Nerds And Geek Culture Has Been Very Prominent Through The Decades

In the American society, the exterior of a human has higher values than the interior. For instance, an athlete is held in high regard by the public, due to their aesthetically appealing body and the proficient ability to do physical activities. On the other hand, a nerd or geek is seen as an outcast in society, because of their intelligence. These uneven values of society are exactly what the founding member of the society of Nerds and Geeks at Harvard University, Leonid Fridman argues upon in his writing of “America Needs its Nerds.” Through the rhetorical strategies of tone, pathos, and rhetorical questioning, Fridman emphasizes the significance of intellectually driven people in America.

“In American schools, the culture exalts the athlete and good-looking cheerleader. Well-educated and intellectual students are commonly referred to in public schools and the media as "nerds," "dweebs," "dorks," and "geeks," and are relentlessly harassed and even assaulted by the more popular "jocks" for openly displaying any intellect” (Williams). In my experience

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

Many high school students identify themselves as either the nerd, the jock, or the rebel, while some students did not embrace their label, I did. I accepted my label as the so called “jock” for one main reason, leadership. Being the captain of the football team as well as the baseball team put a target on my head as someone to follow, look up to, and guide others in times of hardships and adversity.

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

Throughout American history and the 1900’s, fads have been a hugely successful form of self expression. From fashion, to recreation, to dumb and sometimes dangerous things that youths do, fads are a way to distract from the troubles of the world and find something else fun to do.

In the first chapter of The Rhetorical Power of Pop Culture by Deanna Sellnow, the author defines popular culture and explains the importance of studying the subject. Sellnow begins with a short explanation of ethics to convey that the influence popular culture has is not always used ethically. Secondly, Sellnow compares the different contexts of culture, elitist and diversity, to explain what popular culture is not. Popular culture is compiled of everyday things that influence people through subtle messages such as what is appropriate and inappropriate, good and bad, and so on.

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.

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In “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, he shows his concerns of social acceptance. Fridman’s purpose is to reconstruct social acceptance and emphasize how intelligence is necessary to be a world-class power through a matter-of-fact tone that proves there is no better choice to all social classes.

Finally, the author uses exemplification to show how hard it really is being a nerd in America. The author mentions in his passage how, "the average professional ballplayer is much more respected and better paid than faculty members of the best universities". How can one be a nerd who studies hard and gets good grades in a country where they are not as respected as the average ballplayer. Leonid Fridman also mentions in his passage how kids who are nerds tend to become social outcasts. America needs to stop having hatred towards these kids because they are the foundation of this great country and our

The passage "America Needs Its Nerds" is by Leonid Fridman. Leonid explains that America needs more nerds and geeks. The author uses strong words in the passage. Such as "rampant, ostracized, idolized" etc.. The words he uses to explain that nerds and geeks have it the hard way.

The movie, The Breakfast Club, is a movie about five students who get Saturday school and become friends as a result of it. The characters were: Allison, the quiet girl who would sit in the back and refuse to talk; John, the troublemaker who always talked back to the teachers; Claire, the popular girl who always got what she wanted; Brian, the nerdy student who only cared about having good grades; Andrew, the wrestler who was only focused impressing his father. While watching the movie, I mainly related to Brian. He is pressured to have good grades by his parents and is labeled as the nerd because of it. I am also pressured to have good grades; however, I am labeled as the smart kid in many different classes, but I’m not classified as a nerd.

Surviving high school is no easy task. From the very first day of class, students are forced to find comradery in various social circles. These cliques can range from sports jocks, to math and band geeks, to school club members, and to the social outcasts who could care less about school. While there are more various types of groups, the most common are the jocks and the nerds. As far as everybody in the school in concerned, the popular athletes and the “wimpy” nerds are from two very different planets. However, while there are a lot of differences between the two as far as physical appearance goes, I had the honor of being part of both worlds, and I know for a fact that they have more in common than either would care to admit.

Dork, dweeb, geek, techie, or trekkie? What is a nerd? Dr. Suess first used the word “nerd” in 1950 it described a “small, unkempt, humanoid creature with a large head and a comically disapproving expression”. Newsweek, just a year later, reported the word beginning to take on a derogatory meaning as someone who is dull, and rigidly conventional. Over the next two decades, the meaning of the word did not improve. In 1971, The Observer called nerds, “people who don't live meaningful lives,” and The Chicago Tribune put it simply in 2002, “silicon valley”. Considering nerd is a slang word, the volatility of its meaning and usage is not surprising. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the meaning of the word is changing again. Behind the