April 22, 2008 12:05 PM
Do Reps Matter Anymore?
I've been thinking a lot about reputations lately. My thoughts were prompted by the news last week that a local high school teacher was arrested for his inappropriate relationship with a student. Then later that week, a boy I know got into some hot water because he (allegedly) had a little too much fun over spring break, while his girlfriend was back home.
A few weeks ago, I was speaking with dd (who's 18) about reputations and she said it's quite difficult to get a "bad reputation" in high school these days because no one really cares what you do. I don't really buy this argument, but what do I know? I graduated from high school almost 26 years ago. Perhaps times have really changed. Can a teenage boy who has a lovely girlfriend cheat on her and really have no one think badly of him? I doubt it. And after the teen years, reputation is more complicated. If it all turns out to be true, and who knows at this point, can a teacher who cheats on his wife and has a sexual relationship with a student really ever get his good name back?
I once had a boss who told me my biggest flaw was that I "wanted to be liked and have people think well of me." I looked at her and said, "who doesn't want to be liked? Who would choose to have people think badly of them?" When she turned and flew off on her broom (get it?) I suddenly got it: reputation is a concept that means different things to different people. When I worked for a large corporation, I did want to be liked, and also respected. My old boss didn't care about those things, and as a result, was quite disliked and not respected at all.
According to wikipedia:
Reputation is the opinion (more technically, a social evaluation) of the public toward a person, a group of people, or an organization.
wikipedia also states:
Reputation is known to be a ubiquitous, spontaneous and highly efficient mechanism of social control in natural societies.
Whoa. Social control? I hadn't ever thought of it like that, but it makes sense to me. Either way, I will continue to tell my kids that reputation does matter. Because I still believe that it's tough out there, and sometimes, your good reputation is all you have.
