An opinion piece from the Wall Street Journal argues that
high-school cliques
are good, that the parents of Alpha kids (cheerleaders, jocks, abercroms
and such) should not feel stigmatised, because most of the anti-clique
arguments come from former nerds and outcasts still bitter about being
ostracised in high school. (One could probably argue that the clique system,
with its subtexts of intense competition and conformity, is very useful for
preparing children for taking their places in the consumer-capitalist world
once they grow up.)