The High School Nerd: Ostracized Publicly, Celebrated Privately
Within pop culture depictions of high school, intellectual characters are often socially ostracized. However, while these intellectuals are depicted as being ignored during the school day, they are often called upon by popular figures for help outside of the school setting. This suggests a complex ambivalence towards intelligence. Society as a whole recognizes the value of intelligence, yet the high school community is unable to accept intellectuals if it means sacrificing their social status, even if they recognize that this stigma is unreasonable.
The media depicts high school as a clique-based community where you must fit into a clique in order to survive; If you dare to break out of the stereotypical characteristics assigned to your clique, you risk public humiliation. The popular girls, the wannabes, the athletes, the loners, the punks, the nerds, etc. all are consistently enforcing that we must fit the requirements of one, and only one, of these groups if we want to succeed. In Disney's hit movie High School Musical, the song “Stick to the Status Quo” reinforces this formula. The scene takes place in a high school cafeteria, each clique sitting at their own table when an athlete, Zeek, dares to tell his athlete friends that he enjoys baking. Immediately the cafeteria breaks into choruses of, “No, no, no. Stick to the stuff you know. It is better by far to keep things as they are. Don’t mess with the flow, no no. Stick to the status quo.” However, Zeek’s boldness inspires a member of the “Brainiacs”, Martha Cox, to share one of her secrets too. Daringly she sings, “Look at me and what do you see? Intelligence beyond compare. But inside I am stirring, something strange is occurring, it’s a secret I need to share…Hip hop is my passion! I love to pop and lock and jam and break!” Just like before, there’s an uproar from the rest of the students in the cafeteria. Not only does Martha Cox’s interest in something besides homework shock her peers, but the fact that she had the audacity to speak up in front of so many of them reinforces how little we are used to seeing nerds in the spotlight among their peers.
T.V. show and movie characters within the high school setting rarely dare to express characteristics outside of those assigned to their clique. For example, if the character belongs to the popular clique or the athletic clique they are more focused on their status within the school than their studies. On the contrary, if the character is a geek, they are more inclined to devote their time to their studies rather than their social status. There is also a correlation between where you are on this spectrum and the level of respect you receive. The more you focus on your social status, the more respect you generate, whereas the more time you spend studying, the less respect you generate. To put it frankly, being smart makes you unpopular. As a result, this trope boxes high school intellectuals into social ostracism. Alex Dunphy, a character from ABC’s Modern Family, is an overachieving, highly-intelligent teenager who is a little too obsessed with getting good grades. She is originally presented as the typical precocious, book-loving kid, in contrast to her fashion-obsessed, uber-popular sister Haley. However, as the series progresses, so does the characterization of Alex; more of her anxieties and insecurities are explored, as well as the ramifications of her being so much more advanced than her classmates and the social isolation she experiences as a result. In season five, episode twelve, Alex sees a therapist to discuss her obsession with schoolwork and the social isolation she’s undergone as a result. It’s then that she begins to realize how isolated she feels from her peers in high school. “I feel…kind of alone,” she says. “They don’t…get me.” This is one of the few times where the intellectual-kid trope is deconstructed. Originally, Alex’s intelligence was one of the defining aspects of her character. We, the viewer, knew Alex as the Smart One in the same way we knew Haley as the Popular One. And Alex, too, saw herself that way; it’s how she came to define herself over the years. Alex serves as an example of how little room we give T.V. nerds to take on characteristics outside of their stereotype. Since the characters themselves feel this constraint, they rarely convey to the viewer that intellectuals have qualities beyond studying and getting good grades.
While we bind intelligent characters into these assigned characteristics, there is also a common thread where the nerd is sought out outside of the classroom. This suggests that while we recognize that intelligence compromises social status, we also admit to the importance of it. In NBC’s T.V. series Friday Night Lights, Landry Clarke serves as the high school’s designated geek. From the beginning of the series Landry is considered an outsider. Since he isn’t an athlete, he’s low on the totem pole, and his nerdy personality makes him used to being the second choice, both in relationships and friendships. In Season One, Landry begins tutoring Tyra Collette, a seemingly popular girl with a rebellious streak. While Tyra is originally hesitant to ask lowly Landry for help, she also admits that if she does not get help, she may not make it through the school year. Slowly Tyra’s grades improve and the two of them develop a strong friendship. While most T.V. shows refrain from a “popular girl” and a “geek” becoming good friends for it uproots the norm, Landry and Tyra’s relationship suggests that high school intellectuals are respectable humans worthy of true friendships.
Other characters seeking out the “geek’s” assistance implies that the high school society maintains mixed feelings about intellectuals; While they are ridiculed for their nerdy habits, their intelligence is secretly desired. Similarly to Landry and Tyra’s relationship, Alex Dunphy’s family members constantly turn to her for advice, despite her being many years younger. From situations like this it can be inferred that society as a whole recognizes how intelligence is a key aspect of survival. However, within the high school society, intellectuals still rarely receive the same amount of respect as their more socially adept peers.
As depicted through High School Musical and the characters Alex Dunphy and Landry Clarke, high school nerds want to be popular as well as smart. In such a fiercely competitive setting, however, it is often easier for them to achieve the second. Sure, it is possible for intellectuals to achieve both goals, but this image is almost never shown in the media because it is hard to balance the two. Intellectuals have other things to think about besides clothing, football games, and parties. They are naturally drawn to books and sciences. Even if intellectuals attempted to gain popularity, it would wind up being more work for them. Their popular peers learned to be popular, and sought out being popular in the same way the nerds learned to be smart and sought out the tools to do so. Popular students lack social respect of the nerdy peers in the same way the nerds lack academic respect of their popular peers.
Past high school, nerds are highly favored because of their intellect, but within the high school community they serve as a common enemy to the popular kids. Even though the media usually presents it as so, popularity is not just about individual beauty. It is about associating yourself with the right people, doing things to gain their respect. Nothing brings people closer than a common enemy. Nerds are not necessarily actively persecuted because of who they are as an individual, but because they boost the status of the other students. From Landry and Tyra’s relationship we are shown that even popular girls wish to be intelligent, but most status-seekers are too worried about what their so-called “friends” will think that they don’t dare unleash their intellectual curiosity unless they risk failure. Therefore, an odd contradiction forms between not wanting to come off as “nerdy” while still feeling societal pressures (mostly from parents and teachers) to perform well on tests and receive good grades. This suggests that society— especially the high school student body itself— is unsure where to stand on teenage intellect. On the one hand, the larger society encourages students to expose their intellectual curiosity by praising them with college acceptances and high-paying jobs. Yet on the other hand, the high school community subjects the nerds to four years of social inequality.
We may be able to admit to the advantage of intelligence within our society, but the high school community is still unable to lose the negative stigma centered around intellectuals. Fully accepting “nerds” into their everyday social life puts their own social reputation at risk, something that most students are not willing to sacrifice. This stigma is one that students encounter every day, so while they recognize its absurdity, they cannot change their view.