Growing up there was always that one kid who didn’t fit in with everyone else. The other kids thought they were weird and made fun of them. A lot of times they were called a nerd.
I was that kid. I know first-hand that kids in elementary school or middle school, maybe even high school in some cases, are quick to call out the kid who doesn’t fit their idea of what cool should be and nerd is one of the first words they call them. But there is still one thing I don’t understand to this day.
Why is being a nerd considered an insult?
Growing up I was always a good student. I got good grades in all of my classes and my teachers were always quick to praise me for good behavior on all my report cards and parent/teacher conferences. I didn’t start any confrontations, I was very much someone who kept to myself and my close friends.
And yet I was teased relentlessly for being a nerd. Because I would rather spend my time reading than starting petty drama on the playground. Because I would have rather watched anime than Jersey Shore. Because I respected authority instead of yelling at every teacher I had. Because I was kind to everyone, even the outcasts because I didn’t believe in labeling people.
When I was in about fifth grade there was a journaling assignment we had to do every week and turn in at the beginning of the day. I did it diligently and always had it in on time.
“Hey Jessica, you shouldn’t turn in your homework,” one girl said to me one day.
“Why not?” I asked skeptically.
“Because you’re such a goody-goody,” said her friend. “Don’t turn it in, just once.”
I rolled my eyes in response and turned it in any way. They called me a nerd to my back.
A few people I knew fell into this category. People looked down on it as if it’s really such a bad thing to be a nerd.
It’s a problem that is prevalent outside of a classroom. I’ve noticed over the years that society is so quick to judge people who aren’t like the majority. Even into adulthood, you are expected to like certain things, act a certain way and treat others a certain way. If you don’t you are considered weird, or, like kids at my school would say, a “nerd.”
Why is it considered shameful to live life the way you want to live? Or to even just be a good person? We are conditioned from an early age to think that things can only be one way and if something is different from you then it is automatically wrong.
Well, I’m here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with being a nerd. If being your own person, walking on your own path, and not caring what other’s think about you is considered being a nerd then that’s what I would rather be.
