Serendipity, Society, and Origins

[PriamNevhausten]

www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;">"It's in the air, in the headlines in the newspapers, in the blurry images on television. It is a secret you have yet to grasp, although the first syllable has been spoken in a dream you cannot quite recall." --Unknown Armies</span></p>

[JoshuaDurron]

Interesting. Although I myself didn't have a public school education, it certainly explains a lot that I've heard from friends. Nice link, Priam. <p>

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"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
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[Uncle Pervy]

I lost interest about 3/4ths the way through, as I am seeing mountains being made of molehills.

It seems the author went to a particularly crappy school,and thus believes that all schools are like this.

[PriamNevhausten]

My personal experiences can count for this, actually, having found similar occurences both in West Carrollton and in Centerville. <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;">"It's in the air, in the headlines in the newspapers, in the blurry images on television. It is a secret you have yet to grasp, although the first syllable has been spoken in a dream you cannot quite recall." --Unknown Armies</span></p>

[FlamingDeth]

Wow. I read through about half of that, and failed to gain any information I didn't already know. <p><center><table border=0><td></td><td>

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I don't know what the hell this thing is, but the chicks dig it.

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[Lord McBastard]

Too long, didn't read.

Seriously, I skimmed it a little, and it was like "Okay...where's your thesis and why is your introduction so long?"

Thusly, yeah. What was the point of that? <p><div style="text-align:center">

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"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wagh'nagl fhtagn"-Call of Cthulhu</div>
<div style="text-align:center">Lex: "You know I'm wanging this argument!"</div><div style="text-align:center">Me:" ....did you say wanging...?"</div><div style="text-align:center"> Lex: "WINNING!"</div></p>

[Wolfbelly]

I got to the point where he explained his thesis. Yeah, makes sense. Being stupid would be like some horrible curse, I'm sure. Granted, some may argue that I'm already pretty stupid, but to them I respond "DURR DURR!!!"

[Justice Augustus]

Waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle waffle.

Interesting read with a couple of good points, but just went on too much.
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I am just too damn British.

LilDragonFluffy: HOW TE FUCK DO YOU FEMININFIZE GUS?!

"The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years." - Michael Caine</p>

[Nakibe]

And I'd say that my high school was much like he described, with me being an odd exception to the rules in several ways... but nevermind that.

I found it to be pretty interesting myself.



Oh, and lest I forget, "Too Long, Didn't Read" just isn't funny anymore. >:{ <p>

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*lurks*<br /><br />Warning: The previous was a work of Chaos. Anything said above was written by a certified nut. Caution is advised<br /><br /> MY head, Dia!!! eVe</p>

[Zemyla]

I can't really verify this. For some reason, despite the fact that I am quite smart, and am probably the stereotypical nerd, I was quite popular in high school.

It could be, though, that it was because I was only 12 at the time, so I'm not a typical case. <p>-----
Do not taunt Happy Fun Zemyla.

I think boobs are the lesser of two evils. - Inverse (Pervy)
Dammit, Dan, I'm not dating a damn NPC! - OOC Will (Will Baseton)
Of course! Anything worth doing is worth doing completely wrong! - Travis English

Adventurers! | RPG World World | The Phantom Lord's OT Board mkII | Indie Madnesse | Brotherhood of Elitist Bastards</p>

[Archmage144]

Great article, thanks for the link Mr. Priam. I have to say that I see the author's point rather clearly--my own middle-school experiences were quite similar, and I can't say I enjoyed them too much. If anything, I hope to one day be the sort of parent that the author describes--one of those who attempts to do something about the system, or at the very least, approach the problem with an educated knowledge of its inner workings. I know for a fact that my parents had no idea exactly what my middle-school experience was like, and it's quite possible that most parents don't know--or don't want to know, because it's certainly easier that way--what their children are dealing with. <p>

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[NebulaQueen]

*nods* I remember seeing this article before. Like many other people, this reminds me of my experiences in middle school...however, in high school, things turned out a lot better for me. For the most part I was ignored by the class jerks, and I just pretty much did my own thing. I wasn't exactly Homecoming Queen, but I wasn't a target, either. However, things started looking up for me when I became close friends with people outside of my school. <p>

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<span style="font-size:xx-small;">
"Hello, I'm Troy Mclure! You may remember me from such realms as Hell, and Gaera!"-Shinigori, OOC</span></p>

[PriamNevhausten]

This article, actually, has planted the idea in my mind of possibly taking my potential future offspring into a couple years of school (home or public, not sure on that front), and then taking him/her as an apprentice to my own position. <p><span style="font-size:xx-small;">"It's in the air, in the headlines in the newspapers, in the blurry images on television. It is a secret you have yet to grasp, although the first syllable has been spoken in a dream you cannot quite recall." --Unknown Armies</span></p>

[Celeste of Elvenhame]

Ummm, what if they don't want your job, yo?
<p>---------------Celeste of Elvenhame --------------- </p>

[Wolfbelly]

Then they are a failure to the family.

[Uncle Pervy]

And must be given to Huitzilopochtli. *sage nod*

Middle school was definately pretty bad for me socially. As I think on it, the article is moderately dead on. I would say that the majority of my teachers cared. But, the who prison society thing fits pretty well.

In high school, maybe I was just oblivious to the social heirarchy. I mean, it was there, but it seemed pretty easy to ignore, and most everyone did.

[Archmage144]

School architecture, on a related note, is based on prison architecture. Not a coincidence. <p>

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[Justice Augustus]

My school most definately looked like a prison. Everybody thought so. Apart from the Design & Technology building and the music building, but those were new additions.

I really can't empathise with the article, cause I went to the top private/independant school in the nation. Even the really cool kids and "jocks" (though they were never thought of as such) were really smart, and being clever did have a social ranking attached to it. There was a sort of peak, meaning if you were in the bottom 40% of the class you were alright, 40%-80% were all the cool kids (cause they did well without trying, or at least appearing to try), and 80% upwards you started to lose popularity pretty damn quickly (with there being exceptions on every level, of course). Social hierarchy in my school was based more on cliques, and these cliques were based usually on what activities you did in your first year and who you hung out with. It was a very different system, but not neccessarily a better one.
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I am just too damn British.

LilDragonFluffy: HOW TE FUCK DO YOU FEMININFIZE GUS?!

"The best research [for playing a drunk] is being a British actor for 20 years." - Michael Caine</p>

[Seethe347]

At my school, I saw a lot more hatred for the preps than the nerds. Most of the people who live around here are from lower class families, though, and that's probably why. <p>-Seethe Longnails</p>Edited by: [url=http://pub30.ezboard.com/brpgww60462.showUserPublicProfile?gid=seethe347>Seethe347</A] at: 1/29/04 6:56 pm

[Archmage144]

It's all about expunging whoever's "different." <p>

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[JoshuaDurron]

Jocks is just who's usually at the top. But really, if you're the 'cool crowd', then you're at the top of the system, regardless of social status. <p>

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"Crazy is good." - Luffy, One Piece
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