By Rhodes Bray, Second Year, English
You’d assume that your arrival at university would be accompanied by the dismissal of the so-called “popular crowd”. After all, we are now too old and too mature to be preoccupied with that, right?
I feel confident in asserting that the self-proclaimed popular crowd from secondary schools and college have had a profound effect on those who didn’t fall within its scope. Ultimately, they become the mainstream, nobody elects them, they are often widely disliked; but still, they set the standard for what is acceptable, normal, and cool.
Have we really left all that behind?
I was under the impression that upon reaching adulthood, we’d no longer have this notion that a social normal exists. It seemed that university is too expansive and we are too individual, yet sometimes it manages to creep in.
‘have we established a social norm or just found friends that share the same interests and attitudes as we do?’
For instance, the effects of social norms emerge in terms of accommodation and its subsequently implied tax bracket. We are all aware of the stereotype that pervades the University of Bristol: quarter zips, Longchamp bags, et cetera et cetera. Maybe this is the mainstream, the established aesthetic of the typical Bristol student. The question is: if it’s what every single student aspires to be, surely some could not imagine anything worse? If what is mainstream becomes dependent on where you live in first year (cough *Wills* cough), is it widely accepted as normality? Does this mainstream then filter down into categories? Does that go against its very definition?
This seems to also rely on students’ relationship to nightlife. Sure, the more you’re out the more popular you’ll feel; it seems to sky-rocket your status if you rock up to your 9am on the verge of tears. But this requires you to find like-minded people – which you’re surely more likely to find within the sphere of people you interact with? So, have we established a social norm or just found friends that share the same interests and attitudes as we do?
This does pose the question of whether there’s an intellectual hierarchy within the university. Yes, typically ‘cooler’ people will be fighting for their lives in the back of the seminar where they have no real clue as to its intended purpose. However, this becomes frustrating to those who prioritise their work and actually enjoy their degree. They are confused by this method of passing their modules by the skin of their teeth, prompting them to participate and talk more in seminars. Does this then make a new mainstream, one that celebrates a regimented work ethic and active participation on their course?
I find it strange to think that we have all gravitated towards this city, this university, our courses, our accommodation, our friends, and we still feel isolated and excluded from the conventional narrative.
Epigram
Social media and online platforms can put a thorough stress on the expected and conventional ‘university experience’ being the best years of your life. It can make you worry that you are not living your days to their full potential; that you are wasting precious time because you don’t fancy going out.
Is this where exclusion happens? If so, how? If we all share the same values of student life being inherent to our growth and it being hugely important to us, then why aren’t we united in this?
Personally, I think leading campus conversations is redundant, our mainstream becomes trivialised in that this is everyone’s very first time living for themselves, we should not be steered by what is deemed orthodox. Our campus is too big, too rich, too diverse to be preoccupied with a mainstream that we have outgrown. If there is a leading conventional dialogue, the hard truth is that not everyone can hear it. This doesn’t just apply to people who feel isolated, our university is simply too big to accommodate a singular hive-mind of convention.
Featured Image: Epigram / Lilja Nassar
Do you feel like your voice is heard at university?
