Your question shows a high level of awareness about the importance teenagers place on being popular. You are to be commended for having such a level. Please know that your generation of classmates is not different from others that have come before you. Being popular has been an important thing to be for teenagers for a long time.

Before I get into the answer to the question please realize that there is nothing wrong with teenagers who want to be popular. The problem rests with us who as adults have created a “popularity mindset” environment that you all have copied and now mimic.

The answer to this question is both simple and complex. There are so many different levels of popularity in junior high school because there are so many different levels of popularity in the adult society. Unfortunately this is a case where teenagers are doing nothing more in junior high school than what you see us as adults do in the grown up world.

Different Adult Levels of Popularity

You don’t have to look far to see the different levels of popularity among adults. Turn on the television, the internet or the radio and you quickly find the following different levels of popularity among adults.

1. You have the stars, athletes and entertainers. They seem to be the most popular because it seems like a lot of people want to be like them.
2. You have the very wealthy and rich people. They too are very popular but their level of popularity is different. People don’t want to be like rich people because they like them personally. People want to have the amount of money that rich people have.
3. Another level of popularity among adults are those with the professional jobs or degrees. The doctors, lawyers, engineers, scientists politicians, and school principals have their own level of popularity. This level is not as high as the first two but is another level nevertheless.
4. Another level of popularity among adults can be found in the streets. The hustlers, players, pimps and gangsters also have a level of popularity. There are more than a few who want to be like these people.

Teenagers see these different levels of popularity in the adult world and then create and do the same thing when they get to school. The shame is that the most popular people in the grown up adult world are rarely people who have kind hearts. People who regularly help the poor, needy, and less fortunate. The most popular people in the adult world in many cases are the people with the largest egos. The people who are very greedy and have the smallest conscience.

So this is the reason why there are many different levels of popularity in junior high school. Hopefully your generation in time will grow into adults who at best change this and make popularity something that’s not a big deal or at worst identify popular people based on high character traits such as high morals, goodwill and integrity.