The Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth By Alexandra Robbins

In the short book of “No Heroes, No Villains” by Steven Phillips On June 28, 1972, a Transit Authority patrolman, John Skagen, was on his way home from testifying at court for an arrest he made a couple of weeks prior. Skagen was taking the train home to the Bronx when he saw and stopped James Richardson who was awaiting the subway train which would take him to work at Lincoln Hospital. Skagen ordered him to “put up your hands, and get against the wall”. Skagen’s actions seem unprovoked and unnecessary. After a short tussle the two men exchanged shots and Richardson fled the scene on foot. Two other officers that were on the main street above the subway station rushed to the scene.

Hannah Arendt presents in her novel, The Life of the Mind, a theory she refers to as the “two-in-one.” She builds her theory off of a Socratic proposition. Socrates stated that it would be better for a group of men to be out of tune with each other than for him to be out of tune with himself. Here, however, lies a paradox. How can one be out of tune with itself? Arendt states that “you always need at least two tones to produce a harmonious sound” (183). Yet when you appear to others, you are one, otherwise you would be unrecognizable. But Arendt points out that you do not only appear to others, you also exist and appear for yourself. In doing so, you become more than one. As Arendt paradoxically states, “A difference is inserted into my Oneness” (183).

We also learn about the new SAT and its essay component, which some college completely ignore. Some college and universities are eliminating their requirement for the SAT or ACT in an effort to minimize their importance and stress that surrounds them.

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 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

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

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.

Lastly, Leonid Fridman used Pathos to develop his argument. This whole passage gives the intellectual curious and academically serious people a voice. A reader who has dealt with being excluded from society and looked down on as a freak will now feel as though their voice will be heard. Fridman states how this issue is not only geared towards adults in paragraph 4 he explains how children as young in elementary school are being educated for who they are and their academic abilities. This gives readers an eye opener that if even young kids are going through this then the problem should be

“College for the Masses” by David Leonhardt is a great article that displays the many benefits among lower-income students attending a four year college. “Why Poor Students Struggle” by Vicki Madden displays many examples from hers and her colleagues experiences while providing statistics of the lower-income joining a four year college. The two articles both display the benefits of attending a four year college and that the education pays off. David’s article talked about the different education levels based on their test score before attending the university and the amount of income, while Vicki’s focused more on the income and the effects on grades of students while attending the college on low income. David also goes more in detail about the disadvantages of community college than Vicki’s description of community college. “College for the Masses”, in my opinion, had more intensive descriptions and examples on the benefits of starting in a four year university, rather than community college.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan follows multiple Chinese-American women who struggle with their self-identity and creating a balance between American and Chinese culture. Because of their immigration and many hardships in life, many of the women feel like they cannot truly tell who they are anymore, and throughout the novel these women are portrayed as ghosts. Ghosts are used to symbolize these women because they share many parallels including being only a remnant of who they once were, or who they could be. Ying-ying St. Clair is one of the women, who has a daughter named Lena St. Clair, she has had a troubled past in China, which has made her lose her fighting spirit, and her spirit in general. Ying-ying is fully aware of her loss of spirit and is embarrassed because she considers ghosts to be shameful and weak, and wants to save her daughter, Lena, from her fate.

With passionate diction, Leonid Fridman integrates parallelism, compare and contrast, irony, along with rhetorical questions to stress the importance in accepting nerds and geeks in America; instead of shaming and stereotyping them.

Teens today could improve upon so much to get a better chance to become more successful in life. In Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell argues that a child’s performance level for anything has to do with their culture. He says that people of Asian descent will focus more and try harder when they do not understand something. He also talks about how constantly practicing can make you master a skill. If teens can use ideas that Gladwell talks about they can become more successful.

Fridman described the way nerds are seen “ ostracized”, meaning banish or outcast to identify the social role a nerd is. In other words, nerds are view as a discrimination. Fridman, later on, reveals that being smart can change your status from cool to loser/outcast. He introduces to the reader’s that in U.S elementary school’s, is where it all begins (when people are starting to label other’s), clarifying that it starts on an early age. Then it leads up to high schools to college. Fridman reveals, when a book is chosen over an activity, your put in a group call “ social outcast”. People also state that books can be a problem to their communication with other

The book The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth is a book that everyone should read at one point or be taught from in school. It explains school cliques, high school emotions, popularity, and outcast life. The author, Alexandra Robbins, studied many years, about a decade, for this novel to come to life. Throughout her words, she explains that outcasts, whether they are nerds, punks, losers, loners, “tree huggers,” math geeks, band members, etc, are the future of our world. I agree with her when she says that the qualities that people exclude for in school help individuals exceed in life.

One thing that was unique about Geeks was that Jesse wrote letters to John Katz, the author of the book, and John Katz responded to Jesse about his opinions. John Katz told Jesse about his opinion of the decisions Jesse made throughout the book, and Jesse benefits from his tips. John Katz asks Jesse, “ Jess, do I get the sense you’re thinking about the University of Chicago?”(102 Katz). Jesse responds by writing, “you might say you at the fantasy stage . That's all. You think there's anyway?”(102 Katz). John gets a feeling that Jesse was trying to get into the University of Chicago. Jesse then asks him if that was going too far. When we get both Jesse and the author's opinion in the story, it is very unique because the readers can get both