Research shows that geeks do better in life whereas popular people...

[superstarheartbreaker]

Often end up on drugs or as er.....single mothers on benefits (according to one newspaper- maybe the fail!)

I was a geek at school and I am now a single mum on benefits , however I also have a degree from a Russel group and a pgce.i also have a supply teaching job.

I am pleased that geeks do better in life and so they should but why use the single mum on benefits as an indicator that one has failed in life?
I think that the popular crowd damaged me with their bullying and I wished I could be more like them ( having sex at the age of 13, nice clothes etc) . Now of course I'm very glad I was not part of their shallow world. At our school 'popular' meant being feared rather than liked. ( sorry for massive chip on shoulder.)

Fair play to those geeks that were not damaged by the plastics but a lot of us were and using outdated stereotypes to define success doesn't help at all.

ok, it's much easier to comment when there are actual links to the original articles:

media report (also in the daily mail and sunday times if you want to google it)

original research article

as usual, it's the media spin giving that false binary of geeks/cool kids. the researchers talk about "early adolescent pseudomature" behaviour (so dabbling with drugs and sex when in early teens) being linked to early but short-lasting popularity with peers, which later doesn't lead to success. they don't seem to say anything at all about "geeks"

also, the researchers don't even mention benefits as any kind of measure of success, so i imagine that is the spin of certain media outlets

Iant it a shame how we view nose in a book as not fun though? I can think of nothing better than tucking up with a good book ( and yes I still enjoy sex, drinking and other 'cool' things.)

Sex is cool?

That has really made me laugh.

'Sex! It's what the cool people are doing.'

I was a cool popular geek who didn't do drugs, aced all my exams and started going to clubs at 14. What would the Daily Fail make of me

The IT guy at work once said 'I was bullied and ostracised at school but nowadays everyone wants a bit of me!' As the printers had failed this was true.

I'm sure everyone's heard the joke:

What did the school cool-guy/bully say to the school geek when they met 20 years later? 'Do you want chips with that, sir?'