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With regard to high school subcultures and tropes, many people speak of/many films touch upon the „nerd” vs. “jock” dichotomy. I recently came across the following statement from the Wikipedia article that covers the term “nerd”:
“It has been suggested by some, such as linguist Mary Bucholtz, that being a nerd may be a state of being "hyperwhite" and rejecting African-American culture and slang that "cool" white children use.”
This got me thinking – from a historical and contemporary standpoint, the members of which high school subgroup have been more accepting of those from different races, faiths, etc.? If we are to take the 1960s as a reference point, would it (in general) have been more difficult for an African-American guy to become an integral part of a“geek club” or of a “jock club”?
A point in favor of nerds - it is often assumed that “nerds” are intellectual, thus are quite likely to think outside the box and reject racial stereotypes.
An argument in favor of jocks – they tend to be keen on athletic pursuits and successful performances in popular team sports such as football by members of minority racial and/or ethnic groups have been recognized as instrumental in bringing down racial barriers.
Last edited by Conrad Doolidge; 01-28-2015 at 06:39 AM..
Reason: some font/spacing issues
I was a floater in High School and hung out with basically everyone. It also meant that I wasn't really close to anyone, but I got along with everyone. Now that I'm 8 years removed from graduation, I'm the person everyone sort of has a bond to, from the gang members to the cheerleaders.
I would say floaters are probably the most accepting.
Coming from a very diverse high school (endless ethnicities/backgrounds, but to make things simple: 30% white, 35% Asian, 25% Latino, 10% other (pacific Islander, Indians, Native Americans, African), I noticed that Asians had it most difficult escaping stereotypes...as in it was more difficult for an Asian youth to be accepted as an athlete or cheerleader or anything else that wasn't geek/nerd/smart etc. Mainstream white kids, though underrepresented in the honors classes compared to Asians who were/are the majority in them, could place themselves in any category without question. Thankfully, there were many kids that broke away from these tropes and created their own identities, and we had plenty of Asian jocks/cheerleaders/artists/weird kids/drama geeks etc.
As a Latino (who as group were vastly underrepresented in the honors classes), I remember getting asked silly questions like (by white kids primarily) "Are you really Mexican? Why are you so smart?" (I'm above-average intelligence at best, just academically inclined). At the same time, there was no questions about fitting into another type of high-school archetype - whether it was jock, cheerleader, weird goth kid, artist/whatever.
In terms of the black population in our school, they were vastly over-achieving Type A personalities. All the ones I knew were both athletes and top performing students. In fact, I don't know of a single one that didn't end up at a top 20 school (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Colombia, Cornell, Duke etc) and without a full scholarship. Having that said, they were a distinct minority (less than 2% of the population), being primarily of immigrant roots (African, Caribbean and South American), whose parents were typically highly educated themselves. No one really considered them as representative of the 'typical' black/African American, and I remember my sister telling me how friends (of all backgrounds), would say disparaging black jokes without thinking twice about it, but would rarely say anything negative about other groups (Asian, white, Latinos or Middle Eastern). This is a common theme in Orange County though.
Coming from a very diverse high school (endless ethnicities/backgrounds, but to make things simple: 30% white, 35% Asian, 25% Latino, 10% other (pacific Islander, Indians, Native Americans, African), I noticed that Asians had it most difficult escaping stereotypes...as in it was more difficult for an Asian youth to be accepted as an athlete or cheerleader or anything else that wasn't geek/nerd/smart etc.
My kids (3/4 African American, 1/4 Latino) are in an interesting situation in high school. It is about 30% white (largely Jewish), 30% East Asian, 30% South Asian, 5% Black and 5% Latino. East and South Asians are accepted fully as athletes (though our traditionally macho/jock sports teams such as football, wrestling and basketball are horrid). Our cheerleading squads are represented by all groups except for South Asians.
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Mainstream white kids, though underrepresented in the honors classes compared to Asians who were/are the majority in them, could place themselves in any category without question. Thankfully, there were many kids that broke away from these tropes and created their own identities, and we had plenty of Asian jocks/cheerleaders/artists/weird kids/drama geeks etc.
We have a lot of geeks, weird kids, druggies, etc. who are Asian and East Indian as well as white. My kids are both jocks and nerds.
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As a Latino (who as group were vastly underrepresented in the honors classes), I remember getting asked silly questions like (by white kids primarily) "Are you really Mexican? Why are you so smart?" (I'm above-average intelligence at best, just academically inclined). At the same time, there was no questions about fitting into another type of high-school archetype - whether it was jock, cheerleader, weird goth kid, artist/whatever.
My kids get a lot of stupid comments from some of the Indian kids, who seemingly have been raised to believe that they are more intelligent than (white and black, but especially black) Americans, and that anyone non-Indian who inhabits the district really won't be competitive academically with them.
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In terms of the black population in our school, they were vastly over-achieving Type A personalities. All the ones I knew were both athletes and top performing students. In fact, I don't know of a single one that didn't end up at a top 20 school (Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Colombia, Cornell, Duke etc) and without a full scholarship. Having that said, they were a distinct minority (less than 2% of the population), being primarily of immigrant roots (African, Caribbean and South American), whose parents were typically highly educated themselves.
That's interesting. We have a black population that is very similar. I am an officer in our African American parents group, and most of our members are African, Caribbean or children of immigrants from these region. We also have a lot of African American parents who have moved into our district from nearby urban areas because there are a lot of apartment complexes with affordable units (by government mandate).
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No one really considered them as representative of the 'typical' black/African American, and I remember my sister telling me how friends (of all backgrounds), would say disparaging black jokes without thinking twice about it, but would rarely say anything negative about other groups (Asian, white, Latinos or Middle Eastern). This is a common theme in Orange County though.
I was a floater in High School and hung out with basically everyone. It also meant that I wasn't really close to anyone, but I got along with everyone. Now that I'm 8 years removed from graduation, I'm the person everyone sort of has a bond to, from the gang members to the cheerleaders.
I would say floaters are probably the most accepting.
I just left a floater in my toilet, or as Johnny Manziel calls it a Number 2 lol
Thank you for the interesting comments and the stories you shared!
The high school that I attended in Canada was racially and ethnically diverse (though most students were middle class). I think that I started off as a geek (at least that's how I initially envisioned myself), as I was rather academically inclined and slightly socially awkward. However, I found it easy to make friends and evolved in the direction of a floater by gradually diversifying my activities (playing soccer, engaging in peer tutoring, etc.) and inserting myself into different social circles.
I guess it's often the case that floaters enjoy high school quite a bit, because they don't have to contend with bullying issues and are rarely ostracized by the other students.
I would say that the differences when it comes to student subcultures tend to be more pronounced in middle school than in high school (at least based on my experiences).
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