Student Campus Observation Essay: The Cafeteria

A Conceptual Introduction

The way in which young people interact with one another and their environment can be demonstrative of greater themes related to culture, human development and situational expectations. In order to gain a greater understanding about this complicated thematic, the researcher examined the natural behavior of teens during two hours in the cafeteria. During this time, detailed notes of what was occurring throughout the scene were taken. After the notes were taken and the information was processed, a thematic overview of how the events and actions of the students was generated to facilitate a greater understanding of what was observed. Thematically, the actions of the young people were divided into the following components: dietary habits, gender based interactions, reliance on technology and value systems. Though none of the students observed were specifically discussing these themes, the way in which they behaved and acted toward one another made a number of critical statements about these components. Based on the research findings, it can be stated that young people are attracted to food that has higher pleasure content value than nutritional value. In addition, it can be stated that the cultural expectations of gender influenced what the young people ate and how the two sexes behaved and interacted with each other. Beyond this, the young people demonstrated an extreme reliance on technology for communication. In terms of values, the people observed seems to place a high value on what people had, their level of physical attractiveness and the company in which they kept.

General Observations

Before greater thematic of the actions can be explored and put within their proper context, it is first necessary to articulated some of the more overt behaviors that were observed in a general sense. It is important to note that these observations are recognized by the researcher as being general, which means that are not applicable to all people that were observed, just the majority of them. First, the basic composition of the lunch demographic reflected self imposed segregation. For the most part, the students were first divided according to interests and economic backgrounds. The poorer students seemed to gravitate toward each other and the students who wore nicer clothes and that appeared more popular seemed to gravitate toward one another. Beyond this, students also group themselves according to interests. Those who liked sports tended to place themselves around other people who liked sports and those who liked computers and academia tended to gravitate toward other people who were playing computer games or reading during their meal. Within these groups, males and females generally also segregated themselves. The only obvious exception to this rule was when individuals were obviously couples or going through some type of teenage courting ritual. These situations were the exception and when they occurred, they usually encompassed a boy sitting next to a girl he liked at a table or section that was primarily comprised of girls. Rarely was a young girl found in a section that was comprised of all boys.

Beyond the demographic composition, it can also be stated that the conduct of the boys was louder and it included more horseplay than what was observed with the females. The boys were more prone to touch and hit one another and they were more prone to verbally make fun of each other and those who were different. This same outgoing nature was reflected in their eating, which was much more quantitative than the females eating. In general, the females were quieter and they seemed to use non verbal communication and giggling to transfer thoughts or emotions to one another. Their behavior was more internal and the boys demonstrated more external dynamics. As a result, when reprimands occurred, it was primarily directed at the boys and not at the females. While some reference to socioeconomic status was mentioned, race or cultural background did not seem to play a large role in where students sat or with whom they gravitated toward. Most students, however, could be seen checking their smartphones, laptops or related computer device at some point during the break. This occurred even when they were in the company of other students.

Thematic Analysis of Actions

DIETARY HABITS

While it was stated that the boys generally ate more than the girls, both demonstrated a propensity for liking junk food. Students seemed more attracted to sugary beverages and prepackaged types of food. This was consistent with both genders, however, females showed a slightly better aptitude for choosing more nourishing quality food sources. Virtually none of the males were seen not eating while as many as half of the females did not appear to be eating or were doing so discretely. This is likely due to popular cultural images of the skinny female. Beyond appearance, there is also the lack of connection between eating and being feminine. Whereas guys felt comfortable eating a lot, the females looked to be eating discretely. The nature of the gender differences and the food quality made it obvious on a cursory analysis that eating disorders and obesity could easily manifest in such a population. Even the females that were overweight, which indicates some degree of over indulgence, could not be observed eating a great deal during this time.

GENDER BASED INTERACTIONS

The culture of femininity and masculinity were both at work in the interactions of the student. As discussed previously, the boys showing interest in the girls were expected to go to them and not vice versa. It seemed liked an unspoken rule that girls did not approach guys for any purpose. In addition, the guys treated each other in a very abrasive and flippant manner. Sometimes their interactions could be interpreted as being cruel. Their verbal and physical attacks against one another, though in jest, could clearly cause psychological discomfort in other adolescents. None of the people being taunted asked the other to stop however. Had they done so, it is likely that they would have been labeled weak and the behavior would have continued even at a greater level. The masculine groups did not go out of their way to attack other groups with different interests, however, they did demonstrate behavior that was indifferent toward those groups. They interacted as if they were not there. The girls, in contrast, were displaying near completely passive habits and keeping in line with feminine expectations of society. It was clear during this time that the artifacts of patriarchal components was still present in the culture of young people.

RELIANCE ON TECHNOLOGY

Regardless of their proximity to other humans, the young people still were constantly checking their voice mails, emails and text messages and communicating with unknown individuals even while they were in their groups. It seemed at times they actually preferred this anonymous methods. On some occasions, it was estimated by the researcher that the students were texting people who were close by and carrying on conversations this way. This method seemed much more present in the female population than within the male population. All of the people, however, seemed to feel comfortable interacting with technology at the same time they were having their standard human interactions.

VALUE SYSTEMS

The behavior observed by the students demonstrated that having nice items, clothing and physical beauty was desirable. The females that looked the "prettiest" also got the most attention from males and females. In contrast, the most masculine and athletic males fostered the most attention and seemed to have the most control over people in leadership roles. In the feminine model, it was difficult to determine which girls were leading the group. In terms of the websites and media being read, the girls were more apt to be looking at fashion, reality television and celebrities than the boys. The boys were more prone to be watching sports videos or videos with comedic content. Even the non athletic boys were playing video games that had traditional masculine components of fighting, war and weapons.

Conclusions

Based on the observations of the researcher, it is clear that there are still patriarchal components present in young people's interaction that are silently influencing behavior based on masculine and feminine expectations of behavior. In addition, it is also clear that popular media is influencing the way in which young people interact. The people could be seem emulating dress, style and interactions like they saw on the videos they were watching or what they were reading during this time. This troubling paradigm demonstrates that much of the conventional wisdom regarding masculinity and femininity is decreasing the originality of self expression in young people by creating an abstract framework in which they feel they must adhere.