Leonid Fridman's 'America Needs Its Nerds'

It appears that in today’s society, intellectual beings, or “geeks” and “nerds” as they’re often referred to, are being pressured in everyday life events because they don’t quite seem to “fit in” even though they are the backbone of America’s economical and technological advances. Although these “nerds” play an important role in keeping America ahead in the scholarly and technological world, they’re rarely ever praised, for instead, they are bashed and labeled with derogatory terms for being too much of a “geek.” As for Leonid Fridman, he addresses America’s behavior towards “nerds” in his essay, “American Needs Its Nerds,” by using irony and antitheses to draw attention to anti-intellectualism values in America and uncover how society is stepping down on its “geeks” and “nerds.”

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.

Leonid Fridman, author of "America Needs Its Nerds" wrote about how people who want to pursue their knowledge should be not be ashamed of that. Fridman develops his argument by talking about how other countries go about learning compared to the U.S, asking rhetorical questions, finding similarities between the different school/ education levels when it comes to the terms "nerd" and "geek".

The author agrees with the fact that the jocks get the majority of the fame rather than the occupations that deserve it such as teachers. Teachers show kids how to act during the real life and to learn right from wrong. While

In his essay “America Needs Its Nerds”, author Leonid Fridman discusses the stigma against so-called “nerds” and how these nerds are essential to America in keeping up with other countries. He does this providing several examples. However, this essay is ultimately weak because of the broadness of his examples, as well as the overarching strawman he creates to represent “society”. By relying solely on these examples, he creates a very simple one sided argument

Human brains are programmed with a need to be accepted and not overlooked. Subsequently, it’s not a factor people can usually ignore. Fridman makes comparisons in which nerds, “prefer to build model airplanes rather than get wasted at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts” (Fridman 14). His comparison associates with the individual’s interest that represents social acceptance. Next, Fridman proceeds to explain the social insecurities of “refusal to conform to society’s anti-intellectual values” (Fridman 15). He implies ethos in the example that from a young age kids are forced to look at what is usually socially accepted, and then expected to try and follow others accepted qualities.

Every high school has its cliques and because of those cliques, high school students face stereotypes based on the clique they are a part of. There are the straight A students, the jocks, and the druggies. That is just naming a few. For each of those cliques, there are certain stereotypes that associate with each one. For example, the straight A students stereotype is that they always do their work ahead of time, are goody-two shoes, and always worry about school. However, that is not always the case. The same also goes for the stereotypes of the jocks and druggies. This can be related to “Blue Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose. In this article, the key concept is that working class level does not define intelligence level. The druggies, and even the jocks, could be considered to have a low intelligence level. Rose says, “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education – the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long – and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (264).

In “America Needs Its Nerds”, Leonid Fridman develops his argument that American society undermines and devalues intellect. He develops this argument by showing how schools discourage intelligent kids early, how these “nerds” now feel ashamed of themselves and how America treats the intelligent compared to the rest of the world. The author states “Children who prefer to read books rather than play football...become social outcasts.” The author emphasizes that society discourages children and people early, that being interested in learning is not acceptable socially.

In today’s society, constant judgement as to how well you fit in achieves nothing, rather distinguishes hope for improvement. Ideas including being looked down upon for an individual’s intelligence or being pushed aside from groups due to one’s academic ability are becoming an epidemic as those who seek to better themselves are seen as inferiors. The United States today is accustomed to issues as far as the negative deterioration towards those who possess higher mental values. In America Needs Its Nerds by Leonid Fridman, a look into how geeks and nerds are identified, the reality of childhood dilemmas, and the problem in the broad spectrum of the globe are all noted and questioned as to why America as a society expresses such a negative position

In the story “I Just Wanna Be Average” the author Mike Rose argues that society very often neglects and doesn’t see the full value and potential of students.

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

Within our society, there is a growing anti-intellectual sentiment. Bradbury’s book explores the idea of anti-intellectualism through the values of the society of Fahrenheit 451. The society of Bradbury’s novel began to gravitate away from intellectual pursuits and became “runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word 'intellectual,' of course, became the swear word it deserved to be” (Bradbury 55). The desire to become educated and informed simply is outweighed by the struggle one must undergo to do so. For the average citizen of Fahrenheit 451, and indeed for that of our modern day and age, action is easier than thought. The attitude is reflected in student athletes or should I say, athlete students, specifically in America. High schools

The 1961 short story by Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron,” details a dystopian future in which the mediocre and average are lionized, and the exceptional in society are marginalized and treated as though they are handicapped and/or criminal. The plot of “Harrison Bergeron” revolves around the plight of its title character, an adolescent boy who is 7’1” tall, extremely good looking, and has a genius-level I.Q., to boot. In the story, Harrison has been placed in jail in order to protect society from his exceptionality. In the society of 2081 America that Vonnegut depicts, the United States government has installed a fascist government that punishes people for falling above the norm in any instance. As the story progresses, the reader learns that Harrison’s mother is actually of below average intelligence, and this has rendered her into an “ideal citizen.” Harrison’s father, on the other hand, possesses above average intelligence and is subject to constant monitoring by the government, so as to ensure that he does not use his superior abilities to act outside of the norm, in any way. Ultimately, “Harrison Bergeron” is a Marxist critique of the late capitalist society of the twentieth century United States, which celebrates the “average” and the “mediocre,” while demonizing innovation.

Education has been the subject of some of the most heated discussions in American history. It is a key point in political platforms. It has been subject to countless attempts at reform, most recently No Child Left Behind and Common Core. Ardent supporters of institutional schools say that schools provide access to quality education that will allow the youth of our country to gain necessary skills to succeed in life. Critics take a far more cynical view. The book Rereading America poses the question, “Does education empower us? Or does it stifle personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds?” The authors of this question miss a key distinction between education and schooling that leaves the answer far from clear-cut. While education empowers, the one-size-fits-all compulsory delivery system is stifling personal growth by squeezing us into prefabricated cultural molds.

The President of Bard College, Leon Botstein, wrote the opinion piece Let Teenagers Try Adulthood (1999), argues that American high schools should be abolished. Botstein uses school cliques and brain development to develop the argument. The author's purpose was to argue that high school are dangerous to kids mental health and the school system should be modified in order to keep children safe from wrong ideas that are often present in high schools. The audience of the opinion article are school officials and people who have the power to change the educational system.