The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth
An article in this week's Yahoo! News reports a new nerd wish-fulfillment book by Alexandra Robbins called "The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth" that a total weirdo in high school may be the ticket to future success. Robbins followed seven self-described outsiders at public and private high schools for a year and concluded that what makes kids popular-conformity, aggression, visibility, and influence-won't make them happy or successful after they graduate. She distinguishes between perceived popularity, when peers say someone is at the top of the social hierarchy, and actual popularity, when peers report actually liking someone. Her book focuses on the former, a state that Robbins says tends to evaporate outside of the high school gate.
What makes people unpopular in the hallways of high school, mainly an unwillingness to conform, tends to translate into success as an adult.
"When you are in the popular crowd you are more likely to be conformist, you are more likely to hide aspects of your identity in order to fit into the crowd, you are more likely to be involved in relational aggression, you are more likely to have goals of social dominance rather than forming actual true friendships," Robbins says. "You are more likely to let other people pressure you into doing things. None of those things is admirable or useful as adults."
Robbins lists several companies-including Yahoo!-that prioritize hiring quirky individuals who shun conventional thinking. She also name-checks historical and current celebrities, including director Steven Spielberg (who was taunted for being Jewish in high school) and Lady Gaga (a self-described former theater "freak"), whose weirdness led to later fame. (Other now-validated former outsiders she touts: Steve Jobs, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Angelina Jolie.)
Parents have the most influence on their children. While we live in a society that demands so much of our attention, we should give our children as much attention as possible. And instead of pushing our children to pursue a certain goal, we should focus on modeling God's love and character, and celebrate their uniqueness and individuality.
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.
What makes people unpopular in the hallways of high school, mainly an unwillingness to conform, tends to translate into success as an adult.
"When you are in the popular crowd you are more likely to be conformist, you are more likely to hide aspects of your identity in order to fit into the crowd, you are more likely to be involved in relational aggression, you are more likely to have goals of social dominance rather than forming actual true friendships," Robbins says. "You are more likely to let other people pressure you into doing things. None of those things is admirable or useful as adults."
Robbins lists several companies-including Yahoo!-that prioritize hiring quirky individuals who shun conventional thinking. She also name-checks historical and current celebrities, including director Steven Spielberg (who was taunted for being Jewish in high school) and Lady Gaga (a self-described former theater "freak"), whose weirdness led to later fame. (Other now-validated former outsiders she touts: Steve Jobs, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Angelina Jolie.)
Parents have the most influence on their children. While we live in a society that demands so much of our attention, we should give our children as much attention as possible. And instead of pushing our children to pursue a certain goal, we should focus on modeling God's love and character, and celebrate their uniqueness and individuality.
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.