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From: gregbo@houxm.UUCP (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: net.singles,net.social,net.kids
Subject: Re: Intelligence
Message-ID: <1270@houxm.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 9-Jun-85 11:51:46 EDT
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Posted: Sun Jun  9 11:51:46 1985
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>> While it's true that intelligence may be more highly valued among many 
>> adults, it's also true that the kids at the fringes of the group (both ends 
>> of the normal curve) often get treated rather shabbily.

> The only difference between someone who suffered this kind
> of ostracism and those who didn't is that it takes my kind longer to "grow 
> up".  (For example, I didn't have my first girlfriend until I was 24. Most 
> people have their first SO in high school or college). I think adolescents 
> are extremely cruel, primarily because they have not yet learned to see the 
> world through someone else's viewpoint.

I had the same experiences when I was in junior high and high school.  I was not
only smarter than most of the kids (junior high) but I wore thick glasses which
made me look like a nerd.  I was teased a lot and I was miserable and started
seeing myself as they saw me, instead of appreciating myself.  When I got to
high school things got better because I was around other smart kids, but I still
wasn't over being teased.  I was still emotionally scarred, which led to shyness
which is still with me to some degree today (for example, I get nervous when I
have to say something in front of a group).  Does anyone have any ideas why
adolescents treat each other so cruelly?  Has anyone done a study on it?  I 
think it would make a good study in child psychology. 

>  But I often get the "last laugh" on the jocks who seemed to get such a kick
> out of making my life miserable in those days. Most of them are married (or
> divorced), and have kids and other heavy responsibilities, and do not seem to
> be as happy with their lives as I am with mine.

A lot of the people who teased me back in junior high don't have such well pay-
ing jobs as mine, or are not even working, so I can say the same.  Some of them
even have kids they don't want.
-- 
It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes we wonder how I keep from goin' under.

Greg Skinner (gregbo)
{allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!houxm!gregbo
gregbo%houxm.uucp@harvard.arpa