Geeks Shall Inherit The Earth

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.

In the article "Revenge of the Geeks" by Alexandra Robbins, the author makes several claims about teenagers and adults. Throughout the article, the author, Alexandra Robbins, makes several key points in explaining the feelings of geeks and their high school experience. Nevertheless, she also makes points about how adulthood could be for former "geeks". The evolution of geeks has caused a huge streak of aesthetic changes in adulthood. Robbins explains this by stating "In the adult world, being out is in. "

Leonid Fridman once wrote a piece involving the revolution of “bringing the nerd back”. Fridman was a Harvard University student and founder of the Society of Nerds and Geeks. Leonid Fridman in his opinion piece, America Needs Its Nerds, analyzes the society in America and how they value intelligence compared to other things such as sports for example. Fridman exercises the use of real world comparisons and appeal to equality to persuade the reader that America does in fact need its nerds by developing a strong argument that adequately explains the topic.

I selected the book The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins because I was interested to read about an adult author’s perception of a modern American high school experience. I also chose the book because the reviews mentioned that it related to a TV series I enjoyed, Freaks and Geeks. As I read through the book, I found that it centered around the theory that if a student is excluded or dismissed in high school for having different traits than what other students considered normal, those same traits that made them different will allow them to succeed in an adult life after high school. As soon as I got about a quarter of the way into the book I was not as enthusiastic as I was at first glance. I did agree that these traits could benefit someone, but they don’t define what you have the potential to be when you’re an adult. This high school cliché, despite the seven heartwarming storylines, is inaccurate in describing what the future holds for high school students because our future is unpredictable, and a book with a little statistic and seven high school experiences can’t solidify someone’s adulthood. I also noticed that there were no counterarguments present in the book, leading me to assume that Robbins may not have heavily researched both sides of her ‘quirk’ argument. Although I had differing opinions than the author, the seven characters, their storylines, and the promise of a young James Franco continued to perk my interest and

Qualities like being smart or geeky are often overlooked or ignored by other students. Some people aim to be different, but when you grow up, everything changes. Students with these skills or characteristics will be more persuasive than adults. The authors convincingly illustrate that once-marginalized geeks are now the architects of our future, and prove that intelligence and weirdness are assets to be celebrated, not hidden. Alexandra Robbins, author of Revenge of the Geeks, makes a compelling case for geeks who were once outsiders and are now stepping into the spotlight and a game changer.

I chose The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth by Alexandra Robbins based on its title alone. Not only did this title draw my attention from the list of other available options for this class, it made me think about people like me actually being successful despite their past transgressions against the social norms. Throughout the book, Robbins introduced concepts that I was familiar with through personal experience. Connections to Gossip Girl and Freaks and Geeks, Robbins’ quirk theory was thoroughly expressed while giving me another medium to connect to. I could have stopped reading at any time, but Robbins’ execution of setting her quirk theory around her “characters” storylines allows a flowing transition from a story to a theory or main idea.

In his essay “America Needs Its Nerds”, author Leonid Fridman discusses the stigma against so-called “nerds” and how these nerds are essential to America in keeping up with other countries. He does this providing several examples. However, this essay is ultimately weak because of the broadness of his examples, as well as the overarching strawman he creates to represent “society”. By relying solely on these examples, he creates a very simple one sided argument

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

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

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.

Adolescence is about being yourself. Some people can’t determine wether or not it is better to fit in, or stand out. In “Lord of the Flies”, Piggy was being picked on and told Ralph that he was “the only boy in school that had asthma,” (Goulding). In “Lord of the Flies”, most of the kids on the island picked on Piggy. This is very similar to real life situations. In high school, or even grade school, there is normally one child, who is exceptionally different from the rest, who gets picked on. But, how do they determine if it is better to stand out or fit in? Either way, it’s kind of a lose, lose. If you stand out, you are more prone to be picked on or judged, but if you fit in, you are not being yourself and you are conforming to everyone else’s exceptions. We as individuals, shouldn’t be worried to be ourself, we should be able to be whoever we want.

New discoveries spawn more medical research in medical colleges. In 1910, Abraham Flexner of the Carnegie Foundation publishes his study on medical education, and induces major medical education reform. Medical knowledge flourishes and specialists account for 20% of physicians in 1940. Hospitals begin to embellish new medical technology as physicians relied on the hospital as a source of access to new technology and as a facility in which to care for their sickest patients. (Writer, Dominguez, 2011, 2-6)

I found it important to understand what types of intellectuals there are and how they feel, so that we may have a better understanding of why we tend to hate the smart kids. In Grant Penrods paper “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids”, he talks about how intellectuals constantly see their efforts trivialized and society’s distaste for intellectuals. He provides evidence to his statement through stereotypes of geeks and nerds, public figures, and

While high school in reality is full of surprises and twisty roads, teen television shows and movies are based off a strict set of conventions that allude to other teen films. In David Denby 's "High School Confidential: Notes on Teen Movies," he describes the typical movie storyline and characters: the blonde, superficial cheerleaders that make up the popular crowd, along with the buff, handsome jocks versus the social outcasts comprised of geeks and freaks. Denby continues to explain the nature of these two social standings, including how the “cool group” bullies anyone below them. Denby goes on further to discuss how a particular outsider usually becomes the hero or heroine of the story, despite their social discomfort or awkward

This excitement can be good, bad or in some cases, misleading. The medical field has vastly made its way into a huge money pit of enduring “technological advances”. But, the advances are sometimes not always what they seem to be. Looking ahead, the questions we need to ask ourselves would be: are we getting to excited too quickly when it comes to the amount of anticipation we have about the advances in the medical field? Is there a chance we look for the potential of these “revenge effects” with it all? While trying to discover an answer to these questions, I feel as though people need to take a step back and realize that we will never know right now, what these advances will do for us in the near future whether its change us negatively or positively. Harmful or safe, watchfulness should always be done when it comes to medical technology. Thankfully, the knowledge and skills used with the equipment, has and will continue to save millions and millions of lives now and in the future. The diagnosis of new vaccines and miracle drugs has increased the existence of this population by about twenty years.