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Abnormality Definition Essay

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We all grow up with certain stereotypes about what makes us “normal”. These stereotypes, of course, depend on our particular cultures, but they do exist. From the average office worker working a 9 to 5 job in Chicago, or the Jewish banker in New York, or even the call center worker in Mumbai, India. However, as we grow as individuals, we suddenly are faced with the greatest paradox of all. Even though we are taught the standards of normality and its importance as children, people are not valued or celebrated for being “normal”, they are valued for being “abnormal”. Children grow up learning about what “normal” means, and what it means in their culture. The crowd mentality shuns outcasts and anyone who strays from the social norms and rewards those who stick to it. However, as children grow …show more content…

With the teeming threat of college admissions, they learn that, regardless of what they grew up thinking, they are not valued for their “normality”, but for their “abnormality” or deviation from the norm. I, of course, was no exception to this. I remember that the abruptness of this revelation left me confused and stunned. Students rushed to gain an edge on their peers, some studied diligently, while others took up leadership roles or volunteering positions just to create a unique resume to submit to colleges who actively seek “abnormal” students. What was once one cohesive community now began to diversify, and soon the same students who were seen as “normal” began to have different interests and values. The views of “normality” are also challenged in college as well. In such a large institution, diversity is a fact of life. Norms from all sorts of different cultures clash together and individuals begin to form groups around their common interests. There are clubs for different academics, different sports, different talents, but students quickly realize that there are no communities formed for those who are simply

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