Folk Groups In High Schools

When I think of the phrase “folk group” the first thing that pops into my head is the nineteen seventies.  I think of free spirited musicians singing and dancing around.  Dancing and singing as if there is not a care in the world.  However after class discussions, lectures and readings I have learned that folk groups are much more than that.  According to George Schoemaker, the term folk, “can refer to any group of people whatsoever who share at least one common factor” (p 4).  Therefore it should be no surprise to find folk groups in high schools.  However I still associated the stereotypical groups, as groups not folk groups.  However, after doing the reading I can see that any group of people, such as the cheerleaders, can be a folk group. When I was in high school there were clicks such as the jocks, the cheerleaders, the popular students, the band geeks but instead of calling them clicks, the different groups could be called folk groups. The high school that I went to had over four thousand students.  My graduating class was over nine hundred students.  The majority of the students I couldn’t place into a folk group but there were of course your stereotypical “perfect couple.”  The superstar football player who dated the cheerleader.  Although I participated on the swim team, I would not consider myself to be part of the athletes.  I honestly can’t put myself in one of the stereotypical groups.  However looking at the clicks in high school and not viewing them as clicks but as folk groups it is hard to say stereotypical folk groups.  To me the term folk group still isn’t what Schoemaker defines it to be.  However, after further readings, class discussions or movies I am sure I will understand his term a bit better.