Dragaera

OT: Subjectivity vs. Objectivity (was: bois...)

Penney, Sean seanp at ea.com
Thu Aug 22 16:57:57 PDT 2002

>From: Randi128 at aol.com
>liked me for who I was. Yes, I was a varsity athlete, yet I had a 4.0
average 
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Brad said:
>That's it.  People are more likely to respect you if you are a good
>athelete.  
[snip]
>Most of this, I think, comes from the self-confidence that comes from being
>atheletic.  I have yet to figure out why this but ever since I started
>doing more physical activities, I have seen my confidence grow.  
[snip]
>You did not get good grades (if you did, you hid it well).  You would not
be called a
>nerd, you would be physically attacked. I simply bring this up as an
>extreme example of the diversity of school cultures in this country.

I have to agree with Brad.  My folks were both hippies who home-schooled me
until my little brother was born, at which point I was enrolled in grade 5
(in the city no less!).  I was pretty bookish and excited to be in school
and proud to show off what I knew.  Not a great combination.  I was knocked
around a lot.

I joined the wrestling team in grade seven and started pushing weight, and
kept it up until I graduated High School.  I find it interesting that by
grade nine I was no longer getting pushed around, yet I was still the same
bookish fellow, albeit with a larger, more muscular frame, and the ability
tie people into knots.

Kids, especially the males, can be opportunistic little animals.
Girls do it differently I guess - more emotional torture (I'm speculating
here), but with the guys it was always a physical thing, but once they knew
they no longer had an easy target or were in risk of being dropped on their
head, they suddenly got real polite-like.  I think it's vile and a sad
testament to our culture.