why nerds are unpopular

Pre-College Issues High School Life
41

<p>Read some of his other essays. He is not using nerd in the context of someone who just gets good grades and does well in school.</p>

<p>Real nerdyness doesn't show up in HS anyway. Real nerdyness shows up in college. Then, when everyone is more accepting and open, and people have matured, you can see what people are really like. And some people are still hardcore nerds. And I'm not talking just the guy who is on top of his grades and EC's, but rather the guy (or girl!) who sort of lives for studying some or other subject (picture NASA engineers from the 1960's) and thinks of almost nothing else most of the time.</p>

42

<p>honestly, who wears jean shorts? they're so damn uncomfortable, and they look terrible.</p>

43

<p>Jeans in general are uncomfortable. I can't wear them. I wear khakis or sweatpants or track pants.</p>

44

<p>You can still be passionate about a subject and not come off as a pretentious know-it-all. In fact, those who do not come off as pretentious are also able to persuade others more effectively. Nobody likes to be spoken to like a child.</p>

45

<p>I'm a very extroverted "nerd." I'd say that I am somewhat popular; I can hang out with any group of kids. I also have at least a decent taste in clothes. I've been opening up more at school lately, so everyone's a little shocked.</p>

46

<p>With me, I don't tell new people I meet my grades at once, because then they get this misconception that I spend my whole day studying, and I won't be interested in talking about anything but studying, oh, and that I want everyone to call me a genius and flatter me all the time; no one treats a 'genius' badly here - no teasing, or cruelty, but the generalization is often untrue and its really annoying, to say the least, if say, you mention a movie you watched and get raised eyebrows... and one cant make friends easily with someone who insists on flattering you every sentence.</p>

<p>But, if I mention my grades after they know me a little, then there is no annoying behaviour... lol.</p>

47

<p>I really do think that it varies a lot depending on what high school you go to. I know people who say that there are virtually no little groups at their high school, sadly the same definitely cannot be said about my high school. I do think that the administration and courses do play an enormous part in who your friends are at my high school. There a limited number of people I actually see during the day...my track practice runs over after school and I have morning math before school. The fact that I'm in all advanced courses kind of chooses who I have a chance to talk to during the day.
I'm not trying to blame anyone for it; it's not a problem...more like a fact of life at my high school :)</p>

48

<p>At my school, since everyone is smart, being super smart doesn't make you unpopular. The "nerds" are more people who are socially awkward and usually smart. But you don't have to be smart to be a nerd. You just have to be slightly socially awkward. I know a lot of people who are labeled nerds whose GPAs are much lower than mine. I am, by no stretch of the imagination, a nerd. But hey, nerds are cool. I'm dating one.</p>

49

<p>Anyone who doesn't want to read another essay that will probably be very clumsily put together, please skip. I have a lot to say here from personal experience.</p>

<p>Gotta agree, smart-popular is not mutually exclusive.</p>

<p>But it is made obvious by that guys essay, I buy some of it but I do not like the pity party portion of it. </p>

<p>Also, nerds are people who look a certain way. I hate to say this(and hope this essay don't sound like I'm havin a pity party myself), but having a light build+glasses will really help. People are surprised that my GPA is like 3.1, they say the thought I was smart. And as yall said just cause your smart doesn't mean you get good grades. I'm really dumb in some ways, mainly because I cannot for the life of me remember small stuff that will get in the way of me having fun.(<em>insert homework here</em>)</p>

<p>Rather, I think nerds are people who failed to get interested in something in the mainstream...esp. sports. My parents were only somewhat encouraging of me to play sports, no where near as much as studying or doing piano lessons. I joined track in 9th grade and subsequently learned from a friend how to play football(LOL!). I kinda regretted not doing more stuff like that earlier in life as I realized I would have had a lot of fun. But with little guidance in that direction it was pretty hopeless. </p>

<p>I think wearing glasses was also a disadvantage. My parents picked out some light blue ones with dark blue flowers...good God I've looked at photos from first grade and they look hilarious! Though I can see good enuff without my shades wearing them meant discouragement from participating in sports that involved either physical contact or a fast moving ball. Contact lenses would have been a blessing but we didn't really consider them. Now I remove them when getting down to business. So partly because of this I was bullied a lot in elementary by some kids. They would make fun of me mainly for my glasses, for being skinny etc. and I got beaten up pretty bad a few times. A lot of it was my fault as I would laugh when they got in trouble with the teacher, and because I didn't want to get in trouble I didn't really fight back.</p>

<p>But by 6th grade most of those kids had been expelled or somehow dissapeared. 7th grade was different. A lot of people I know well in HS really didn't know much of me from middle school, because I spent most of it trying to figure out what the heck was going on. My parents refused to believe my slacks were too short...so oftentimes I was stuck wearing "highwaters." I realized that a whether or not someone's shorts go past their knees, or whether their pants/jeans get all the way down to their shoes tells you something. Didn't understand really why people began breaking up into groups. And I'm sure you guys saw what happened to anyone who wasn't as educated about sex as the rest. I didn't experience it myself but man that was brutal! Their were a few bullies in middle school, which I'm sure almost everyone has experienced, but I was too old for running away. What was more annoying which I observed and dealt with a bit was people who pretended to be nice. Going up to some loner kid, shaking his hand, and then laughing it up after he leaves.</p>

<p>One thing that alot of nerds have is a passion for something outside the norm.I happened to be an animal person...no, not cats and dogs, all animals...whatever would be the easiest to observe at the moment. I was the weirdo who'd be digging into an ant colony off to the side of a football game, or looking for any signs of life in the remoter parts of the playground. Me and some friends who were usually not as dedicated had the whole playground mapped out as to what lived where. No, I didn't do that all recesses and I got more into tag as time passed but it was a big chunk of time. Today I still like to look for stuff if I am out in the boonies and maintain fish/amphibians/tarantulas etc. at home. Do I wish I had done more different things such as go out for basketball in elementary? Yep. But I could not imagine living without a passion for nature. </p>

<p>So the reason nerds are outcast is they didn't pick up those social cues/skills that everyone else did somewhere along the way. Others might have lucked out by learning from their parents, or simply being keener to that stuff. Also because of bullying, being made fun of or simply excluded, they may be less outgoing, more shy, and more suspicious of people. I am indebted to a few people in the early part of high school who helped just by being a true friend and showing me a few things I might not have picked up myself.</p>

50

<p>I haven't read through the whole thread (I usually don't post blindly), but someone may find the interesting following:</p>

<p>I love computers, know various programing languages, collect anime figurines, take AP Chemistry and AP Calculus, I even like AP calculus to an extent (I do not like chemistry though), I have frequent discussions with friends about the latest tech news and about calculus class....</p>

<p>All this got me the following:</p>

<p>I was voted "Most likely to be Famous" for my Senior High School year book :-) Though, I also do a lot of theater.</p>

51

<p>hahaha to quote my friend:
"Knowledge is power. And power is sexy!"</p>

52

<p>People who know me would agree that I am the "dumbest smart kid" out there. It's there way of saying I'm really real.</p>

53

<p>My school is really too big for there to be a defined hierarchy of popularity, so it's pretty easy for nerds not to be shunned from society, or even just unpopular, at all. Nerdiness doesn't really affect popularity here.</p>

54

<p>I think it also depends on the environment of the school. At my school most of the popular kids are also the kids you see in AP classes. If your school propagates achievement then the more socially adept kids are usually the more intelligent and involved ones. I can understand how the reverse may exist, there is a school in the next town that prides itself on mediocrity and ergo the popular kids there are a lot different than the ones at my school. But, I find it pretty farfetched that anyone is pestered for their intelligence these days.</p>

55

<p>well nerd implies that the kid has intellectual skills without any social skills. i really don't think they are mutually exclusive.</p>

<p>actually, its funny because at my school, the smart kids are the ones that everyone looks up to. everyone's like "OH MY GOD, ______ GOT INTO HARVARD?" or "______ GRADUATED TWO YEARS EARLY AND IS GOING TO PRINCETON?" i think its the same kind of awe factor that we experience here on college confidential.</p>