Alright,I MAY Be over reacting here but tell me what you guys think of this.

 

This is a picture from my fb feed from a guy I knew during highschool. I assume that's his daughter. It's a pretty cute picture, but the one thing that really bugged me was the caption, "Getting ready for nerd day at school."

Don't get me wrong, I had days in  elementary school where I got to dress up too. Career day. Dress like a president day, pioneer day, dress like a greek day, etc etc.

The only thing that really bugs me is that the school is taking a group of people,nerds,  who often get bullied enough and making a day out of poking fun at them. I don't know, I just feel it's really inappropriate.

I feel if you're going to dress up at school for fun make it educational, don't single out a stereotype and have everyone make fun of it.
Don't encourage bullying because others are different.

Kids are mean, especially when people are different.

I'd LOVE to get Siren's opinion on this, since I believe one of her sounds is near ish this age.

Pretty wrong if you ask me. I can't say I know what kids are doing now, but it doesn't seem like a bright idea either way.

I didn't think so. How slim are the odds that they don't have a classmate who has broken glasses already, not because he's dressing up for nerd day because he just can't down right afford new glasses?
 

I have a couple friends who teach this age group. Here is one of their responses.

"Wow that is really unheard of. For the exact reasons you mentioned.
Besides being smart isn't something to "have fun" with basically turning
into making fun of it like you wouldn't want to be smart everyday.
That's just stupid. Is he here in AZ ?"

Thats exactly what one of my daughters friends looks like daily and trust me she gets made fun of badly. Sweet kid...polite..funny...smart as hell. I keep tellin her Zoe dont let em bug ya...just give em bathroom cleaning duty when your CEO.

Yeah, that's a little fucked up. 

 

I was a nerd in high school (and I guess now too lol). You shouldn't be advocating stereotyping a certain group of kids. 

Exactly. I guess it's "Read across america day" so they dress up like nerds? So reading makes you a nerd? Shouldn't they have dressed up as characters from a book?

hahahaha what?! Read across America now equated to dressing like a nerd. I wonder who planned this day for that school. 

 

Book characters would be a really good idea. But how many kids actually read for leisure now? Most kids (from my school anyway) only "read" necessary assignment books. 

 

I use "read" lightly because they mostly just sparknoted it anyway. 

Well it's elementary school so I guess some probably read for fun

So we now teach stereotypes in school?

I've worn glasses since about third grade. Kids used to make fun of my glasses (I had some fantastic coke bottles) until I started saying they were just jealous, because they were the most rad purple and pink. If they continued, then I socked them in the face.

 

Having educators help enforce making fun of kids with glasses or otherwise doesn't really help, but in reality, just look at cartoons - new and old - and whatnot. It's a pretty common stereotype. I sadly don't think it's changing anytime soon.

Right, but I don't think it's cool for a school to teach stereotypes are funny. Odds are at least one kid looks like that on a daily basis. So reading makes you nerdy? Shouldn't they celebrate being smart,and that it's something GOOD?

On the plus side, there is a current trend of "nerds" and "geeks" being cool. Maybe it'll be a good thing? Honestly, while the educators should not be encouraging this, it's also just as much on the parents to not dress their kids up for the day either.

There's not enough context for me to get upset about. If I did get upset and then found out they were doing this to bring awareness to bullying or teaching what it's like to live in another's shoes, I would have just jumped to conclusions.

 

By Googling nerd day, it appears to be happening all over the United States. Here's a blurb from one school.

 

What do famous folks such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and
Thomas Edison all have in common?  They have changed our world and all
have been called "nerds"

 

The world needs more nerds. Nerds, you know, create more jobs and
advance science.  The student council has chosen to celebrate coming
back-to-school by dressing up as "nerds" on Friday, September 21st.

http://mtloafer.nebo.edu/news/back-school-student-council-spiritnerd-day

Still don't think labeling them as nerds is appropriate.

There's not enough context for me to get upset about. If I did get upset and then found out they were doing this to bring awareness to bullying or teaching what it's like to live in another's shoes, I would have just jumped to conclusions.

 

By Googling nerd day, it appears to be happening all over the United States. Here's a blurb from one school.

 

What do famous folks such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and

Thomas Edison all have in common?  They have changed our world and all

have been called "nerds"

 

The world needs more nerds. Nerds, you know, create more jobs and

advance science.  The student council has chosen to celebrate coming

back-to-school by dressing up as "nerds" on Friday, September 21st.

http://mtloafer.nebo.edu/news/back-school-student-council-spiritnerd-day

Ok, that's kind of neat in a way. 

I think whomever wrote it, though, needs to check their facts. I honestly doubt Thomas Edison was called a nerd.

I think whomever wrote it, though, needs to check their facts. I honestly doubt Thomas Edison was called a nerd.

Relevant:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

Love The Oatmeal and Tesla.