Try to identify the most positive term in the lexicon of a modern teenager and “cool” is likely to head the field. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary defines it as “admirable” and “excellent”, but it is that and much more.
In its general studies AS-level exam this summer, the OCR board asked candidates: “What would be your definition of cool?” The answers gave some fascinating insights into youthful perceptions.
The exam was sat at schools ranging from all-girl Catholic grammars to mixed inner-city comprehensives, so students inevitably defined the question in their own contexts.
Many settled on sport, and certain names shone through as “coolness personified”, but, overall, the identified stars shared an attitude. One name to emerge was that of the many-times Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras. Of course, the exam was sat at the time of Wimbledon so Sampras was in the spotlight. What many candidates identified was the fact that he never “dissed” the opposition, and that was seen as a tremendously positive trait.
David Beckham and Michael Owen emerged as worthy of the “cool” epithet, but it wasn’t their looks or lifestyle which were laudable so much as their laid-back, hard-working approaches and how self-effacing they are. In fashion, understated is the cool of 2002.
According to Paul Fletcher, head of music at Urmston grammar in Manchester, and the principal examiner who devised the question: “Cool isn’t something you are born with, can buy or inherit; you just acquire it.”
How does the individual aspire towards coolness? Although it’s not easy to achieve, mixing with a desirable social set or visiting the right places definitely has a part to play. But again, the notions of cool places are in constant flux, their desirability being significantly defined by the status of those who frequent them.
Contrary to the expectations of the older generation, most teenagers said being drunk was not cool, neither was sexual boasting or promiscuity. And there was wide reference to - and perhaps a lesson for - those who taught them. Cool teachers had three principal attractions - they were respected, had sound discipline and got good results. The over-friendly or poorly organised were placed at the foot of the league tables where cool was concerned.
Alan Combes works with excluded children in north Yorkshire
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