 2009 from Ohiolink.
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I think you may just have summed up my 4 years of high school. I was the first one in my family to go into high school so I spent the better part of 2 years being pretty confused. I had good grades, but I was not a 4.0 student and I did not play sports so I kept to myself a lot. And then I became a junior and got to bring all the new and seriously confused freshmen into the high school and make sure they did not have the same deer in the headlights experience that I went through. It certainly helps when you have someone the shwo you the way!
ReplyDeleteI can see where this type of mentoring takes place. I was involved in a number of things while I was in school and always spent time trying to help others feel like they fit in. I always liked everyone so helping others was easy for me.
ReplyDeleteI never really seemed to be one of those students that always looked to others to see what to do. I was always friends with the more popular group even though I never really participated in a lot of the after school activities. I think there are a lot of kids that I went to school with that would have no idea how to handle themselves if they were separated from their peers. Sometimes I think that the "coaching" that they received from their peers may not necessarily be the best, but not all kids are bad. :) Good summary.
ReplyDeleteSchool sports for me were a nightmare. My coaches were very hard on you and didn't take nor or I can't for an answer. This to me was not the reason I signed up to play ball. Playing ball should be a fun friendly game between rival schools but in the end it is JUST A GAME. This method of "cool coaching" I feel should be a prereq. for anyone going into the coaching field. There should also be more rules as to how old you child can be before a rival is established. With the pee-wee ages, the point of the game is still to have fun and get them off the couch, not to kill the other team. Great Article Wendy!
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