Exonians Evaluate Varying Treatment Of Lowerclassmen

162 likes—the number of people acknowledging and supporting the comment “But you’re a prep :/ how hard is prep spring?” The comment was posted by an upperclassman in response to a lowerclassman’s Facebook post, “This would be a nice week for a real Principal’s Day…” On campus for several days after, both students and faculty were discussing the situation.

While class dynamics at Exeter may not be a new issue, Exonians’ disregard for preps was highlighted by this post and response from last week.

“Sometimes underclassmen are not even treated like real people. And that’s not what Exeter is.”

Without 333s to write or college essays looming in the near future, the lives of preps and lowers are often deemed easy by members of the Exeter community; many believe that comments such as these have given rise to a common tension across campus—some lower classman said they feel put down by these types of comments, even if they are intended jokingly.

The most debated topic in the online comments centered around the idea of devaluing the workloads of lowerclassman due to the fact that lowerclassmen’s workloads tend to be less strenuous than those of the upperclassmen.

According to upper Pranay Vemulamada, many lower classman, especially preps, feel like their problems matter less because the stereotypical prep or lower has fewer problems to begin with.

While Vemulamada believes lower classman have “easier lives” regarding academic rigor, he does not see that as a reason why their struggles should matter less.

“We should have a more positive culture here,” Vemulamada said. “We need to stop bringing people down based on who they are and what their experiences are. I don’t think it is right to say someone else’s struggles matter less because someone else is struggling more.”

Prep Arielle Lui agreed with Vemulamada. While she also recognized a disparity in workload between upper and lowerclassmen, she believes that the latter deserve the same amount of respect, especially with the difficulties they face in terms of adjusting to Exeter’s competitive culture.

Lui explained some of the areas where the difference between upper and lowerclassmen seem to be highlighted the most.

According to her, while sports and dorms are typically safe spaces for all Exonians, in classes, upperclassmen will act embarrassed if they share a class with preps, while preps will act cocky if they share a course withs seniors.

Girls’ varsity swimming and tennis coach Jean Farnum agreed with Lui’s opinion that interactions between upper and lowerclassmen on sports teams are mostly positive.

She emphasized the impactful role a senior often plays for younger members of the team, helping and encouraging them in moments of struggle. Most Exonians, according to Farnum, remember the moments when a previous senior has helped or encouraged them.

Similarly, in the dorm, prep Emily Green described her relationship with upperclassmen as a sororal bond. Green often finds herself seeking advice from upperclassmen, since she sees uppers and seniors as “more mature” and helpful. She has never felt ashamed or discomforted in seeking help from upperclassmen in the dorm.

As Lui and Green both addressed, for many, dorm relationships between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen are ones fostered by love, care and positivity.

Green and Lui believe the problem lies in the tensions between upper and lowerclassmen in the classroom, as well as in phrases and jokes tossed around during everyday activities.

However, other Exonians, such as upper Cesar Zamudio, believe the issue of class relationships is not nearly as relevant at Exeter as it is at other high schools across the country. “If you go to any public school in America, you will see that freshmen are not even heard,” Zamudio said.

“Sometimes underclassmen are not even treated like real people. And that’s not what Exeter is. We care so much, we listen to each other, we look out for each other, yet underclassmen here believe that they aren’t even treated like humans? It blows my mind that anyone could believe that preps and lowers at Exeter are treated as sub-human.”

According to math instructor Filip Sain, not only do similar freshman/senior problems exist in high schools, but they can also be prominent in graduate school and even work areas outside of Exeter.

Yet at a school where the community prides itself on the abnormally large workload, Sain does not see the benefits of “pointless one-upmanship” over whose life is harder.

“I’m not surprised that it happens, but I feel like we already keep our students very busy and no one should be trumping someone else over it,” Sain said.

Upper Emma Kim empathizes with both sides of the discussion. Kim believes that work is “a lot easier as a prep.” As an upperclassmen herself, Kim acknowledged that life “just gets harder from prep year” and as a result, “it makes upperclassmen mad when preps complain because they feel like they’ve got more on their plate.”

On other hand, Kim highlighted that a key factor that many upperclassmen do not seem to recognize is that preps are also much younger and still haven’t “figured out” life at Exeter just yet, especially the social scene.

Lower Bliss Perry suggested one way in which this social tension between lower and upper classman might be mitigated. Not only has he noticed a culture of prep and lower teasing, he has also noticed a difference in the groups with which each grade hangs out.

Especially in the case of preps, Perry believes that many students only socialize with other students of their grade, blocking their perspective on the lives of other students in other grades, and that a greater intermingling of the grades could improve how each grade treats one another.

However, Perry believes that the social hierarchy on campus is deeply rooted in Exeter’s culture and would be difficult to subvert  in the near future.

“Preps will always have a tendency to stick to socializing with other preps who are new and in the same place,” Perry said.

“And upperclassmen will likely continue to enforce the culture they experienced as preps. It would be good to change the system, but I don’t think it would be possible to uproot these traditional dynamics of social life here.”

Kim concluded that overall, while classes are hard for everyone in their own way, “everyone should [also] complain less. The negative energy is bad for everyone.”

Kim also added that the fault lies in neither upperclassmen nor lowerclassmen solely.

Rather, if the community wants to improve class interactions, she believes both parties will have to change so that the tension does not become further embedded into Exeter’s culture.

According to Kim, upperclassmen can take into account that every year is hard at Exeter, while “preps can work on not taking things so seriously.”