Reply #30: Regarding the concept of "nerds" and "geeks"... [View All]

[benEzra]

Someone needs to tell the white kids in America what we who lived overseas know first hand. Overseas, education is fiercely reinforced by the parents. There is no such thing as putting a kid down for being too nerdy or too geeky. Parents dote over their kids and are proud of great grades. In the US, if a kid has a great report card, he keeps it from his friends because he's afraid of being criticized for it. There's something wrong with this. American parents need help to turn this around. By the time the kid gets to college and they discover their mediocre grades give them few options, it's too late. There are some very bright kids out there who start looking for easy ways to success, and they soon find the fuzzy edges where someone can make a quick buck, but at the expense of the public.

You are EXACTLY right--and it's not just white kids. Nonwhite kids who are gifted academically are often stigmatized as well, though the terms of choice may be different.

I heard Wierd Al's song "White and Nerdy" again recently, and it set me to thinking about this (I'm something of a nerd myself, though not nearly as bad as I used to be). That song points up an interesting question--WHY does American culture look down on education an intelligence like that? There is an odd fascination in American pop culture with the antihero, the jerk, and the jock, and intelligent nice guys are nerds in need of reform.

BTW, I heard an interesting joke once:

Q: What do you call a nerd when he grows up?
A: Boss.

Probably a lot of truth to that. The kids who take academics seriously, and go on to college and do well, will be doing a lot better than the hip kids who get D's and F's because it's cool, and end up working minimum-wage jobs for the rest of their life.