Have you ever wondered why some “friends” abandon others when they get to High-School simply because they think the other person is a “herb”? Or why when you wear certain clothes you get shunned from your peers. In this article I will answer some questions: Why are smart kids so unpopular? What separates “Herbs” from popular kids? In this article I hope you come to understand why the stereotype of smart kids being “herbs” is not valid (like salad.)
Maybe you might be thinking why smart kids don’t use the brains to outsmart the popularity system. One argument says that this would be impossible, that the smart kids are unpopular because the other kids envy them for being smart, and nothing they could do could make them popular. I wish. If the other kids in junior high school envied me, they did a great job of concealing it. And in any case, if being smart were really an enviable quality, the girls would have broken ranks. The guys that guys envy, girls like. So if intelligence in itself is not a factor in popularity, why are smart kids so consistently unpopular? I think that they care more about grades than social status. I see that being smart was more important. If someone offered me the chance to be the most popular kid in school, but only at the price of being of average intelligence (humor me here), I wouldn't take it. Alberti, arguably the archetype of the Renaissance man, writes that "no art, however minor, demands less than total dedication if you want to excel in it." I wonder if anyone in the world works harder at anything than kids work at popularity. Navy SEALs and neurosurgery residents seem slackers by comparison. They occasionally take vacations; some even have hobbies. A teen may work at being popular 365 days a year.
Separation
Most kids are separated in different categories. How they dress: Do they wear brand names or do they wear whatever? Sports: Do they play many sports? Are they athletic or not? People who wear the same clothes as everybody else don’t have a chance to express themselves. I always wonder why kids say they don’t want to wear uniforms but the wear the same brand names as everybody else. Sports don’t make you more or less of a man (I do think that a man should have some athletic interest) most of the billionaires in the world despise sports and do nothing to keep in great physical shape. I challenge you instead of asking your parents for the newest Jordans ask them for the shoes that help you express your personality!
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