Question

In seven years of reporting from American middle and high
schools, I’ve seen repeatedly that the differences that cause a student
to be excluded in high school are often the same traits or skills that
will serve him or her well after graduation.
Examples abound: Taylor Swift’s classmates left the lunch table as
soon as she sat down because they disdained her taste for country
music. Last year, the Grammy winner was the nation’s top-selling
recording artist.
In the rabidly conformist school environment, the qualities that
make people different make them targets. In adulthood, however, the
qualities that make people different make them compelling.
Some students are vaguely aware of this reality. An eighth-grade
boy in Indiana told me: “I’m always single, so it’s tough. Never can
get a girl. The smart thing repels girls. I like being smart because I
breeze through school. . . . That’s the good thing, but the girl thing is
killing me.”
It’s hard to know when you’re in high school that “the smart
thing” is likely to translate into later success, or that “the girl thing” is
bound to improve. That’s why it’s up to adults to convey constantly
to teenagers that the characteristics that marginalize them can pay off
after graduation.
Geeks profit from their technological knowhow. Emos benefit
from being empathetic and unafraid to display emotion. Skaters,
punks, and others who pursue their arts with fervor benefit from the
creativity they’ve honed. Gamers have learned both problem-solving
skills and the ability to collaborate through collective intelligence.
In the adult world, being out is in. “Geek chic” and “nerd merch”
are on the rise. Nerdcore hip-hop artists have penetrated mainstream
consciousness. And the nerd prom known as Comic Con draws high-
profile celebrities and throngs of smitten fans. They’re all part of what
Jerry Holkins, creator of the Penny Arcade webcomic and video game
conference, calls “the social pariah outcast aesthetic.”
Adults tend to be mature enough to recognize that there would
be no progress—cures for diseases, ways to harness new energy
sources—without people who are different. Successful scientists think
distinctively.
So what happens to high school’s popular students? Research
shows that they are more likely than outsiders to conform, which
can also mean they’re less likely to innovate. They are more likely to
be both targets and instigators of aggression—whether physical or
relational, which includes rumors, gossip, and backstabbing. They are
more likely to drink and engage in other risky behaviors. Students
who are popular and involved in aggression are less likely to do
well in school. Psychologists point out that high-status cliques teach
the exclusionary behavior that may be the foundation for eventual
racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, and other forms of bigotry.
That’s not to say, of course, that popularity in high school
necessarily leads to mediocrity or worse in adulthood. But neither is
there necessarily something wrong with a student merely because he
is excluded by classmates. We don’t view a saxophonist as musically
challenged if he can’t play the violin. He’s just a different kind of
musician. A sprinter is still an athlete even if she can’t play basketball.
The education landscape would be so much more bearable if
students could understand this. And if schools found better ways to
nurture kids who reject the in-crowd image.
The worst aspect of the treatment of student outsiders isn’t the
name -calling. It isn’t the loneliness. It isn’t even the demise of
attitudes and programs that are important for fostering creativity
and independence. The most heartbreaking consequence of this
treatment is that tens of thousands of students—imaginative,
interesting, impressionable people—think that they have done or felt
something wrong.
It’s not enough to merely tell them that in the real world, “it gets
better.” They need to know before graduation that being different is
not a problem but a strength. ❧
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Comprehension Check
Complete the following items after you finish your first read. Review and clarify
details with your group.
1. According to the author, why did Taylor Swift’s classmates leave the lunch table as soon
as Swift sat down?
2. According to psychology professor Kathryn LaFontana, what is the worst thing in the
world for teenagers?
3. What does Robbins believe that adults should constantly convey to teenagers?
4. How do successful scientists think, according to Robbins?
5. Notebook Confirm your understanding by writing a summary of the text.

Answer 1

1. Because they disdained her taste for country music — they left when she sat down due to her different musical preference.

2. According to Kathryn LaFontana, the worst thing for teenagers is social rejection/being excluded or ostracized by their peers.

3. Robbins believes adults should constantly tell teenagers that the traits that marginalize them in school can become strengths after graduation.

4. Robbins says successful scientists “think distinctively” — they think differently from the mainstream.

5. Summary (notebook):
The author argues that high schools often punish difference, treating distinctive students as outsiders, even though those same traits frequently lead to success in adulthood. Examples include celebrities who were once excluded and contemporary trends that celebrate “geek” culture. Groups like geeks, emos, skaters, and gamers develop valuable skills—technical know-how, empathy, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration—that serve them later. By contrast, popularity in high school often encourages conformity, aggression, risky behavior, and poorer academic outcomes. Adults should repeatedly reassure teens that being different is not a flaw but a potential strength, because many students wrongly conclude they are at fault for being outsiders.