Disclaimer: subjects remain anonymous to protect the individuals involved.
As humans, bias is inevitable, but when one is put in a position of leadership, it is their responsibility to mitigate that bias. A staggering 78.3 percent of 161 Summit students surveyed have reported experiencing favoritism in their classes, clubs, and sports. This means far too many individuals are playing favorites, and it is affecting the student population.
An anonymous athlete, Athlete A, said that in their sport, inexperienced seniors are favored over younger players that are better suited for a position on the varsity team. They went on to say that players deserving of varsity spots did not receive them due to seniority.
On the other hand, another anonymous athlete, Athlete B, says depending on the circumstances, freshmen are favored in addition to seniors, which they expect to happen.
“I believe there are different levels of favoritism. It sort of depends on the situation and the game, and the moment, but it is pretty obvious when there is favoritism happening. Especially [with] the freshmen, or senior favoritism, but that’s kind of expected,” Athlete B said.
Inequality can affect an entire team’s morale. Athlete B said favoritism has an effect on their team’s mood. They stated that when one person is upset because they are not treated equally by the coaches, it throws the whole team’s dynamic off.
“Everyone’s confidence issues can waver based on games. Favoritism is situational, but it does have an effect on everybody, not only the person who’s not getting a chance. It’s because everyone sort of relies on each other to keep the morale up and to keep the energy up, so whenever one [person’s mood] goes down, everyone else falls,” Athlete B
Favoritism isn’t only a factor in sports, as Student C has been accused of being favored by a teacher because of the pair’s frequent interactions in class. The student explains that the dynamic between them and their educator is only amiable conversation.
“ I always make sure I’m friendly with [this teacher]. We just banter,” Student C.
The student, however, does believe they have a leg up on others. They claim that although they work hard on assignments, they think their teacher grades their work differently than others.
The difference, I think, for me between getting a 19 [and a 20] out of 20 is different than other people because I submit quality work, [but] it’s different for me. I feel like I have an edge,” Student C said.
While in their club, Club Member D stated they see men favored over women, claiming that when a woman is in a position of leadership, they are not clued into what’s going on within the group. Furthermore, the source says people in leadership positions have been known to abuse their power.
“I mean [when a woman is in charge], they never assign her to do tasks, she [isn’t] informed of anything. And that’s the flaw with [my club] too. They don’t really inform people and there’s a lot of tyranny I’ve noticed,” Club Member D said.
Club Member D says they are struggling to go back to their club, even though they enjoy it, because they feel unvalued. They claim that if the group was more inclusive, they would enjoy the club more.
“Honestly, [the favoritism] made me feel really undervalued. That’s what I don’t want to go back to, but I really like [the club], and that’s the only career aspect of [my club] that I would love to do again if the community was a bit more inclusive,” Club Member D said.
In regards to their team, Athlete E said people who the coaches favor get more of a voice on the team, in addition to more attention.
“Usually the coaches just have favorites and they get all of the say, and they get put in the middle of everything and stuff like that. It’s usually the people that have been on varsity the longest,” Athlete E said.
To boot, Athlete E said their coaches will not change the position of athletes they favor, even if it would benefit the team.
“When things don’t go well, [the coach] won’t switch people out and they won’t put other people in other positions because they think that [their favorite] people should be where they are,” Athlete E said.
