Expectations of the School Year

I asked my kids today what they hoped for the new school year. I was interested in what they had to say. My son said he hoped that he didn't get in trouble for no reason in the after-school program and My daughter said " You just don't know the reason, there is always a reason." He said, "Sometimes, people talk to me and when I answer back, I get in trouble." I feel for him.
My daughter wishes that the popular people in school find out that they are the mean ones and that they stop being mean. This sparked a whole conversation about whether or not the "popular" kids even knew they were popular. Apparently, some do. One boy told my daughter not to talk to him because he was more popular than her, or something along those lines. I am confused by this, after all this time, kids still have the same problems, we can fly to other planets, but we cannot rid the world of the "popular" kids. I gave her the best advice I had, which was not much... I told her that if everyone keeps trying to hang out with the popular kids and keeps focusing on them, then they are part of the problem. If kids pretended the "popular" kids were invisible, then they would be. I figure, as long as you have your own crew, which most kids do, than you are popular with them. So essentially, everyone is popular with someone, unless they are a total head case, or they smell bad.