Born to Stereotype:

If a boy calls a girl a loser, they like her. If a boy cries after scraping his knee, he’s a sissy. If you don’t get a grade higher than 80% in math or science, you’re dumb. These are all stereotypes that I was led to believe in elementary school. I can’t be the first one to think that these stereotypes are all just one, big, messed up lie.

“You’re too tall.” “You aren’t even good at soccer.” “I did way better on that test than you.” Those are all remarks I’ve gotten from boys when I was younger. Do you want to know what I was told by my teachers? They said, “Oh, he’s just saying that because he has a crush on you.”

As a girl in elementary school, we were taught that if a boy tripped us on our way to second base in kickball or made fun of our light up twinkle toe shoes it meant one thing — they had a liked us. We may have believed this when we were younger, but as I’ve gotten older it’s become painfully obvious how flawed this logic is. Do we really want boys growing up thinking that treating girls poorly is okay, even flattering? The answer is — or at least should be — no.

Nowadays, girls seem to go for “bad boys” over the “good boys.” A prime example is, bad boys portrayed as the love interest in movies and TV shows targeting young girls: Mark Sloan from “Grey’s Anatomy,” Noah Flynn from “The Kissing Booth,” and Peter Kavinsky from “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” But, I’m starting to question, shouldn’t it be the other way around?

This unreasonable logic can lead to abusive relationships. According to thehotline.org, more than one in three women in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking in their lifetime. Maybe the reason this number is so high is because women are led to believe the horrible treatment and cruel actions are compliments  — something that most fourth graders believe.

Girls aren’t the only victims when it comes to gender stereotyping. Boys grow up thinking that crying is a sign of weakness, when really we should view these tears as a sign of strength. Not to mention all the traditionally non-masculine activities boys are too reluctant to join — joining theater, keeping up with the latest style trends, listening to Taylor Swift’s newest album.

When I click through Snapchat stories, it’s rare that a girl isn’t showcasing her tear streaked face, detailing her most recent breakup. I’m accustomed to answering a best friend’s facetime call to sobbing cries of homework troubles. For boys, they could be ostracized for that seme feat. If girls cry, they are called sensitive. If boys cry, they are called a pussy. According to WebMD.com, crying is very positive and healthy. Crying shows that a person cares, and last time I checked, boys are people too.

The stereotypes don’t just stop there, as little kids, it was said that getting grades other than As and Bs make us “dumb.” As we’ve grown up, math has turned from simple addition to knowing the quadratic formula and study hours at night have gone from 30 minutes to 4 hours. Freshman Grace Knoff says that she even gets stressed out and feels dumb if she has a B. According to parentingmonkey.com, a low B is the average grade for most high schoolers, therefore, teens shouldn’t be stressed if that is where their grade falls.

Lots of kids are forced to take classes they aren’t interested in just because it is part of the curriculum. Sophomore Ben Trusty says, “Someday I want to be either a lawyer or psychologist in which I won’t need the hard Algebra 2 class that I am required to take.” For some, calc doesn’t click in their brain the way creative writing flows naturally. School isn’t for everyone — and it shouldn’t have to be.

High school isn’t the sole determiner of the success of your future — Aretha Franklin dropped out when she was 15 and went on to win 18 Grammys. Morgz, a famous YouTuber, dropped out when he was 15 also and now has a net worth of $7.7 million.

I’m not saying quit high school if you get a bad grade on your chem quiz or a youtube career is your calling, but that the pressure on grades in high school curriculum doesn’t need to be as intense as it is. The high stakes atmosphere of high school wears out teenagers.

According to EvolveTreatment.com, 10% of students say that stress causes them to get lower grades than they think they could really get. This stress definitely stems from the fact that since second grade we’ve been told that an A on your report card means smart and anything below that is, well, not smart.

We should stop telling young girls that a boy being mean to them is supposed to be flattering. We should stop telling boys that they aren’t allowed to cry. And finally, we should stop telling kids that their grades don’t determine their brilliance. These stereotypes that we learned at a young age need to be changed. I for one think that they need to broken — and I hope you do too.