What Happened to High School Hierarchy?
The Class of 2022 is not as intimidating as seniors traditionally are
Senior (Devon Shatzman) in the middle and two freshmen (Amelia Skawinski and Isabelle Feigenberg)
High school seniors walk into school on the first day and expect to rule the school with the rest of the grades fearing and respecting them… but not this year at Baldwin!
In a poll sent out to underclassmen, out of 60 responses, 87% are not afraid or intimidated by the seniors. Most underclassmen regard the Class of 2022 as “nice” or “friendly”.
Bela Ahn ‘25 said, “The seniors I’ve met are all very sweet…I like some of the seniors more than my own grade.”
Ms. Loke, the Senior Grade Dean, didn’t have to see these results to know that the seniors do not scare the rest of the Upper School.
On whether she thought that other grades are intimidated by the seniors, Ms. Loke said, “I don’t think so… they’ve been very kind, very welcoming, very thoughtful, and very respectful of the underclassmen even though they are younger. They’ve been doing an awesome job as seniors.”
Similar to Ms. Loke, when asked if he thinks underclassmen are scared or intimidated by seniors, Dr. Biss said “No. I think there are very good leaders in the senior class…there are trustworthy individuals that can be counted on.”
Despite the reasoning, the senior class took offense to this data. When asked if underclassmen should be intimidated by or respect the seniors, many members of the class of 2022 said yes.
Kaya Weiser ‘22 said, “I think that there is a level of respect that should be held between underclassmen and upperclassmen and I don’t think that exists.”
Additionally, Clara Page ‘22 said, “ I think underclassmen should be a little intimidated by us because we are superior in the sense that we have been here longer. Maybe [underclassmen] shouldn’t be intimidated by all the seniors, but definitely the Fourteen Year Club.”
However, Page later reconsidered the underclassmen’s views, and said, “I genuinely think people saying they aren’t scared is a nice thing, because if you looked two years ago at the Class of 2020, mostly everyone would say they were scared. That means we are nice and good leaders, which is what seniors should be.”
The seniors seem to be in a tough situation. While they are seen universally by teachers and underclassmen as a kind, welcoming group, they still feel as though they are missing out on being the “top dog” at Baldwin.
