Identity In Public Schools

This paper examines how a specific subgroup of the American population crafts an identity for themselves on Instagram, a photo-focused social networking site. The demographic studied was upper-class women from seventeen to twenty-three years of age who were educated in private preparatory high schools. The environment of a prep school does much to influence the manner in which students identify themselves, even offline. I attended a boarding school in Connecticut and can speak to the social environment in such places. At schools like this, it is believed that there is a mold one has to fit in order to have a fulfilling social life at these schools. You strive to have a similar appearance, wear the same clothes, aim to get attend one of a predetermined set of ‘prestigious’ colleges. However, despite this pressure for conformity, there is a distinct desire to be noticed and recognized on campus, to make a name for yourself. It is easy, though, if you become ‘too’ individualistic, to be labeled as weird or an outcast of sorts, so there is a fine line of acceptable behavior. Not all of those I

of the pages I looked at belonged to women who graduated from high school five years ago and still showed signs of the behavior and styles of presentation extant on the profiles of those who graduated last May. Additionally, this topic is important to me because I see this behavior in myself, and I believe it is incredibly important to be self-critical and examine the motives behind your actions. I have tried to shake some of the behaviors I had accidentally learned in high school regarding self-representation on social media, but even two years later it is surprisingly difficult to separate myself