<p>Well either you come from a very different background to me, you didn’t understand what I said or you just have a terrible ability to analyse.</p>
<p>First, did you say I’m the token quiet guy?</p>
<p>I said nothing about playing the game of nerd and cool guy, maybe read what other people say first. These are people who are smart and popular but don’t apply themselves all that much in high school until it counts. </p>
<p>Maybe the high school system in America is different and the divide between the ones who get good grades and those who are popular is huge. Here it certainly isn’t, a great deal of the kids who get the best scores are some of the most popular ones, they get great scores because they have natural intellect, which also notes why they are popular because of their ability to socialise.</p>
<p>No, coming from <em>me</em>. I’m the quiet guy. </p>
<p>Maybe the paradigm is different down under. Admittedly, American culture is pretty superficial and anti-intellectual. Everyone loves the MTV lifestyle and if you’re a nerd, you’re just not “with it.” The “extroverted nerds” who try to act sociable never <em>really</em> reach the point of being “cool.” </p>
<p>It all comes down to physical appearance, as I’ve said. Popular, attractive people don’t get the best grades because they don’t have to. Why would anyone put in all the extra work if they could have everything they wanted anyway?</p>
<p>^ Popular attractive people don’t get everything they want, no way. They put in the effort for good grades because they need to.</p>
<p>One of the most popular kids in school last year is now working for next to nothing gaining an apprenticeship as a labourer. He sure isn’t getting what he wanted, but he didn’t put the effort in academically.</p>
<p>I think it is different here. The final year of high school is the only determinant in what college you get to. The other years are simply prepartory for the final year, only your grades from the final year count. Also, EC’s like volunteer work and being head of the robotics club etc. don’t matter, it’s purely your results in your final year of high school which are compared across the nation and you’re given a score which indicates where you stand compared to other students.</p>
<p>I think this creates alot more smart, popular kids who get good grades. You can spend the first 5 years of high school mucking around as it’s only the last which counts. I sure know that’s what I and many of my mates did, and we all did really well in our final year and got into the degree’s we wanted to at university.</p>
<p>^ I understand that, which is why I demonstrated the differences from our perspective.</p>
<p>What do you think the best system is? All high school years and extra cirriculars or one year where you are marked against everyone and given a percentage ranking nationwide?</p>
<p>So true. This is why many smart kids nowadays ,including me, start to dress better. Also dressing better improves your confidence, unless you’re uncomfortable in the clothes. </p>
<p>Intelligence can, however, also cause stigmatization, when in a class full of dumb kids. Being a kid answering all the questions can make people hate you. But in AP classes its a different story. </p>
<p>Sometimes I wish I went to a private school full of smart kids so I had nothing to worry about in terms of peer pressure. Also the uniform factor helps a lot, just wake up and jump into the same clothes everyday, alternating between duplicates of course. </p>
<p>But since I go to a public school I try my best to fit in, and I don’t act smart at all. I’m not too popular but I think I fit in well. </p>
<p>Also @ my sisters school(she was valedictorian), she was very popular along with her two other Valedictorian(three vals that year) friends(ironic & funny; my sis got 2320, next val got a 2340, and the ‘smartest’ val got a 2360)…</p>
<p>The smart kids were usually very social at her school. She was president of many clubs and very active at school, and pretty much partied every month. She also never broke ANY rules, never had ANY bad thing happen to her, was probably the NICEST person ever, and was very popular even in our entire town(Home of Disney World)…Honestly, I find her amazing success so amazing godly. I mean cmon perfect GPA, valedicotian, amazing ECs, Duke acceptee, and now she started direct medical school at UMiami on her way to becoming a doctor and securing her future…all while living the life in Miami… What on earth is she? And that too she is less than a year older than me…</p>
<p>@djamieson Neither system is perfect. In the US system one bad year can sink you and often times school takes up WAY too much time. In the Australian system work in your community is not looked at, and what if someone somehow flukes the final test?</p>
<p>At least in my school the smart people aren’t ostracized for their intelligence, its mostly the try hards. The ones that get great grades but everyone knows they are not really smart, they just work a million times harder than everyone else and kiss the teachers ass to get every advantage possible and then make the rest of the class look bad in comparison. Those are the kids that everyone hates in my school, the actual intelligent people get respect</p>
<p>People who claim that social awkwardness is the reason why smarter kids are stigmatized in high school are not completely right. Although there may be a slight correlation, I know from experience that people are just envious. While some girls spend their time and effort to look pretty, others spend their time learning. Yet although the smarter girl may not be socially awkward, many times she is not ‘welcome’. And the same applies to boys.
It’s a shame to see smart people act dumb in order to fit in. I’ve seen it happen many times, and I can only pray that people realize that fitting in doesn’t matter! Within a matter of years, you will move on to college where you will find a group of people with similar interests with whom you can natuarally fit in with!</p>