Teenagers, popularity, and smarts

[piercehawkeye45]

I don't really buy into the idea that American children view being smart as uncool. There are too many exceptions and I feel the author of the article Cloud posted is making excuses and blaming others for his or her probable lack of confidence and social skills in high school and junior high. From the stories here and from most other places, I feel that my high school experience was similar to most others that the popular kids always had some reason to be more confident over the unpopular kids. Whether it was being better looking, more socially or physically mature, or having success in sports, the popular kids usually had something going for them that was deemed important by their peers at that time. I think this concept has applied to my social life at college and beyond as well. The most popular people in any subgroup have qualities that are deemed important by that particular subgroup. Some people will naturally fill those qualities, some people will figure those qualities out and purposely fill them, and others will not figure them out and face the consequences of that, unpopularity. I did not figure that out in high school, even with being a co-football captain my senior year, so I did not enjoy great popularity either.

Though with respect to intelligence, I believe the opposite is true. I believe that, for the most part, people are attracted to intelligence. It is just that there are so many other factors with attraction, it is difficult to isolate the trait. As mentioned by many here and in the article, intelligence (school wise) in high school is worthless and meaningless. Teenagers know this. That is why it was never deemed a positive quality for teenagers. Then, along with the fact that many intelligent high schoolers, at least school smarts wise, are socially awkward, immature, and lack confidence, the intelligence to unpopularity link was made and solidified.