Author, Alexandra Robbins, in her novel The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, describes her quirk theory and establishes its credibility as she centers her theory around seven different characters as she narrates their high school experiences. Robbins focuses on the negative effects of popularity and how social norms can affect an individual, regardless of what social group they belong to. She creates an amusing, informative tone in order to appeal to the geeks, freaks, and popular crowds with relatable experiences and strong essays in regards with the social scene, exclusivity, and how one handles a given situation. Shortly after grabbing the reader’s interest through concise summary of her story, Robbins introduces her quirk theory and establishes her credibility through her research. She appeals to her reader through aphorism as she defines the term …show more content…
Throughout the entire novel, she utilizes numerous anecdotes from her characters – allowing the reader to relate to Joy, Regan, Whitney, etc. Robbins knew that by implementing a relatable element, such as high school, she could grab her audience’s full attention. Additionally, she dedicated a section “31 Tips for Students, Parents, Teachers, and Schools” that thoroughly indicates what to do to “set things right and reclaim their schools” (Robbins, 379). For students, she suggests that they consider what is best for them; for parents, she suggests that they consider what is best for their child; and for schools, Robbins suggests that they consider everyone of equal status, harbor connections rather than awkward friendships, and promote creativity rather than conformity. Easier said than done, Robbins’ call to action would only take effect if all three parties were to put effort and educate themselves on the
I chose The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins based on its title alone. Not only did this title draw my attention from the list of other available options for this class, it made me think about people like me actually being successful despite their past transgressions against the social norms. Throughout the book, Robbins introduced concepts that I was familiar with through personal experience. Connections to Gossip Girl and Freaks and Geeks, Robbins’ quirk theory was thoroughly expressed while giving me another medium to connect to. I could have stopped reading at any time, but Robbins’ execution of setting her quirk theory around her “characters” storylines allows a flowing transition from a story to a theory or main idea.
In an essay published in the New Yorker in May 1999, entitled “High-School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies,” writer David Denby analyzes movies targeted towards teenagers and the stereotypes associated with them. He begins his essay by describing the archetypal characters in high school genre films: the vapid popular girl and her athletic male counterpart, and the intellectual outsider and her awkward male counterpart. He then describes the reality of teen life, and compares it to the experience depicted in these films. Next, he analyzes the common theme that the geeky characters are the protagonists, and suggests there are such because of their writer's personal experience and a history of geeks being ostracized. Finally, Denby analyzes the tropes in
In the book Schooled written by Gordon Korman, we follow the story of a 14 teen year old named Cap who has lived on a farm his entire life with his grandmother hippie, who is forced to leave his farm because his grandmother got injured. Because of this he is forced to go into our society and go to a normal middle school and live with his guidance counselor. And because he is very different, he is a target in middle school and because of a tradition at that middle school, which elects the weirdest person to be school president, he becomes school president. In the book there are many craft moves that the author does, including symbolism, first person perspectives and multiple viewpoints, to achieve goals such as supporting the theme, setting
The socially and physically inept, the outcasts, often associated with computers and books- these characteristics constitute the stereotype of the average geek. Students are afraid to reveal their identities in an environment among their peers because of the fear of being an outcast among the idolized jocks. In an excerpt from "America Needs Its Nerds" Harvard student and writer Leonid Fridman expresses his disgust for the unjust treatment of individuals who are essential to our country- the geeks. He addresses the American public with a call to action to put geeks into their deserved positions, giving them hope and motivation to express their own identities. Fridman utilizes irony when discussing how even Harvard students are being picked
In the novel, Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids, author, Alexandra Robbins conveys the message that today’s society, including school systems, parents, friends, and students themselves, puts so much pressure on students to succeed (which means doing well well on standardized tests having high GPAs/class ranks, and being accepted into prestigious schools and universities.) This extreme amount of pressure can result in students not learning as much while at school, as well as unhappiness and other issues. Robbins conveys this message throughout the novel by following multiple students around school at Walt Whitman High to discover what the “perfect” overachiever secretly goes through in order to be successful.
When Maya Van Wagenen decides to follow a fifties style guide during her eighth grade year in Popular: A Memoir by Maya Van Wagenen, she has no idea what reactions will come her way or how her outlook on popularity will change. Currently obtaining the “lowest level of people at school who aren’t paid to be [there],” (Van Wagenen 9) Maya hopes that the style guide will help her become more popular or understand why being popular is highly desirable. By the end of the experiment, her goal is that she will have been able to understand what being popular is truly about.
When watching a movie about high schoolers, there are usually many different groups of students who all conform to one social group only. Take the movie High School Musical for example. There is specifically one scene devoted to a song about fitting in with the “status quo”. There are stereotypical groups such as jocks, nerds, theater geeks, skater kids, and the popular kids in this movie and in other movies like it. Each of these groups can be broken down and explained more in depth.
Over the years, many people have viewed success as the gaining of fame and fortune. While this is true, success encompasses all kinds of prosperity. Fame and fortune is just one form. In order to increase students success in Anaheim schools should have longer school days, and more time effort towards after school homework clubs. Gladwell emphasized, “Marita’s Bargain” in his research that the key to success for the Lou Gehrig Jr HS is using SSLANT (sit up, Listen, Ask questions, Nod when spoken to, and Track eyes) the reason is because students are so formal they act upon such great manor and have no behavioral issues towards the school, which should include all schools a great example of etiquette. In the reading it also contributes how Gladwell wants students to “Have shorter vacation span and instead, have students spend more of their time at school.”(8) In addition instead of narrowing the
Freaks and geeks is about young teens in high school. They go through situations like “Bullying,fitting in, and peer pressure. Throughout the show there someone getting bully or someone being peer pressure. In my paragraphs there going to tell you bullying, fitting in ,and peer pressure relates to the world now. Read on to find out more about these things.’
Students in High School are being pressured every day for publicity. High school is usually a place where someone can find themself, a friend group they feel comfortable in. High school students encounter many different situations that may lead them into a series of downfalls through high school. Being in this facility, students are often categorized in groups based on their personalities, what they wear, and their social connections. In The Breakfast Club there are five students categorized into stereotypical groups in high school.Those groups are the popular students, the nerds, and the emo students. Sooner than later, these five students figure they all have something in common with each other; high school, and the pressure of their parents has molded them into the people they never wanted to become. Despite the differences between the students in The Breakfast Club, they share similarities that divides them into different groups throughout high school.
Despite the fact that the science fiction genre was created by a woman, science fiction is now overrun by people who now feel the need to write articles titled “Dear Fake Geek Girls: Please Go Away” (Brown, 2012). This article will summarize the works of Joseph Reagle and his article “Geek Policing: Fake Geek Girls and Contested Attention” (2015).
Our college social circle was a body of kids who were all brilliant, funny and ambitious and nerdy to the point of hilarity. In fact it took this small cadre of personalities to convince my dear friend Chet of his most glaring sign of geekiness.
Is it selfishness or a devotion to make the world a better place that is driving computer innovations?
A study done by Allen et al. (2005) assesses the minds of seventh and eighth graders to understand the effects of popularity. The main question asked is whether popularity in adolescence is a positive or negative influence and how this effects a student over a period of time. This study was conducted because it is rationalized that popularity is always a positive influence on an adolescent. It is explained that popularity amongst peers can be seen as positive or negative. Deviant behavior is said to increase drastically based on the popularity of an adolescent and how their peer groups supports these behaviors. In contrast, it has been said that popularity can help maintain a positive relationship amongst other peers, and hostility towards others decreases when it is disapproved by others in a peer group. Researchers studied three different hypothesis-. First, popularity among adolescents will be associated with a wide variety of different markers in social assimilation. Second, popularity will be constant with peer norms and be strongly influenced. Lastly, popularity will increase minor deviant behavior over a period of time.