This fall, Sarah started high school. But unlike most of the other freshmen in her large public school, she came from a small, all-girl private school, which she had attended since preschool. Moving to a new school would make many teenagers miserable, but Sarah was relieved. She was only too ready to begin a new life in a new school, away from her old friends.
Sarah’s story begins in preschool where she made friends with nine little girls. The ten soon became a clique. By middle school, the clique had become more like a pack. The ten girls all dressed in the finest name-brand clothing, wore their hair exactly the same way (long and straight), and laughed at other girls who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) dress like them. The girls started calling themselves the Top Ten.
Using a combination of exclusion and cruelty, the Top Ten intimidated both kids and adults. The group’s power was so overwhelming that other students ate in their classrooms so they wouldn’t have to walk by the Top Ten in the lunchroom. The school’s teachers and administrators were aware of the intimidation but seemed helpless to stop it.
The parents of the Top Ten girls were less than helpful. Most of them were thrilled that their daughters were so popular. One parent even had Top Ten T-shirts printed for the girls to wear at their eighth grade graduation.
When the school invited parents and their daughters to participate in a “be kind to your classmates” workshop designed to prevent bullying, the event was cancelled because only seven parents (out of the entire class) responded. And only one of those seven–Sarah’s mom – was the parent of a girl in the Top Ten group. The other Top Ten parents saw no reason to attend an event on teenage peer pressure because they denied that their girls were bullies.
Though Sarah was a member of the Top Ten, she felt trapped. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she didn’t have the courage to confront her friends about their bullying or to leave the relative safety of the group. She’d seen the damage the Top Ten could do. Sarah begged her parents to let her switch schools, but getting their permission was tough. At first, her parents refused—the family had a long-standing connection to the school; three of Sarah’s siblings were still enrolled there; and the grandparents pitched a fit at the prospect of her attending a different school. But after months of watching Sarah struggle with guilt and fear, her parents finally gave in.
It’s too soon to tell what life will be like for Sarah at her new school. But she’s already paid a price for leaving the old one: when she told her Top Ten “friends” she would be switching schools, they spread rumors that she was doing drugs with the public school kids.
The Top Ten seem to have survived Sarah’s defection. They are now known as the Fine Nine.
Barbara Rickard holds a B.S. from Michigan Technological University and is the mother of three children in elementary, middle, and high school. She has volunteered in the public schools for 10 years, including 4 as a PTA Board Member.