Smart kids are unpopular.

[Coriolis]

I was deemed gifted and put in "special" classes in jr. high. Then, all AP all the way thru..... But I did ok socially, since I was a girl who liked to dress up. I had a few great friends and a large circle I was a part of (some of them of average intelligence, but our circle accepted almost anyone), and was generally well-accepted. Dated and whatnot, no problems getting little sociopath boyfriends.
I think it's more about trying a bit to be included, which a lot of really smart people just don't do.

Perhaps, but why work to be included in something that doesn't appeal to you anyway? There were always much better things to do with my time.

 

[ICUP]

Perhaps, but why work to be included in something that doesn't appeal to you anyway? There were always much better things to do with my time.

If it didn't appeal to me, I certainly would not waste my own time.... yes, I think I understand the reasons. (Some of us were just too darned sex-crazed and distracted for that lol). But overall, it would've suited me well to be a bit more focused on my studies during that time, myself.

 

[mmhmm]

i hung out with pretty much anybody who did what i wanted to do.

 

[Rail Tracer]

I actually thought being smart in my elementary school was something most people try to strive for. Then again, there wasn't much to be thought about whether you were smart or not.

Middle school was a different story. Puberty must have gotten into people's heads or something. If being cool meant that you needed to be an asshole, than that was that. There wasn't really any cliques I stayed in. I've watched people play Yu-Gi-Oh, hang out with cliques in the Cafeteria, hung out with people that stayed with teachers during lunch, hung out with people at the library (some of those people were the ones playing with cards...) I was practically...wherever. As long as I didn't bud heads with people's puberty (like people getting detention or were forced into intersession.)

High school, being smart was in par with being "cool." Generally speaking, I hung out with people who didn't really form cliques. It was just, if you're a "cool" person, I don't care what background you came from. You can be smart, you can like anime, you can like sports, you can be whatever ethnicity you were, and whatever. You can hang out with us during lunch. Heck, my class president was both cool and smart. People that graduated the top of the class were also cool.

 

[FDG]

No, because I was pretty good at sports too, so making fun of me wasn't that easy, probably. Plus, I was nerdy in an ENTJ way, so I would always put up a fight if someone were to harass me greatly.

 

[onemoretime]

I was in the accelerated classes in elementary school, which basically spelled NERD to everyone in the regular classes... I compensated for that by being a good athlete and having the ability to kick the ass of anyone who actually CALLED me a nerd (which meant a lot of fighting when I went to the state geography bee... 4 times )... I discovered that it's better to be feared than to be taunted!

In middle school I was in the popular crowd... I maintained social status by manipulating people, running the black market homework trade and being a good athlete... I was also an officer in the science club and was in band, but had gotten classy enough to get someone else to beat up anyone who made a big deal of it by then. Fear is a very useful tool in middle school

In high school I decided that the popular crowd was really boring, and like marm, I wandered off and hung out with the soccer players, exchange students and smart kids... they were a lot more fun! nobody made a big deal about it or anything because it was assumed that I'd probably end up rich some day AND I could still kick thier asses!

I have the reputation for being "quite quirky" at work, but it's balanced with a reputation for being the most fun person that anyone can work with... if you're going to be smart or odd, you've pretty much GOT to have some qualities considered cool in order to survive socially, it seems

Second place in the Texas Geography Bee in 8th Grade. Yeah, I'm one-upping you here

Wasn't really picked on consistently in school, which was surprising, since I was one of the smaller kids growing up. At the same time, I wasn't exactly invited to everyone's birthday parties, either. I was relatively well-known, and most people had a fairly good opinion of me, but I absolutely gave off an arrogant vibe that turned people away. I also didn't really party all that much, and didn't like to "bring myself down" to the level of normal conversation. You know, being depressed and stuck in the shadow NiTe prickishness.

One of the big things is that my schools were continually tracked from 6th grade onwards. We didn't have much abuse heaped upon the "smart kids" because they were all in honors classes, and everyone else in regulars classes, and the two groups really didn't mix all that much, as far as I could tell. We had an off-campus PE program, which saved me from the unique horrors of the high school locker room (I wasn't the most athletic of kids, mostly because I didn't have the patience for it... ahh, ADHD, is there any part of my life you can't screw up?)

In the honors program, even the ones who were dickish toward me at times ended up becoming fairly friendly after a while. Must have been my winning personality, ha. It helped to have a wide range of interests and topics of discussion. So one of the people who at first acted fairly assholish towards me became a good conversation partner through sharing strategies for Final Fantasy X. Another one of them gained respect when tagging along on a quiz bowl tournament (I was very good at quiz bowl, and it's a shame that I traded that for booze and drugs in college).

Unfortunately, after high school, some of the deficiencies of my childhood caught up to me in a big way, leading to a worsening of the dysthymic depression and social anxiety that would plague me for the last 8 years. Adding alcohol to the equation didn't make things any easier. This made getting to know people very difficult, and limited my relationship experience significantly.

So, it's funny - people like me because I'm smart, and have interesting things to talk about. It was because I was a mopey wreck that they'd be turned off.

 

[Rail Tracer]

Unfortunately, after high school, some of the deficiencies of my childhood caught up to me in a big way, leading to a worsening of the dysthymic depression and social anxiety that would plague me for the last 8 years. Adding alcohol to the equation didn't make things any easier. This made getting to know people very difficult, and limited my relationship experience significantly.

So, it's funny - people like me because I'm smart, and have interesting things to talk about. It was because I was a mopey wreck that they'd be turned off.

You know, it is because of middle school and high school that I am the way I am.

Even though most people in middle school and high school were cool with me (nothing to really say that they like me or hate me,) the damage has sort of been done by a few events and a few people who I did have a thing against. It is rare for me to talk to someone for a whole day, in real life, let alone long enough to strike a good conversation (that is only left to people I actually do trust.)

Though I've been trying. It's a point of frustration. I can get what I am trying to say typing or on a piece of paper easily, but when it comes to talking, it takes a while or I won't say it at all.

 

[Coriolis]

You know, it is because of middle school and high school that I am the way I am.

Are you sure? I used to think that, but eventually realized I was treated as I was because of the way that I was (not that that excuses much of it). I actually prefer that.

 

[Rail Tracer]

Are you sure? I used to think that, but eventually realized I was treated as I was because of the way that I was (not that that excuses much of it). I actually prefer that.

Nope. Like I said, it was because of a few people and a few events. Being the way I was may have just a little bit to do with it, but hardly was it the major cause. But ehhh, not going to play the victim.

 

[Xander]

At school? Yeah, a bit. At work? More so.

Apparently people's fear that they will be labelled as thick doesn't go away with age. I still get these problems even when dealing with people in their sixties. It seems that admitting you're not as bright as some people is a big step. It also causes problems if you've been taught to treat people as your equal unless they prove they deserve otherwise.

 

[King sns]

At school? Yeah, a bit. At work? More so.

Apparently people's fear that they will be labelled as thick doesn't go away with age. I still get these problems even when dealing with people in their sixties. It seems that admitting you're not as bright as some people is a big step. It also causes problems if you've been taught to treat people as your equal unless they prove they deserve otherwise.

I don't see that as much in workplace. People are as complimentary towards smarts as they were in elementary school (Not middle and high) I see that once people grow older they have a better sense of who they are, what they are good at in relation to people around them, and what people around them are better at in comparison to themselves. (More perspective.) I am often pleased with people's insights. That is all my own work experience, though.

 

[Queen Kat]

In elementary school I used to be very popular, because I was smart, but when I went to high school I turned extremely impopular, not because I was smart (it was barely noticed and later on my intelligence even faded away), but because I was assertive and rebellious. Assertiveness and rebelliousness weren't tolerated in high school.

 

[Little Linguist]

I love smart people. <33333 Always have. That includes when I was a kid. And since I still am in many ways, it's all good. ;D

 

[murkrow]

Know who's really unpopular? Ugly kids.

 

[King sns]

Know who's really unpopular? Ugly kids.

I'M NOT UGLY! WAH! (Runs away crying, calling my mom)

 

[Queen Kat]

Know who's really unpopular? Ugly kids.

Mehh, they said I was ugly in high school, but when I look back at the pictures from that time I was actually kinda pretty.

 

[King sns]

Mehh, they said I was ugly in high school, but when I look back at the pictures from that time I was actually kinda pretty.

Yea, kids are mean. I had a sixth grade picture taken and the teacher left it on the desk. A couple of boys were making fun of it when I went to the classroom. It was devastating. Looking back, it's a very pretty picture. (My fifth, sixth, eighth, and 11th grade pictures are all quite cute. I had a couple of okay senior ones.) I wish I had it and I would post it.

 

[King sns]

I love smart people. <33333 Always have. That includes when I was a kid. And since I still am in many ways, it's all good. ;D

I used to hate it when very smart kids would latch onto me and try to be my BFF. I always felt like it made me look dorkier. Though, that was kind of mean. I had a korean friend in high school, she was very very smart but didn't have many friends. (Directly from Korea, transferred over.) Looking back she was one of the sweetest kids I knew!! I wish I kept in touch. The brazillian friend on the other hand. She was an ESFP. SUPER FUN! I was her first friend over here, but was easily able to assimilate her with everyone else. SHE was the one who stopped writing. I guess I deserve a taste of my own stupid high school medicine!!

 

[Mal12345]

I used to hate it when very smart kids would latch onto me and try to be my BFF.

The nerds just wanted to borrow a little piece of whatever you were doing right socially.

I always felt like it made me look dorkier. Though, that was kind of mean. I had a korean friend in high school, she was very very smart but didn't have many friends. (Directly from Korea, transferred over.) Looking back she was one of the sweetest kids I knew!! I wish I kept in touch. The brazillian friend on the other hand. She was an ESFP. SUPER FUN! I was her first friend over here, but was easily able to assimilate her with everyone else. SHE was the one who stopped writing. I guess I deserve a taste of my own stupid high school medicine!!

Yes, the assimilating part is what I was talking about above. I've found that, for some reason, some kids want to be popular, including a lot of unpopular kids. They were just trying to use you to get a foot in the door.

On the other hand, a lot of the unpopular kids didn't give a shit about popularity, and still don't (e.g., yours truly).

 

[entropie]

One advantage of being me is that I actually want to be independant and would hate it to belong. Therefore people usually werent able to make me feel sad about not belonging to some place.

The sad thing is that I never really belonged to anyone or anything, I mean look at me I am posting in an american online forum, how more far from my home could I be ? Well I'm not sad about this cause I made many friends here and I feel I belong here, if people would hug me more I'd prolly only would back out and run away. Still I think the day when you really belong somewhere 100% is never going to happen and therefore is all belonging you give yourself just a subjective way of seeing things, which can be changed everytime. What gives hope tho and what is important is where the heart belongs; cause people who love you are for real and it is the prime base of belonging overlooked too often by people