Too Many Cliques

I’ve decided that I want to do more social service and community work this year at Harvard. I’m prepared to join a mentoring program at PBHA and teach kids who are in elementary school. There is something about the innocence of childhood that puts me at peace. They don’t have to worry about jobs, or grades, or class statuses. Whether they are of the same social class or not, same race or not, it doesn’t matter to them, they still play with each other.

At Harvard there is something about class and culture. There are just way too many cliques here. Sitting in the dining hall during lunch or dinner is the best time to people watch and observe the crowd that congregates. There are often times a table of athletes, a table of Asians, a table of black people, and just a lot of other tables of homogeneity. I’ve realized that at Harvard, a majority of cliques are formed through sport teams, ethnic groups, and social classes. It is hard not to spend all your time with people you see all the time. The moment we step into Harvard, we are bombarded with information about the different groups that we can join according to our skin color and interest. Then there are the final clubs that seem to add even more to the homogeneity that already exists within friend groups. Why can’t we have a “Mixed Ethnics Group?” Ok, maybe not something with a name like that, but just a group where we welcome diversity? I understand that it is often times hard to relate to one another, but I just don’t feel the effort being made either. Maybe I just over analyzed this issue of race and social classes and it actually isn’t as big of a deal as I make it. For me, joining some type of PBHA program will give me a chance to venture out of this, as we Harvard kids call it, the well known Harvard bubble.