'Mean Girls'

I know you brain freezed northerns would never admit that this type of ridiculous behavior could happen any where, even above the mason dixon line. I think yall spend a little bit too much time playing in the snow. I grew up in the GREAT STATE OF TEXAS and my school didn't tolerate this type of behavior at all. I was a cheerleader, graduated in the top 10% of my class and went to college and graduated. This type of behavior is a concentrated incident and should not define the whole southern society, and if it does then don't come past the mason dixon line and all should be well.

Comment: I saw this movie tonight and it made me think about what has happened over the past 20+years. Too many parents today just want to be "friends" with their kids - that doesn't work. Kids need discipline. Those of you in the workplace know that sometimes you have to do tasks that are unpleasant, and tell people the truth, and not "what they want to hear." That's part of being a leader, and being respected.

I live in Texas, and graduated from a large (746 in our senior class) public high school in an upper-middle class Houston area suburb. (mid-1980's) I had some cheerleaders in my class, and one attended my church. Athough I was considered a "geek" (doesn't matter today, it paid off), she was always respectful to me, and she and I would talk after services sometimes. Another was an honors student (I was in honors English), who was also personable and respectful, and a good time manager. I can't recall any of the six cheerleaders at my grade level having "bad reputations", and I lived next door to an older cheerleader who married the brother of one of my best friends.

I do recall a group of kids that would get together at a park on Friday mornings for a "Breakfast of Champions". Kids would drink beer for breakfast and if they didn't get caught drunk or hungover they were considered Champions. I do remember one incident my senior year where 4 popular girls (one a one-time class officer) got caught, and were given one month of the Alternate Learning Center. These girls learned their lesson (one was a nice girl that I worked with at a store), and the actions taken by the administrators were appropriate, not a "slap on the wrist" or a week detention.

Detention doesn't really work, some kids I remember liked detention because it forced them to DO their homework. If I was a principal, detention would involve something like picking up trash, cleaning gum from under desks, or mopping the floor. I remember in junior high if we complained too much in PE class (or goofed off), coach would just have us run more laps. That taught us to listen and be quiet and follow the coaches instructions - like a drill sergeant. I heard the story of a judge who got tired of seeing a repetitive drunk driver in his court and sentenced him to spend a weekend at the ER at Ben Taub (Houston) - the guy is sober today. How effective that was - no heavy fines and minimal litigation, and a lot of common sense.

We need discipline and authority back. Not "spinless wimps" and "yes people" who go along to get along. Men need to step up to the plate and act like men.

I myself am a cheerleader and i live in Texas.. i think that half of the things werent that bad. They probably should not have been disrespecting teachers, but drinking? thats what MOST teenagers do in little towns. I dont agree with the candle store issue, but its harmless fun. its not like they were videoing themselves ACTUALLY doing itt.. dang yall are all making a big deal out of something that isnt..
oh ps. Bikinis are what people wear. NO ONE wears one pieces. :))

The 18-year-old McKinney student posting below comes from a school rated "at the pinnacle of academic excellence" in Texas. I despair for the future of Texas and our nation.

Texas...I swear it's like another planet......

Like most American teenagers, the cheerleaders are spoilt. This is the eventual outcome of the US way of life.

I think Newsweek should pull mfenwick's info and hopefully it's not fake and turn it over to the proper law enforcement to be investigated to help ensure the kids are safe.

I agree. this guy (mfenwick) has got to be a pedofile and the fact that he is in any school, north or south is horrific! The fact of you , mfenwick, watching girls cheerlead makes my skin CRAWL!

First of all, I feel like they were acting like normal teenagers. and i say they were acting like normal teens because i am a 17 year old female. i feel like they only thing that should stop them from acting like they did in school, should have been the adminastation. If i had a daughter that acted like that, i would be outraged at the principal for allowing that stuff too go out in her school. In my school, if you are on your phone and tell a teacher to shut up when they tell you to put it away, you'd be expelled, no questions asked. Almost every teen girl would love to be "untouchable", but the only thing that should stop them from acting that way should be the fact that THERE ARE CONSEQUENSES FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU DO. and there wasn't repercussion for a thing that they did, they got WAY too many second chances, and i feel like the girls shouldnt even be blamed as much as they were. the fact that they felt like they were "Untouchable", was backed up by how many times they got away with crossing the line. So, in a sense, they were "Untouchable". i mean they did thing like telling their teachers to "Shut up" while they were in the middle of a lesson because there on the phone. and i bet money that at the end of the class noone said or did anything about it. i mean its like telling a child not to do something, but say it politly. their going to do it again and again and again. Second of all, i dont know how they got away with all of the things they did, they all of the sudden it blows up into nation media AFTER they do something that didnt have anything to do with the school. The school should have done sometning about it when the problem first arose. Third of all, i belive that the parents wern't informed about their chilrens behaviors. maybe one or two might not care, but out of the 5 of them, at least ONE of them would've taken repercussion since the school wasn't. and (even though it was changed) how do you even compare PLAYING with condoms and drinking alcohol? my first though was that the students that were DRINKING get 30 days and the condom people get 15, even thats a little dramatic to me. Having sex is not illegal. but underage drinking is. and the myspace picture thing? That shouldn't have been at the top of their list of "Things to make bigger than it really is" to me, their just pictures, if thats how they want to portray themselves, they'll regret that one day.and i've seen those pictures. they wernt half as bad as other myspace pictures ive seen in my life. But all in all i feel like the students shoudlnt be blamed as mucha s they were. Its like Rasing a child, if the child is bad, someone is ALLOWING it to be bad and not doing anything about it. Someone raised it to be like that. and i feel like the school "Raised" those kids too be bad because noone ever told them that its not ok, and reinforced it.

We're being hypocrital, we love cheerleaders doing splits or bend overs. We love teenagers because they fresh and remind us of our younger years. Our society is in decadence and we like it. Yeah, disrespect to elders and authorities is awful but teens can't be tamed. It's the same old storie played one more time but with more publicity.

I go to high school and if anyone thinks this is some rare thing, think again. It happens everywhere. The only thing rare about this situation is the mother/principal. Glad she got fired.

I'm not saying this behavior is acceptable. I'm just saying it is done CONSTANTLY, at 99% of the schools in America. The only difference is they don't have a principal enabling them, and they usually don't get this much attention.

Drinking? It's not good, but here's the truth, teenagers drink. It's happened before, it's happening now, it's going to happen again. I don't think any parent should throw alcohol at their children, but they should be aware that their teen is/has most likely experimented with alcoholic beverages or will in the future.

Pictures? The only reason these girls got in trouble was because they were in uniform. I have a MySpace, and almost all of my peers have at least one picture that would be considered 'promiscuous' or ???innapropriate??? in some format. From the innocent, shy types to the hardcore party girls.

Backtalk? I hear it in almost every one of my classes. Some teachers put up with it, some don't. Some report it, some administer their own discipline.

Cheerleaders? I'm assuming these girls got away with more simply because they lived in Texas, which sounds judgmental, but it's simply because down South cheerleading is an All-American girl sport. She cheerleads- she's perfect, she's a role model, she's living up to everyone's expectations. She's done so much to make us proud, who cares if she's a little rude sometimes? I don't agree with this philosophy, but it seems a lot of parents I've known do. Not to say all cheerleaders are like this, of course. But be real- since everyone is proud of their accomplishment, they let them get away with more. They are usually more spoilt.

As for the girls in general, I know girls like this at my school. The only difference is there isn't as much school officials enabling them so they know that they have SOME limits. But if they had a principal like this, then I have no doubt they'd end up exactly the same as the 'Fab Five'. They aren't special, they aren't unique. They're just a clique of *** who thought they were invincible. It happens.

And all you parents out there saying how you can't believe these children, and your children would never do something like this, half of you have no idea what your kids are doing. I'm not saying you are all bad parents, but don't think your teenagers are perfect saints, please. Just don't be naive, don't be in denial.