Lord of the Flies
Feb. 17th, 2003 01:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nfotxnWhy Nerds Are So Unpopular in Highschool
Nerds aren't losers. They're just playing a different game, and a game much closer to the one played in the real world. Adults know this. It's hard to find successful adults now who don't claim to have been nerds in high school.Wow, this is like a page out of my own head. Infact I'm pretty sure this was an often discussed topic amongst my clatch of "D" grade geeks back in the day...
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Date: 2003-02-17 10:35 am (UTC)And that game was.... Dungeons & Dragons!
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Date: 2003-02-17 11:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-02-17 11:45 am (UTC)Ah those were the days!
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Date: 2003-02-17 02:05 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-02-17 06:39 pm (UTC)*takes sip of tap water*
"ohh the colours are bleeding again"
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Date: 2003-02-17 11:53 am (UTC)Sure, you had the kids who were percieved to be popular - the jocks, jockettes - certain smart kids who didn't have much to do with computers - the computer smart kids - those who played D&D - the bad-ass rap kids who were popular - the trouble makers... and that is only part of it.
From the article:
"So if intelligence in itself is not a factor in popularity, why are smart kids so consistently unpopular? The answer, I think, is that they don't really want to be popular."
That could be it. Being "popular" in the high school sense is such a waste of energy that we could be putting elsewhere. Quite often being the geek or nerd that I was, I did put that energy elsewhere - as mentioned by the article: "The main reason nerds are unpopular is that they have other things to think about."
It would be interesting to see a link between this article, and those of us who had to grow up rather quickly.
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Date: 2003-02-17 12:13 pm (UTC)The one thing that strikes me wrong about this article is the apparent notion that "popularity" doesn't have currency in the adult world. This is far from true. The people who are "popular" often end up in the upper echelons of our companies running them or in political office. They still wield "power" over us, even if we were to call their power a trite thing.
columbine and queerness
Date: 2003-02-17 12:30 pm (UTC)anyway, in bowling for columbine, michael moore interviews trey parker of south park fame. he went to high school at columbine and identified with the two "outcast" boys. whereas he worked his frustration out creatively, these boys bought guns. everyone just blamed the two boys and labeled them as messed up freaks. there really wasn't a lot of focus on how these boys were treated because suburban parents don't want to think that their precious kids would ever be that mean to other kids.
but they are.
we're taught that being different is bad. if you are different, you are taking a solo journey into the unknown.
funny how the most popular kids i remember from school are total fuck ups now, either living in my hometown in dead-end jobs, or living in cities nearby in the same situation. all the "nerds" i knew are now doing interesting things all over the globe.
i remember these jackasses in a geometry class of mine. i was already out at 15, which took some serious balls on my part, especially in rural new mexico. add to that my nerdiness, and imagine what i could get myself into. the only thing that saved me really was that physically i was taller and as strong as anyone who would think of picking on me. anyway, these seniors ( i was a sophomore) taunted me in class to the point where i just couldn't stand going anymore. i kept going, though, and made it through. barely. and got the only b of my high school career, thanks to them.
two years later i was being courted by big names colleges the way high school athletes dream of being recruited. i was jetting off every other weekend around the country courtesy of the schools wanting my ass. and everyone around me was in awe of it. in a place where no one goes more than 2 hours from home for school, i was spending my weekends in Baltimore, Chicago, etc. and getting full-ride offers from 7 top schools.
i went back for my first visit in 3 years. it put my whole life into perspective.
i just hate thinking about that poor kid who was berated every day and wasn't so lucky.
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Date: 2003-02-17 12:42 pm (UTC)it's kinda funny, but i'd never noticed the nerd/freak connections, even tho i see it every day at lunch - alpha and beta teens sit in the lunchrooms while nerds, geeks, punks, emos, metalheads, and goths mix in the alcove/hallway. we mix, so in the same corner you'll see Magic cards, gelled-up orange hair, dark photographs, notes being glossed over for the test next period, manga, and a slew of outfits that won't be on the runways in Milan anytime soon.
conversation ranges from the Rolling Stones to cigarettes (needing 'em and quitting them) to that hot science teacher who looks FTM to Group X to how easy that AP bio test was to are you going to the ska show on thursday? to names of the muscles in your face
it sounds like a stereotype stew, but it's real...i can provide names...
i also never realized how almost all of my friends divide into either nerd or freak (mostly punx)...hunh...go fig
more
Date: 2003-02-17 01:42 pm (UTC)these kids learn how to network and grease the palms of everyone they know. and these people become CEOs, politicians, etc.
i guess my take originally was that the popular kids inevitably ended up with shitty lives. but i went to school in rural fucksburg. those frat jocks from suburbia are probably off getting their mba's.
they still have empty meaningless lives but they have money. and that sucks. a continuation of high school, eh?
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Date: 2003-02-17 02:02 pm (UTC)Of course mention this to any red blooded american these days and you'll be branded hippie or terrorist. It's crazy how much the jocks have taken over ;)
A good book related to this subject is Cultural Creatives. It can take a bit of a feel good femminist stance on things but it's based on a pretty huge study of what Americans value today and outlines some realistic and valid groups of people outside of hte limited jock/nerd, republican/democrat dichotomies we're all quick to use.
Re: more
Date: 2003-02-17 02:21 pm (UTC)a bien tot.
Re: more
Date: 2003-02-17 05:45 pm (UTC)I've only got to work at one company where I got to meet the CEO face to face, and he was a great guy. Then again, he did found the company.
Yes wherever you go high school, university, the working world, there are going to be phoney's. Yes, there are droves of people that sometimes never move out of it, but some do. But at the end of the day, in industry, if you can't do the job, sooner or later it becomes appherent.
And being genuine, when I'm a CEO, I'll be able to pick these phoneys out. I mean come out, given the opertunity, wouldn't you?
-Aaron
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Date: 2003-02-17 09:08 pm (UTC)I also really think you have to define "nerd" better.
Some people's version of "nerd" many vary from place to place.
I know when I was in HS I was considered both. Just depends on where you were looking and who you asked.
Again, another grey area worth exploring.