4 ms·

>That's a western thing. In the east being smart is cool. I thought it was an exclusive school thing. The Americans I know who went to exclusive high schools

by lsc 9y ago

>That's a western thing. In the east being smart is cool. I thought it was an exclusive school thing. The Americans I know who went to exclusive high schools seem to have had very different experiences. I even know several people (who went to a 'special' highschool for 'gifted' children) who claimed that they enjoyed high school more than college.

madaxe_again 9y ago
Nope. I was educated mostly at public (private) school in the UK, and spent a year at a private school in the US. I was ruthlessly mocked until I learned to dissemble, to not put my hand up to answer a question, to be publicly told off by teachers for not handing in work. The reason is simple - if you make others feel inferior, by being better at anything in any way than them, they hate and envy you.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- lsc 9y ago
  >The reason is simple - if you make others feel inferior, by being better at anything in any way than them, they hate and envy you. If that were true, the sports stars would not have been popular
  - madaxe_again 9y ago
    I think the difference is that everybody believes that they too could be a sports star, in the same way as everybody believes that they too will one day be rich - whereas intellect is a rather fixed quantity - so point taken, I was overly broad.
    - whatshisface 9y ago
      Physical prowess is probably just as limited as intelligence, although our culture definitely associates strength with the gym and smarts with being born that way (although both traits will be equally useless if not developed by training).
  - jlcummings 9y ago
    Everyone loves a winner, on some level. But are sports stars generally popular with the public or among their peers, or teammates? Michael Jordan, was/is endured to the public for his talent and work ethic, but I don’t believe he was adored quite the same by teammates or opponents.
    - lsc 9y ago
      I have no idea. the kids who were good at sports seemed to be pretty popular in high school, though, which is what I thought we were talking about.
  - zbentley 9y ago
    I think there's a "social proximity" effect to it. If you see someone you consider immensely superior to yourself on TV, for example, you're likely to consider yourself either disconnected (and not threatened) by them, or entertain a fantasy of "I could be that someday" (see: most Americans). Alternatively, if you see someone you consider even slightly superior to yourself who is situated similarly in social hierarchy to you, or who you encounter as a peer or near-peer in your everyday life (e.g. a classmate, friend, or sibling), the threat response is much stronger. I don't know why this is (maybe "this person maybe could take my food/resources/whatever, notices me, and is materially able to take from me" versus "this person definitely could take my food/resources/whatever but does not know me and is not materially able to take from me" brain-stem thinking?)
    - lsc 9y ago
      I meant 'sports stars' in the context of high school... people who certainly could and traditionally did take food resources away from more scholarly children.
alain_gilbert 9y ago
I agree with this. I went to a private high school. I was not a gifted student in any way. I was actually denied by the school but my parents begged the principal so they give me a chance to study there (I learned these details years later). And it was actually a very enjoyable experience. Being smart was not something you hide. The sporty guys were the most popular like many other places, but there was no bullying because of your geekness. I did one year of public high school (which I failed) before I went to private school. And the experience was a total different world. (from Quebec->Canada)
magic_beans 9y ago
I went to an "elite" private high school. The handful of kids who chose to take a gap year or to gasp not go to college at all were looked upon with such scorn. But no one was more looked down-upon than the kids who only got into "safety schools." That said -- being in an environment where your intellect was directly correlated to your social standing was pretty nourishing and really encouraged the best in (most) people.

by lsc 9y ago

madaxe_again 9y ago

Nope. I was educated mostly at public (private) school in the UK, and spent a year at a private school in the US. I was ruthlessly mocked until I learned to dissemble, to not put my hand up to answer a question, to be publicly told off by teachers for not handing in work. The reason is simple - if you make others feel inferior, by being better at anything in any way than them, they hate and envy you.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
lsc 9y ago
>The reason is simple - if you make others feel inferior, by being better at anything in any way than them, they hate and envy you. If that were true, the sports stars would not have been popular
- madaxe_again 9y ago
  I think the difference is that everybody believes that they too could be a sports star, in the same way as everybody believes that they too will one day be rich - whereas intellect is a rather fixed quantity - so point taken, I was overly broad.
  - whatshisface 9y ago
    Physical prowess is probably just as limited as intelligence, although our culture definitely associates strength with the gym and smarts with being born that way (although both traits will be equally useless if not developed by training).
- jlcummings 9y ago
  Everyone loves a winner, on some level. But are sports stars generally popular with the public or among their peers, or teammates? Michael Jordan, was/is endured to the public for his talent and work ethic, but I don’t believe he was adored quite the same by teammates or opponents.
  - lsc 9y ago
    I have no idea. the kids who were good at sports seemed to be pretty popular in high school, though, which is what I thought we were talking about.
- zbentley 9y ago
  I think there's a "social proximity" effect to it. If you see someone you consider immensely superior to yourself on TV, for example, you're likely to consider yourself either disconnected (and not threatened) by them, or entertain a fantasy of "I could be that someday" (see: most Americans). Alternatively, if you see someone you consider even slightly superior to yourself who is situated similarly in social hierarchy to you, or who you encounter as a peer or near-peer in your everyday life (e.g. a classmate, friend, or sibling), the threat response is much stronger. I don't know why this is (maybe "this person maybe could take my food/resources/whatever, notices me, and is materially able to take from me" versus "this person definitely could take my food/resources/whatever but does not know me and is not materially able to take from me" brain-stem thinking?)
  - lsc 9y ago
    I meant 'sports stars' in the context of high school... people who certainly could and traditionally did take food resources away from more scholarly children.

alain_gilbert 9y ago

I agree with this. I went to a private high school. I was not a gifted student in any way. I was actually denied by the school but my parents begged the principal so they give me a chance to study there (I learned these details years later). And it was actually a very enjoyable experience. Being smart was not something you hide. The sporty guys were the most popular like many other places, but there was no bullying because of your geekness. I did one year of public high school (which I failed) before I went to private school. And the experience was a total different world. (from Quebec->Canada)

magic_beans 9y ago

I went to an "elite" private high school. The handful of kids who chose to take a gap year or to gasp not go to college at all were looked upon with such scorn. But no one was more looked down-upon than the kids who only got into "safety schools." That said -- being in an environment where your intellect was directly correlated to your social standing was pretty nourishing and really encouraged the best in (most) people.