Discussing Stereotypes and Examples

The definition of a stereotype is generalizations about groups of people that are applied to individual members of those groups.  I do not agree with stereotypes.  In high school I was a cheerleader.  People typically think of cheerleaders as popular, dumb, and stuck up.  I was never "popular" in high school, I had friends but I did not associate myself with the "cool kid group" as they would say.  I certainly am not dumb, I was able to graduated midterm with 56 credits when you only needed 52 to graduate. I'm everything but stuck up, I'm probably one of the nicest, genuine, person you would ever meet.  Just because I was a cheerleader did not mean anything.  I am my own person.  Another example is the flower I always wear in my hair.  I own a different flower for everything I wear.  People think since I wear flowers basically everyday that I am Hawaiian. The tradition in Hawaii is that if you wear a flower in your hair on the left means your single but looking and a flower on the right side of your head means your married.  I get asked that constantly at the restaurant I work at. Lastly, I'm polish and all my friends always give me a hard time because of me being stingy with my money.  Polish people are known to be cheap.  I am not cheap, I just like to manage my money wisely! I do not believe that people should stereotype one another under certain classifications.