Nerd Stigma

Another major problem with education in the US is that though who are gifted are often treated as freaks. In schools, they are teased and often bullied. In the workplace, they are often ignored as distasteful things that are only there because the company cannot get by without them. Businesses that cannot afford to staff people like this often treat them like demi-gods when they are contracted to fix a problem. In short, people who are very good at one or more technical subject are often marginalized and treated as people with abilities that are unattainable by "normal" people. I believe that this is a self perpetuating problem.

I believe that most people who are not extremely intelligent are that way because they choose to be. I will admit that some people really do have "super natural" talent. I don't think that most people fit into this category, even to include many engineers, computer techs, and scientists. Many people who appear to have unnatural talent in a subject started studying that subject when they were very young (10 year old or younger). It is entirely natural to be extremely good at a subject that you have spent 10 years studying. Most people can become experts in a subject with only 5 years of dedicated study, so it should be obvious that a person who started computer programming at 12 years old and studied and practiced it regularly for 10 years will be extremely good at it at 22 years old, and even better at 30 years old (ok, I am not quite 30 yet, but you get the point). This is not "gifted", this is being interested in a subject, having the resources to study it, and choosing to study it regularly for a long period of time. (I am not saying that I am not gifted, but that being extremely good at a single subject after 10 years of dedicated study is not at all unusual.)

I have watched other people learning the same subjects as I am. Those who do poorly do not seem to be naturally bad at the subject. They do seem to believe that they are poor at the subject and thus spend less effort on that subject. Other students spend all sorts of effort on subjects they believe they are poor at and still do poorly. Observing these people, I often notice that they unintentionally do things that make their work more difficult. When a person believes that a problem is going to be extremely difficult, they often unconsciously choose the most difficult solution. Then they often fail because of the difficulty of the solution. If these people, instead of fearing the problem, stopped and looked for the easiest solution, they would have a much easier time, and might even find that they enjoy the work.

This leads to problem solving, which I will cover in more depth later. In short, problem solving is an extremely important skill in education and especially in any kind of technical work. People who do not develop this skill, cannot work effectively in jobs where they are required to make their own decisions.

A great example of problem solving skills is how I do complex math in my head. My wife recently asked what 2.5 times 60 is. Instead of trying to do that problem in my head, I multiplied the 2.5 by 2, to get 5, a whole number which is much easier to work with in my head than a decimal number. Then I divided the 60 by 2 (to make up for multiplying the 2.5 by 2) to get 30. Then, I had 5 times 30. This problem is very simple. I easily multiplied the 5 by the 3, getting 15, then added the 0 from the 30 back on to get 150. This might seem like it is more complicated, but I know very well what kind of math my head can handle better and very quickly converted the numbers to fit that. The result is that I was able to quickly multiply two numbers that normally seem like a more complex problem, by reducing the problem to something simple. This is good problem solving skills. Of course, this example is very simple when compared to common problems found in programming or engineering, but without this basic skill, people will end up stuck in fast food or cashiering jobs for the rest of their lives. People without good problem solving skills will not be among those to improve society. They will probably spend most of their lives being a burden to others.

One solution I have to this is to try to get rid of this stigma that being smart carries. If being smart was seen as a generally desirable thing, more people would choose to be smart. The US government has, in the past, run campaigns to encourage people to think or act differently. These campaigns encourage good behavior by making it appear honorable or something of value. I think our government should run a campaign encouraging people to learn new things and to pick up hobbies that are productive and useful. This might include encouraging people to join the hoard of people doing amateur science in their back yards (mostly astronomy), it might encourage people to pick up skills like basic programming or web design, or blacksmithing. Many people in the US are currently un, or under employed. These people should be encouraged to use the extra time this provides to learn useful skills that may or may not be useful at a regular job. Besides helping the general advancement of science and technology in the US and the world, this will also encourage people to gain skills that they may eventually use to create their own small business, potentially creating new jobs (well, at least one). Long ago, people that owned their own business were honored, while people that worked for others were seen as low class grunt laborers. This attitude encouraged people to gain useful skills that they could use to support themselves regardless of how large businesses were doing. I think this would be very beneficial in our country, given the current economic situation. Anyhow, I think that our government could have spent the money used for the various bailouts much more effectively encouraging the people of the United States to start picking up useful, productive hobbies. If nothing else, they could have ran a campaign to bring more honor to being a nerd, to make people have less fear of being seen as smart.

Lord Rybec