america needs its nerds

[sangopunk9]

ok so today in my english class we were supposed to write a timed essay about this guy's article's argument structure thingy and it just so happens that my teacher choose this specific article cause today at my school is dress up like a nerd day

ya... nerd day:serious:

lame...ish but FUN!!!!!! i was gonna go all out on it but my sis decided to bitch this morning and not let me borrow her shirt -grrnessssss- but i will somehow managed to get something done... its not really nerdy but hey the glasses are! so that counts as something i think

anywayz!!!! So the article was called 'america needs its nerds' and while i was reading it i was like wow, this guy has no life -lol jk jk- i liked his article a lot actually you should read it sometime! ...if you can find it online -i cant find it at all-
:wave:

[aezgaga]

can't find it neither.... but if it's from the minister of education.... It would be impossible to find lool (or very very very hard) I don't think that people put their english class work on internet lol.... well ... if you find it let me know :P good luck :D

[Anime_Dude]

wat are nerds? Nerds arent just people who dress up in those kinds of cloths and stuff,they are regular people like u and me;they area little bit smarter thats all

o and I had nerd day at my school too, and mostly everybody just came with funny looking glasses nothing that went all out

[Champbryce]

I haven't had a Nerd day but now I'm looking forward to it

[atomsk]

dont be disin us nerds

[soulten]

dont be disin us nerds

Yeah don't be disin that nerd.

Anyways I wouldn't mind reading a article titled "America needs it's nerds", it would probably be interesting.

[Holly-Sama]

Ha. America does need its nerds. There are too many stupid people.
=P

[xXWENWENXx]

america needs its nerd=australia needs its azn migrants

[sangopunk9]

ok just to clarify i didnt mean to offend anyone if i did. also i think that the word 'nerd' is dead, its overrated and you shouldnt classify people in a group just because of the way they dress or on their grades
the article, america needs its nerds was very interesting and it just about made a big fat statement of 'america is stupid and its people need to think about academics rather then sports.' *cough BUSH cough***
lol i am no monkey bush supporter -obviously-
also i agree with anime_dude on 'nerds' are just 'normal' people their just -as fridman put it- more 'intellectually curious' then us

[carolyn07]

wat are nerds? Nerds arent just people who dress up in those kinds of cloths and stuff,they are regular people like u and me;they area little bit smarter thats all
o and I had nerd day at my school too, and mostly everybody just came with funny looking glasses nothing that went all out

...i agree!,.

i wear glasses coz i have this astigmatism and my eyesight's poor!,.♥

[A.T.]

I have a heavy background in audio engineering and electronics so I was rediculed in high school because of that. And yet when I told them to imagine how life would be without the "nerds", it stumped them. I think a lot of it has to do with ignorance and envy.

[saprintha]

hmmmmm......very interesting. i would like to read that article.

[analogZero]

I found a portion of it. Well at least I can assume it's a portion. sangopunk9, you'll have to let me know if there's more. it's on the second last page of this PDF link:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap08_eng_lang_form_b_frq.pdf

It was a rather good read. If I find more I'll post it.


edit: found it :D It was broken apart as lines so the paragraphs might be off. I just indented where it seemed fit.

America Needs Its Nerds
Leonid Fridman

There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious. A geek, according to Webster's New World Dictionary, is a street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens. It is a telling fact about our language and our culture that someone dedicated to pursuit of knowledge is compared to a freak biting the head off a live chicken.

Even at a prestigious academic institution like Harvard, anti-intellectualism is rampant. Many students are ashamed to admit, even to their friends, how much they study. Although most students try to keep up their grades, there is a minority of undergraduates for whom pursuing knowledge is the top priority during their years at Harvard. Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized

The same thing happens in US elementary and high schools. Children who prefer to read books rather than play football, prefer to build model airplanes rather than get wasted at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts. Ostracized for their intelligence and refusal to conform to society’s anti-intellectual values, many are deprived of a chance to learn adequate social skills and acquire good communication tools

Enough is enough!

Nerds and geeks must stop being ashamed of who they are. It is high time to face the persecutors who haunt the bright kid with thick glasses from kindergarten to the grave. For America’s sake, the anti-intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought.

There are very few countries m the world where anti-intellectualism runs as high in popular culture as it does in the US. In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students. In many parts of the world, university professorships are the most prestigious and materially rewarding positions. But not in America, where average professional ballplayers are much more respected and better paid than faculty members of the best universities.

How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber while his friends play baseball be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe? How long can America remain a world-class power if we constantly emphasize social skills and physical prowess over academic achievement and intellectual ability?

Do we really expect to stay afloat largely by importing our scientists and intellectuals from abroad, as we have done for a major portion of this century, without making an effort to also cultivate a pro-intellectual culture at home? Even if we have the political will to spend substantially more money on education than we do now, do we think we can improve our schools if we deride our studious pupils and debase their impoverished teachers?

Our fault lies not so much with our economy or with our politics as within ourselves, our values and our image of a good life. America’s culture has not adapted to the demands of our times, to the economic realities that demand a highly educated workforce and innovative intelligent leadership.

If we are to succeed as a society in the 2lst century, we had better shed our anti-intellectualism and imbue in our children the vision that a good life is impossible without stretching one's mind and pursuing knowledge to the full extent of one’s abilities. And until the words "nerd” and “geek” become terms of approbation and not derision, we do not stand a chance.

[ne_dAc]

man, my eyes hurt.....but it's a well writen article, guess the US stays the US.

[analogZero]

ya, it looks big here, but overall it's a pretty short essay, huh.

[AyumiBee]

Well,it's well written.Even in Europe we think the same of the USA. I have heard tha a guy went to an American university and he was placed in a two grade higher class. Is it that the Hungarian education is strong or the American is not enough?Because I have heard that we learn more here for example in maths than in the USA.

[RedStar]

All nations need its nerds. Who else will rise to the top of the corporate ladder and provide jobs to the dumber people?

Enjoy your turkey!

Take care,
RedStar

[aa32wa]

america needs its nerd=australia needs its azn migrants

haha you are going to start some sort of racial debate now... playing with fire there... lol

nerd day... isn't everyday nerd day? lol

[AnimeAlice]

I'm a nerk, :)
a nerd and dork.

[atomsk]

i have one

i think it defines nerds alot better. at least one group of them but as it says "we're all alike"

The Hacker Manifesto

by
+++The Mentor+++
Written January 8, 1986

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal", "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...

Damn kids. They're all alike.

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?

I am a hacker, enter my world...

Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...

Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."

Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike.

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass.. Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...

Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found. "This is it... this is where I belong..." I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...

Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.

I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto. You may stop this individual, but you can't stop us all... after all, we're all alike.

[natieex]

can you send your essay so we can have the pleasure of reading it? it sounds good!

[Ykzier]

Nerds and geeks are the backbone, hell, all of the important bones in a society that keeps it standing. I myself am one, which is probably why I watch anime :P

[shadow16]

yes we do yes e=we do