Bob Chase explains in "Fear of Heights" that society praises those who are popular or who made a name for themselves in extracurricular activities. Likewise, they frown upon those who 'hide' behind books and socialize with only two or three friends. As Bob Chase explains however, the changing U.S. economy requires workers with high-tech skills, which requires a high level of learning. With society unwilling to change its view on popular students as opposed to those who will become the next doctor, scientist, etc., it seems that the U.S. is sending itself further down into a slump of mediocrity if not stupidity. I agree with Bob Chase's arguments that America should pay attention to the doctor of tomorrow rather than today's future athlete and that a new generation will find a way to combine academics and social activities.
Those who are popular will eventually fade from society's eyes. Despite the many masses who will fight desperately to defend their so-called 'idols', it has been this way since the dawn of man. Many examples of 'popular idols' include, but are not limited to: song artists, professional sports players, actors/actresses. Even those holding public office such as mayors, governors, and/or presidents will fall in and out favor, but sometimes not based on their job performance and more on their popularity. Thus, in this same extremity most popular and beautiful kids tend to be arrogant and snobby, shunning away those who do not meet their expectations (what I like to call expectations of wealth or 'breed'); however, come graduation of high school, those that were able to get away by being popular find themselves in the harder scene of college and will mostly be away from those who used to admire them. Because they ...
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...further the academia cause, the situation continues to favor the 'old' popular and athletic elite. Those examples can still be applied to our popular icons today (i.e. Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, LaDamian Thompson, etc.) and the remaining 'old' elites; thus becoming 'bright examples of the future' (in that case, I'll move to Japan now). There is a ray of hope though, for the new generations of kids are getting popular by doing things more than just sports or going to the mall; rather, they are the ones getting praised for studying and getting high marks while at the same time helping the community in any way they can. For those who are popular for being smart and benevolent may be able to bridge the brainy, the athletic, and the beautiful together, and there will be a time where those 'cliques' are no longer distinct (or am I being too optimistic for my own good?).
The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth is a book by Alexandra Robbins which summarizes the story of seven different teenagers that have many different problems, which many of todays teenagers also have. I found myself having many similarities to the teenagers in the story, for example, when with her group Whitney, the popular bitch, thinks “You didn't day that when we were alone, but now that you're in front of a group you do” (Robbins 21). I can relate to this because I feel as though many people are pressured to say or do things they normally wouldn't whenever they are with their group or ‘clique’. Robbins has this idea that the freaks and geeks, or “cafeteria fringe” will someday grow up and use what they are criticized for to become more successful than the other peopler people. She calls this the ‘Quirk Theory’ (Robbins page 11). This helped me to learn that right now, in high school, not being ‘popular’ may seem like the end of the world, but the reality of it is that after these four years, it wont even matter, but what will be important is how you learned to grow as a person and the true friendships that were made. This makes me want to focus more on my education and learning to grow as a person instead of focusing on how many friends I have or who I sit with at lunch, because truthfully it wont matter once high school is over.
Stuart Rojstaczer talks about how higher education in the United States has decreased substantially these days. High grades are very common among college students when they should not be that high. Schools are handing out easy A’s to those who do not deserve them, decreasing the quality of education. Even more astonishing is the fact that students are spending less time studying and more time drinking and partying, students are consuming more alcohol than ever and degrade in a really fast way. Also Stuart Rojstaczer talk about that in private schools grades are much higher than in public schools, but virtually everyone was experiencing grade inflation. In addition to that one more scientific evidence is high GPA of American students, because
For a majority of children, their role model is their favorite celebrity. These celebrities tend to be athletes, or musicians. Several gifted children admire people who are not as famous, such as famous scientists, authors, or artists. While an intellectual child may be a fan of a celebrity, they may not look up to them in the same way other students would. “Certainly the image presented by modern celebrities suggests that intellectualism has no ties to success and social legitimacy,” which explains how celebrities are practically promoting anti-intellectualism (Penrod, 755). Other students will likely find intellectuals’ role models strange and will tease both the role models and the intellectual children, which decreases their reputation with the intellectuals. Nobody wants to be friends with someone who mocks their role model. When everybody is making fun of an intellectual’s role model, the chances of an intellectual socializing are slim for his ir her feelings are hurt. If the people setting examples were intellectuals, the anti-intellectual movement would probably be different, but as of now, the only way for gifted people to be popular is to change the world with whatever they do best. Changing the world sounds much harder when an intellectual student does not have
...ntegration of student-faculty conferences, educational facilities will become places full of smiling, bright scholars. As a current student in high school, it is very easy to see these issues in the education system. Each day I walk the halls beside exhausted zombies who debate whether they should use their lunch periods to get math help in the library or sacrifice a club so they could read a chapter of anatomy that is not even relative to what they talk about in class. Due to the ever-increasing competition and subsequent elevation in performance standards, kids’ academic and emotional prosperity is only going to get worse. When I am an adult and have children, there is nothing more that I would love to see in their long drives through high school than an improvement in the education system, so that they would not have to struggle through school my peers and I did.
Robbins, Alexandra. The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory, and Why Outsiders Thrive after High School. New York: Hyperion, 2011. Print.
When in fact the high school outsiders become the more successful and admired adults in society. Botstein. states that team sports in high school dominate more than student culture.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In their minds, if they do well in school, they can get a career that can help them become successful. Although the students do not put limits on the relationship between social class and education, the school system does. The view that the school system has for the classifications of intellectualism leaves out the interests of most of the students. The writer Graff address this in his article within the lines, “ Only much later did it dawn on me that the sports world was more compelling than school because it was more intellectual than school, not less. Sports after all was full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously was not.” (Graff 790) In those lines, he speaks about sports, which is a topic that is not considered to hold intellectual value by the school system. He shows that other interests besides the things we learn in school can have intellectual value. He makes it apparent that it does not matter the individual’s economic status because they can still be smart. This article shows that everyone can connect and contribute to learning with their different interests, and their interest can bridge the gap that society creates between the social classes if they decide that they want to be successful and take their education
High school is one of those milestones in an individual’s life that will be remembered for a long time to come. Whether one’s experiences are positive and allow him to find his purpose in life or whether they are so terrible that his view of education is tainted forever, what happens in high school affects how one’s future will turn out. Leon Botstein, author of “Let Teenagers Try Adulthood,” states that the traditional high school system should be abolished because it is not benefitting teenagers. He states that cliques of popularity and athleticism and teachers who care more about money than education stand in the way of proper learning for teenagers. Botstein further argues that school stifles students creativity and that they really do not want to be in school. His argument that the traditional high school setting should be abolished is somewhat justified on the fact that cliques make schooling experiences difficult; however, his statement that children’s creativity is stifled, they are bored in high school, and that they are ready to be adults at a young age is invalid.
Based on their evidence, the focus on athletics contributes to lower dropout rates and higher test scores; however, they do note that students participating in athletics are obligated to be extremely focused and dedicated. It is no secret that achieving in athletics and academics is challenging and demanding. Additionally, communities achieving success in the athletic field have a greater social capital. Social capital is “the norms, the social networks, and the relationships” that individuals have within one another (Bowen and Hitt). Social capital is pertinent for children growing up to be prosperous adults. These relationships help build academic success. Likewise, most schools have equal success in athletics and academics. This direct relation has been researched and speculated to prove that athletics do not take away from academics but rather facilitate
We defines race as “a family, tribe, people, class, or the kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics” (Merriam Webster). Not everybody definition for race is the same. Race is a major topic that is being discussed in the world today. Although there are many race, such as white, black, and Hispanic. There are many different cultures within that race. Our race should not define who we are as people. People try to associate race by the color of their skin. The color of our skin can affect us in many ways because society expects certain standards based on color. The truth is that race should not matter and it will be here until the end of time. It is something we have no control over and it will continue to get passed on to future generations. Everybody was not born to be the same, but we all should be equal.
The Overachievers by Alexandra Robbins is a non- fiction book that follows the lives of nine high school/ college overachieving students. On the outside they look healthy, happy, and perfect, but upon closer look the reader realizes just how manic their lives and the lives of many other high scholars are. It is no secret that high school and college has become more competitive, but the public doesn’t realize just out of control this world is. “Overachieverism” has become a way of life, a social norm. It is a world-wide phenomenon that has swamped many of the world’s top countries. Students are breaking under the immense amount of pressure that society puts on them. They live in constant fear that they will not live up to society’s, or their own, standards. People have put so much emphasis on students to succeed and to outperform their peers, and all before them, that it is changing them, and is having irreversible effects on them.
Students should desire to earn higher grades, not necessarily just earn them to surpass each other. Higher grades can be an indicator that a student is sincerely learning, a feat which should be celebrated. Subsequently, there are a wide variety of scholarships out in the world, so students don’t necessarily compete for the same ones. There are ones based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, job (or lack thereof), one’s parent’s job, and a number of other factors. Scholarships exist out there if a student is simply willing to search. Students also adopt extracurricular activities to cause themselves appear preferable, nevertheless this is not required. No one forces students to join extracurricular activities (except maybe their parents). Moreover, there are other ways to cause oneself appear desirable to colleges and jobs than being a participant in extracurricular activities. Extracurricular activities are an excellent way for students to meet people who are fond of the same interests as them. In all honestly, there’s not an array of excuses nowadays for students having grades that aren’t up to par. Computers are one of the world’s best resources when it comes to finding information. Even besides that, books today come out with furthered information and other helpful tools than ever. Students have every resource they need to succeed, so
America’s greatness relies on an educated populace, a populace equipped with the knowledge to guarantee justice for Americans, preserve the rights of Americans, make decisions that effect the lives of all Americans, and, ultimately, govern together as Americans. The modern educational system’s inapposite prioritization of physical education and athletics is irrefutably incongruous
Adolescence is about growing up and not standing out. When you stand out, you give people more room to judge you because they see more of who you really are. When we grew up, we never really thought about being in the ‘in-crowd’ because we were all friends. When I moved up here from Mississippi, people were so fascinated with my accent and everyone loved to talk to me, but when I lost the accent, everyone stopped recognizing me. That is how today’s society is, people like you because you are probably smart or talented and that makes you stand out, but when they are done using you, they throw you away like you are some piece of garbage. If you are a little different from what today’s picture of a perfect person is, then people will never recognize and if they do, they only recognize you for a second.
However not everyone is as fortunate to be socially popular with tons of friends. And with this comes social discrimination, a higher issue for teens, but that doesn’t leave adults out of the picture. For example in schools, we all either hate or love the popular kids, and/or love or hate the socially awkward kids. But purpose of the situation is that they don’t get along with each other. Also since they don’t get along, it causes drama, and even fights in school leaving a school with no peace. Many of these social discrimination conflicts can lead to school kids being bullied, for who they are and what they like. Most of these conflicts usually end in pain by either the popular kid and/or socially awkward one. They could be going through a rough time with family, health, etc. As for adults, they are just known to be grown children, because just like kids, teens, adolescents, parents will go against each other worse than kids. Humans are always trying to be on top of the food chain, a.k.a. the social ladder. But when things aren’t going their way, it can lead to an uproar that doesn’t point in the direction of