When you walk into a classroom the students are usually split into different groups. These are what we call cliques.

When you get to high school, finding your own clique can be an essential part of your social life. Sometimes cliques become your world, so before you join a clique that you don’t really know about yet you should do your research.

Here are some different cliques in Taiwanese schools and some of their “dirty secrets” that you might not know about.

Populars

Populars are people who either have parents that are famous and rich or they themselves are famous. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are well-liked; people simply know a lot about them. Populars feed the gossip mill because they are like celebrities in school. They provide a never ending stream of gossip for the school.

Jocks

Jocks are people who do sports in school. Sometimes when you talk to them too much about anything other than sports you will realize they are just air heads with some brawn. However, when a Jock is also good at academics they overlap with the Good-ats.

Good-ats

They are well-rounded people who are talented and well-liked. They are the kids who “ace” everything. Their proficiency in almost everything easily makes them the sweet center of student socialization, and people want to be with them. They usually have a friendly personality, which makes people comfortable around them.

However, what people don’t usually know is that behind all their perfection they work ten times harder than the normal person. They become who they are because they either have a tiger mom breathing down their necks or just have crazy resolve about being Mr. or Ms. Perfect.

Brains

Brains are the so-called nerds. They are skilled in academics. They are the ones who bury their heads in books whenever you see them. You don’t notice them until you need their help with homework. Usually you can be part of the Brains clique and still be with any other clique; since every clique is usually in need of at least one Brain to be able to survive school work.

Fine arts

Fine arts people are people who are artistically skilled. This skillset can range from music to drama. They draw attention when they are in their element. However, the attention they get is more niche, and they don’t demand attention like the Populars do. Think of them as a hybrid between the Brains and Populars; they have super niche interests like Brains but can catch attention easily in their element like Populars.

Anime

Anime kids are obsessed with anime. This clique is particularly popular in Taiwan compared to Western countries because anime is so popular here in Taiwan and not necessarily seen as nerdy. Sometimes a huge portion of the school is part of the Anime clique since almost everybody is fascinated with anime.

Floaters

Floaters, as their name suggests, float between different groups without a clear and defined group. They can fit into any group since they are more adaptable and can easily get along with people.

This might seem to be a happy and sociable life but Floaters are constantly changing themselves to “fit” together with someone else’s clique. In other words, they are hardcore people pleasers. Sometimes they don’t even realize they are only in a friendship for the sake of having friends. They are secretly insecure about being alone so they mold themselves into the “ideal” friend.

Loners

Just like the floaters, loners don’t have a group they belong to within any specific clique. There are many types of loner. On one end they are confident introverts who like to keep to themselves. On the other end there are the sad and lonely loners who have no choice but to be a loner. The difference is that one is comfortable with being alone while the other is forced to be alone either because of other cliques not accepting them or because they have trouble fitting in.

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All cliques have their pros and cons, and some have “dirty secrets”. Some might make you feel right at home, some might challenge you to develop your character, and some might just eat you alive because teens in high school are savages. These are the cliques and some heads up on what you should know about them.