4 ms·

I think it's important to tell nerds "it gets better." Better still, tell them to get a GED, form a company, and sell a product. Go to college if you really wan

by mhooks 15y ago

I think it's important to tell nerds "it gets better." Better still, tell them to get a GED, form a company, and sell a product. Go to college if you really want to. Just get the hell out of HS. High school is so jacked. I even went to the science/math/tech school. I never got picked on, but forcing me into mandatory standardized classes made me hate it. Unless you want the ivy league it's just not worth the time/risk. Since no one there gives a shit about you or your future, why leave it in their hands?

zavulon 15y ago
> I think it's important to tell nerds "it gets better." Better still, tell them to get a GED, form a company, and sell a product. Go to college if you really want to. Just get the hell out of HS. If you're implying nerds should be home-schooled before college, I disagree. As unfortunate situation as it is with high school being a big popularity contest, if you acknowledge it and work hard on social skills, you can succeed. Just have to spend time on sports and socializing, and not 100% behind the computer. And if you enter college without any real-life social skills, that's going to be a disaster. The earlier in life you learn social skills, the better. When I have kids, I'm definitely going to spend a lot of time teaching them that.
- bdunbar 15y ago
  I have five kids. Three went to public schools, the two youngest were home schooled from an early age. One of that latter set elected to attend the local high school - he wanted to wrestle and they offer the engineering focused curriculum he wants. The idea that home-schooled kids aren't socialized properly is a myth. All of my kids have friends, attend church, tear around the neighborhood. Are there stereotyped 'home school' kids? Sure. In my experience they are a very small minority.
- mhooks 15y ago
  That's not what I was suggesting. Send them to public school, or private, or home school them. The socialization argument is a bunch of horse shit though. There are plenty of ways to meet people. What I'm saying is that if the four years of high school is pain, get the GED and go to college, or if you're a geek join the work force as a consultant, or both. High school is only useful for people who really want to be there. College (community or state) will accept a GED, has plenty of social opportunities, and you can control your education more granularly. No one in the real world cares about your high school grades or what letter was on your jacket.
- sid0 15y ago
  What do you consider as poor social skills, if I may ask? I spent most of my time in high school behind the computer, and never played sports (I find sports not mentally stimulating enough relative to the effort). I'm pretty introverted, don't like associating with a large number of people, would rather write code half the time and play video games half the time on a Friday night than going out to a club, hate socializing, and simply cannot make small talk. However I'd be willing to talk about computers, maths, and philosophy and logic all day long, and I also seem to be good at finding people who're somewhat like me. Maybe it's just my luck, but through high school and college, I've never not been able to find at least a few people who're interested in most of the same stuff I'm interested in, even as my interests have changed. In other words, I'm a typical nerd with what would I suspect traditionally be called poor social skills -- yet I'm pretty happy with whatever social skills I have, and it's overall been far from a disaster. edit: note that this wasn't an American high school, and I remember others just letting me be.
  - usernamename 15y ago
    And why do you hack Pokemon homepages, POK3???

by mhooks 15y ago

zavulon 15y ago

> I think it's important to tell nerds "it gets better." Better still, tell them to get a GED, form a company, and sell a product. Go to college if you really want to. Just get the hell out of HS. If you're implying nerds should be home-schooled before college, I disagree. As unfortunate situation as it is with high school being a big popularity contest, if you acknowledge it and work hard on social skills, you can succeed. Just have to spend time on sports and socializing, and not 100% behind the computer. And if you enter college without any real-life social skills, that's going to be a disaster. The earlier in life you learn social skills, the better. When I have kids, I'm definitely going to spend a lot of time teaching them that.

bdunbar 15y ago
I have five kids. Three went to public schools, the two youngest were home schooled from an early age. One of that latter set elected to attend the local high school - he wanted to wrestle and they offer the engineering focused curriculum he wants. The idea that home-schooled kids aren't socialized properly is a myth. All of my kids have friends, attend church, tear around the neighborhood. Are there stereotyped 'home school' kids? Sure. In my experience they are a very small minority.
mhooks 15y ago
That's not what I was suggesting. Send them to public school, or private, or home school them. The socialization argument is a bunch of horse shit though. There are plenty of ways to meet people. What I'm saying is that if the four years of high school is pain, get the GED and go to college, or if you're a geek join the work force as a consultant, or both. High school is only useful for people who really want to be there. College (community or state) will accept a GED, has plenty of social opportunities, and you can control your education more granularly. No one in the real world cares about your high school grades or what letter was on your jacket.
sid0 15y ago
What do you consider as poor social skills, if I may ask? I spent most of my time in high school behind the computer, and never played sports (I find sports not mentally stimulating enough relative to the effort). I'm pretty introverted, don't like associating with a large number of people, would rather write code half the time and play video games half the time on a Friday night than going out to a club, hate socializing, and simply cannot make small talk. However I'd be willing to talk about computers, maths, and philosophy and logic all day long, and I also seem to be good at finding people who're somewhat like me. Maybe it's just my luck, but through high school and college, I've never not been able to find at least a few people who're interested in most of the same stuff I'm interested in, even as my interests have changed. In other words, I'm a typical nerd with what would I suspect traditionally be called poor social skills -- yet I'm pretty happy with whatever social skills I have, and it's overall been far from a disaster. edit: note that this wasn't an American high school, and I remember others just letting me be.
- usernamename 15y ago
  And why do you hack Pokemon homepages, POK3???