The Glance That Judges

By Catherine Jou ‘15

Every day students are hit with a reminder of how they should act and/or look in order to “maintain” the balance of high school life. They are labeled by other students and teachers before they even get a chance to know one another. And I’m not talking about your cliché stereotypes that seem to make a cameo in every high school movie or show.

This judgment is something we all do consciously or not. We all are guilty of labeling what someone is going to be like just by his or her appearance. Just look around and you’ll see someone who draws your attention, good or bad. Now let’s just say you see a girl with beautiful straight hair and a stylish outfit, and treading a few feet behind her is girl who you assume gets good grades. You probably just then labeled the first girl and despite not being given any concrete qualities about the other girl, you probably imagined her qualities as well. Hence, you can see why this may be a problem.

The fact that we determine what someone is like with just a glance confused me for a while, but it all makes sense if you think about it. We live in a world where our appearance defines us so much so that we can no longer have a sense of self without our possessions and looks. People allow others to judge and label them because they want to be accepted in society.

But as appalling as this may seem, it simply is a part of life. Teachers are judged on how well they teach and students are judged on how well they do in school. Conversely, people who say, “I don’t care about my appearance” or say “I don’t give a (insert desired curse word here)” actually do; in fact, we all do. Ever heard anyone say, “I’m feeling like a hobo today” when they are wearing sweatpants? Yes, well that is because they are making a justification for dressing that way even though they claim to not care about how they look. But the thing is, we ultimately cannot control how we are judged and what we are judged of.

Take, for example, the interviews you will have in the future. Don’t you expect the interviewers to judge you? I mean after all, you are giving them a two-page portfolio to judge you off of. It’s an inevitable part of life. Once you realize that your life will always revolve around judgment (no, not the type where you “prove” you’re this or that but rather the way you take judgment from others), you might have more of a chance to not be engulfed by it. Judgment enables us and disables us with labels in life.