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About The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana) 1964-current | View This Issue
The Hellgate Lance (Missoula, Montana), 14 Oct. 1981, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/TheHellgateLance/1981-10-14/ed-1/seq-9/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
- - - - - - - - - - ~ ---------------- - - · __________________ · · -- , - _._. ______ fealures------------------w_a_d_na_s_da_v. __ oc_to_b_ar __ 14_._,_9_B1 __ Ldn~-CE_.:- __ 9 Sex, drugs, alchohol; Peer pressure problem By Michelle Campbell Features Writer \Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.\ This quote by Friedrich Nietzshce sums up a great amount of feelings among humans, especially among adolescents in the high school ages. The quote could be rephrased in just two simple words: peer pressure. Peer pressure in today's high schools plays a major role in the life of a student. In a book by Snell and Gail J. Butney, entitled Tbe Adjusted American: Normal Nueroses in tbe Individual in Society, it tells of the peer pressures of society. This is directly related to the teen- agers. In fact, it probably started when the adults were still teen-agers. There are always the unwritten laws that a person must follow to be in a certain group of people. They must conform to certain ideas. The ideas aren't told to him, or written anywhere. He simply must develop the policy of monkey see, monkey do. There are many different areas that groups are made of. Sex, drugs, alchohol, fashion, all these have unwrit- ten laws or rules that bind their members. They must have a certain pair of designer jeans, which they will un- doubetedly wear out to a keger or, depending on their crowd, a head party. , A sophomore girl at Hellgate is into the punk rock scene. She is in a group of her own, she doesn't fit in with the \typical\ Hellgate sophomore girls. She said last year people went so far as to throw rocks at her. Her dress and music are the only things separating her from others. Her mind is still intact, she carries on a normal life, yet there is an unwritten law in one group that states, no punk rockers shall be allowed to do as they wish. Fashion has become a very important factor in the peer pressure scene. Millions of dollars are spent every year on fashionable jeans, sometimeS they are bought just to be accepted in to a group. Who starts the fads? Why do they become unwritten laws? Students feel like they have to \get\ someone before they are \got.\ For example, there is a certain math class, the student doesn't quite understand what he's doing. The teacher asks if there are questions, but no one in the room raises their hand or asks. He feels stupid, inferior, he has to fit in with his classmates, therefore he decides - BE HOT STUFF it's no wise to ask. Most likely there were two or three other students in the room wanting to ask the same question. No one gets their answer as a result of peer pressure. Alchohol and drugs in today's society are more or less freely accepted things. Now days minors can get alcho- hol more easily and can also get away with drinking it without too much hassles. Two students, a senior and a junior, from Hellgate belong to the Mormon church. They said they've had pressures about drinking. The fa- mous line \ah come on, one beer won't hurt you\ is used alot. Both said you just have to let it pass and not make a big scene about it, while at the same time stick- ing to what you believe. Drugs are frequently mentioned in local and national papers as being in most every high school in the U.S. One Junior boy said he'd had a little pressure about drugs. He had, as a result of pressure, tried drugs, but has stopped since. Cigarette smoking used to be along those same lines . Nobody pays much attention to them any more. A lot of people who do smok , ~ nov· are being looked down upon. Where they were o'lce . considered \cool\, they are now called greasers, hoods, etc. Sex among teens is increasing. One young couple at Hellgate said they had no pressure really. The familiar \lockPr room\ t:~lk rlirln't Pxist for either of them, al- though rumors tended to start once in awhile. the guy said his friends never hassled him about his relationship and he's never heard locker room talk about he and his girl friend. A junior girl said that most of her friends were guys. In groups the subject was never brought up, but once in a while a friend would say he was glad she was still a virgin and respected her for it. She was happy she had made her choice and she didn't feel bothered by it at all. The same junior girl felt that there wasn't much presure as far as alchohol was concerned, and sur- prisingly if there was, it was the non-drinkers trying to convice the drinkers to stop. The whys of peer pressure are hard to point out. In the book by Putney and Putney, The Adjusted Ameri- can, it says, \In large measure, the sense of being under pressure is a result of the quest for self-acceptance. As the Adjusted American is caught up in this misdirected pursuit, most of what he does is undertaken for t~e ef- in fall fashio - ns from Lisa Larson looks hot in JAMES JEANS the new ~ook in denim with a subtle pin stripe. Her sweater is by BEE WEAR. The blouse is by LANGTREE. Mike Ridgeway is wearing LAWMAN jeans for guys & gals. The blue plaid shirt is by LOREN and the leather belt is by LEEGIN. SOUTHGATE MALL feet it will have on other people. Thus he imposes on himself a constant concern with what he thinks other people think he should be doing, or how .Jther people evaluate what he has done.\ Throughout the years the fads and pressures have changed. The sad thing is, they were there then, they are here today,and probably will be here tomorrow. Although the thing or idea that causes the pressure changes, it still remains. The unwritten laws are still there. Maybe there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. Maybe there is.
