I will never understand that. I guess it is a North American thing. But here in Europe sporty guys are usually down to earth (I am talking about the ones playing a sport, not necessary about gym addicts that use steroids). In fact in my home country even nerds and geeks go to the gym or practice some sport. Like 90% or more of male students in high school are into some sport as a hobby and almost no male fails PE. Do you think that divide was created or just reflected in teen movies? Do you think this cultural divide is still present? I also don't get why some people think sport is bad. I mean yeah, being a sport fan is boring (watching sport), but being actively involved in sports is good for the mind and confidence. I am a thin, lazy couch potato now, but I am thinking about starting a gym routine or playing basketball.

Sports, in itself is not a bad thing. It keeps you healthy (for the most part), it teaches you teamwork, etc. However, in this country, many jocks (namely football players) think because they are football players (or coaches) they can do ANYTHING. You look at Jerry Sandusky from Penn State. He was a habitual sex offender but because he was part of the Penn State football team, people looked the other way. Can't tell how many times the NFL will look the other way when a player commits a crime-especially if it is against a woman.

In our own little town, members of the local college football team were caught stealing merchandise from a sporting goods store. I have to give the college kudos because they suspended the players.

Because sports is a multiBillion dollar industry, many feel that the bottom line is more important than accountability. And if an athlete is held responsible, the fans go crazy. However, I think things are starting to change but players attitude haven't as of yet. More & more athletes are being held responsible for their actions. 

BTW, here are the stats for this year-513 arrests! so far and the year isn't over with yet. http://arrestnation.com/2014-arrest-stats/ 



Cat

At my school we had a divide between preppy kids who often played hockey and cultural kids (who were also preppy sometimes) who did music and theatre.

Well I was a slightly nerdy (more like a thin normal kid who had above average but not excellent marks, something like mostly Bs with the occasional A or C) and the only guys who were good to me in my class were the volleyball and basketball players. The nerds (who were also good at PE but didn't play in any teams) were total jerks -- they always commented on the way I look, the way I dress (looking back they picked up on a better looking guy than them who was too self conscious). I guess the reason why it is different in Europe is that we have more varied sports? I mean in US high schools and colleges it's almost always football and I'm starting to think it is a violent sport that takes a certain type of person. Over here usually some gym addicts are like that but that might be due to the roids. :)

At my school there were jocks, but they weren't all bad. Some of the worst kids were actually the counter culture types who had no use for being in school. The preppy girls were also b*tches and very stuck up. Girls who were jocks were mostly not in that category. I think why some jocks get away with being d*cks is because some schools place too much importance on sports and the boys who play them, so they have separate standards. Football is a violent sport, but they have on all that padding and no it doesn't take a certain type of personality. Anything can attract the wrong sort.

At my school we had a divide between preppy kids who often played hockey and cultural kids (who were also preppy sometimes) who did music and theatre.


Are you Canadian?

Are you Canadian?


Ha that's the first time someone thinks that! No, I'm Dutch. I was talking about field hockey, which is big among the preppy people. The "normal" people tend to play soccer. At school, those who did play sports and were rich showed it off with their multiple popped collars and stuff. I wasn't preppy at all so I just had to survive the time. . The school was atypical I think, because it was almost fully white and I'm sure other schools would have a white/non-white divide too.

I became a nerd originally because I have bad vision and am asthmatic and thus am terrible at sports.

In Europe it's very common for the nerds and geeks to be rude and nasty to normal not popular kids. At my high school the nerds were the worst bullies. Yet, the popular jock was my best and only friend there! :)

In Europe it's very common for the nerds and geeks to be rude and nasty to normal not popular kids. At my high school the nerds were the worst bullies. Yet, the popular jock was my best and only friend there! :)

Why though? Here the geeky kids tend to be the outcast sort. Now band geeks/colorguard could be uppity on the other hand.

I think the divide is centered around American football and its culture.  I don't see that attitude as much with guys who play sports other than football. In school I knew basketball and soccer players who were also nerds.  It was the football players who were shoving the geeks into lockers.  As an adult, most guys I know who are hardcore football fans are quick to criticize and even question the sexuality of a guy who may not care about the sport.

Why though? Here the geeky kids tend to be the outcast sort. Now band geeks/colorguard could be uppity on the other hand.

They played sports and were strong, but also studious.

Um well from my High School experience from 1994-1998 it was ok if you were an "outcast"(not necessarily a nerd) in the 1994-1995 and 1995-1996 school years. By the 1996-1997 school year the jocks had their revival when Grunge Music was out of style in the US anyway. I think that when Grunge was popular 1992/1993-1995/1996 time period it was an exception to the rule of being an outcast. I do wonder if any other time period had that exception though. I think in the 80's-1990-1991 and 1997+ this exception did or doesn't exist most likely. Even MTV said in 2000 that the rate or popularity went up of jocks in 1997 from their mid 90's levels.

But the whole jock vs outcasts thing is stupid. I guess US teens take stupid teen movies with cliques to heart. In Europe it's not like that. Over here even the outcasts play sports. It is very common for a guy to have A marks and excel at a certain sport.

And in my country specifically most girls don't do good at sports so we have no cheerleaders. In fact, the queen bees at my school sucked at sports and were quite bookish and below average looking, yet they were rude and nasty. Yep, in the EU, save for skanks, nerdish girls are usually nastier as they think they're all that.

For guys being sporty equals being healthy so almost every guy is into some kind of sport or at least hits the gym. Even the obese are into some kind of sport activities and physical exercise is not frowned upon like in the USA. And no one is abused just because he happens to like tech. Usually in the Balkans, thin shy guys with pale skin are abused (hunky tanned/olive-skinned guy is the norm there), but they don't need to be into tech and they might be into sports. No one is abused based on their interests.

But the whole jock vs outcasts thing is stupid. I guess US teens take stupid teen movies with cliques to heart. In Europe it's not like that. Over here even the outcasts play sports. It is very common for a guy to have A marks and excel at a certain sport.

And in my country specifically most girls don't do good at sports so we have no cheerleaders. In fact, the queen bees at my school sucked at sports and were quite bookish and below average looking, yet they were rude and nasty. Yep, in the EU, save for skanks, nerdish girls are usually nastier as they think they're all that.

For guys being sporty equals being healthy so almost every guy is into some kind of sport or at least hits the gym. Even the obese are into some kind of sport activities and physical exercise is not frowned upon like in the USA. And no one is abused just because he happens to like tech. Usually in the Balkans, thin shy guys with pale skin are abused (hunky tanned/olive-skinned guy is the norm there), but they don't need to be into tech and they might be into sports. No one is abused based on their interests.

Everything unfortunately has a stereotype and teen movies make fun of that, it doesn't influence the way things are, just exaggerates them. Some of the geeky types here develop a "smarter than thou" attitude, but it all depends on the person. Girl jocks here are usually not the mean ones. With the boys it can depend on the sport. Some schools the wrestling team had the bad reputation. The slacker kids where I went were the worst, they were proud of the trouble they got into and liked to give people grief. Some jocks were full of themselves and looked down on other kids, but it wasn't all of them.

Excercise is definately not frowned upon in the U.S. there are several gyms that are very welcoming of all that fill up with people. Phys Ed is mandatory in school, at least every one I've heard about. Some have to take ROTC if they don't want to take 2 years of gym. What our media portrays isn't so much right and everything is exaggerated and that skewed information is what reaches other countries. Take it with a grain of salt. Where are you from exactly by the way?

Bulgaria.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h97bULkCtDc

Bullying is pretty misrepresented. A lot of the kids who are physically violent are not the real "bullies". Most bullying is insidious and comes in the form of social rejection and manipulating kids who are gullible and innocent, and then making fun of them and playing jokes on them.

I was fat with glasses. and an unnatural fixation on Michael Jackson.
I was a slow moving target in middle school and came close to recreating Columbine to get the bullies off my back. Everyone picked on me in a class of 30 kids. It got so bad I just stopped telling my mom because everyday it was something else. My homework being torn up, my backpack being kicked across the street in traffic, my hair being cut in the lunch line, people telling me Michael was dead to laugh at my reaction, people spreading rumors anbout me, it goes on and on.  The only thing that stopped me from mass murder in May of 1999, when I was 13, was that I din't know how to fire my dad's pistol or rifle.
For 3 years, I was at my lowest point of life, and wanted to end my life very many times. Just the belief that hell was worse stopped me.
This is why I trust no one in my life at all. I'll never let anyone in ever again.
I was the outcast and read nearly every book in the library, because that's all I had to do to occupy me.
I lobbied all summer to go to a different high school than the other kids. If my dad hadn't let me, I probably would have committed suicide in 2000 if I had to face another 4 years of torment.

I was fat with glasses. and an unnatural fixation on Michael Jackson.
I was a slow moving target in middle school and came close to recreating Columbine to get the bullies off my back. Everyone picked on me in a class of 30 kids. It got so bad I just stopped telling my mom because everyday it was something else. My homework being torn up, my backpack being kicked across the street in traffic, my hair being cut in the lunch line, people telling me Michael was dead to laugh at my reaction, people spreading rumors anbout me, it goes on and on.  The only thing that stopped me from mass murder in May of 1999, when I was 13, was that I din't know how to fire my dad's pistol or rifle.
For 3 years, I was at my lowest point of life, and wanted to end my life very many times. Just the belief that hell was worse stopped me.
This is why I trust no one in my life at all. I'll never let anyone in ever again.
I was the outcast and read nearly every book in the library, because that's all I had to do to occupy me.
I lobbied all summer to go to a different high school than the other kids. If my dad hadn't let me, I probably would have committed suicide in 2000 if I had to face another 4 years of torment.


That sounds tough.
I had some f*cked up years too. I was silent, got higher grades than the other ones, but was somehow unable to connect with anyone. They misused my uncertainty against me; it was bullying, but very subtle. One day I was done with it and I kicked one right on his chest. He looked surprised and after that he stopped. It was worse though that the people who acted nice to me, neglected me on regular basis. but did not invite me to their parties or vacations. That can make you feel quite alone. And my parents did not know about anything.
Do I blame anyone? No. It happens. The one being bullied gives off negative vibes. The one who bullies isn't normal either, needing it to feel ok. It's an unhealthy relationship.
I think children need to be taught about psychology. I was never taught about that. I learned in detail how a liver or a kidney works, but psychology, which f*cks up very many people's lifes? Nothing! If people acknowledge that it's ok to have problems instead of pretending everything is fine, that might help too.

That sounds tough.
I had some f*cked up years too. I was silent, got higher grades than the other ones, but was somehow unable to connect with anyone. They misused my uncertainty against me; it was bullying, but very subtle. One day I was done with it and I kicked one right on his chest. He looked surprised and after that he stopped. It was worse though that the people who acted nice to me, neglected me on regular basis. but did not invite me to their parties or vacations. That can make you feel quite alone. And my parents did not know about anything.
Do I blame anyone? No. It happens. The one being bullied gives off negative vibes. The one who bullies isn't normal either, needing it to feel ok. It's an unhealthy relationship.
I think children need to be taught about psychology. I was never taught about that. I learned in detail how a liver or a kidney works, but psychology, which f*cks up very many people's lifes? Nothing! If people acknowledge that it's ok to have problems instead of pretending everything is fine, that might help too.


I think you're right, kids needs to be taught differently. I did well in school, my mom kept me in the "advanced" classes  and I took the SAT in 8th grade as part of that and got a 1510. I am very intelligent, that I do know, but it took me an extremely long time to kind of master the "art" of socializing. I could literally go days in school where the only thing I said was "here" for roll call, and then I could do public speaking as I did pageants regularly, but I wasn't able to do that middle ground, just strike up a conversation for a very long time. Things need to change because bullying is getting worse and it really does suck. I was a nerd, I still am a nerd. Most jocks never go pro. But a mind full of knowledge will last a lifetime.  ;)