Quick! Bully him, he's smart!

[Owyn_Merrilin]

During elementary this can be pretty minimal and not too significant but still enough to be an issue. Around Middle School, kids tend to get a bit more vicious, don't give a fuck about anything, just want to be irritating. Now High school is truly the game changer. People are maturing, forgetting about past prejudices because they have their own shit to worry about. You have to go out of your way to truly get people to mess with you. If you have a past in any of these scenarios, than that will determine how people react.

This is so true; about the only thing I'd change is that kids can be vicious in elementary school, too; in middle school, they're downright inhuman.

Speaking for myself (but I imagine also a fair few people out there) I often tried to diffuse a difficult situation with words or didn't react because I was genuinely afraid of the consequences of any violence (i.e. suspension/ expulsion - things most bullies don't seem to care about, not the actual violence itself) when in reality, the 'best' option would have been to instantly rise to their challenge, not back down. It's just that I couldn't not think ahead. (if that makes any sense)

This was my problem too. At the middle school I went to (and that's where the physical bullying happened, so it's relevant) the administrators seemed to revel in making examples out of kids they caught fighting. It didn't matter who started it or whether it was in self defense, if you got caught fighting someone, you got in serious trouble. To make it worse, a kid could easily be able to point fingers to who was doing the bullying, but since the bullies were smart enough not to leave any witnesses (or, at the very least, to make sure all witnesses were their cronies) the school did very little to curb the real problem, which was not fist fights. What's worse, in American middle schools, they have 12 year old kids in the same school, riding the same buses, as 16 year old idiots who are just passing the time until they can finally drop out. I don't care how much you try, there's no fighting back against that. High school was wonderful, because by then almost all of the bullies had dropped out of school, and the few that didn't wound up being social pariahs, since nobody wanted to put up with their crap anymore -- but middle school was hell.

As for the OP's question, it's a combination of difference and poor social skills. If a kid is in some way different from the rest of the herd, they're a target. If a child has poor social skills, ditto. The problem is, constant bullying leads to terrible social skills, since the bully-ee never really gets a chance to exercise his or her social skills, and if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em (or never develop them in the first place.) Basically, getting bullied begets getting bullied worse.

 

[Tennou486]

My bullying experience was pretty much only limited to P.E. when I was in high school. By that time most of my misery came with not wanting to do any of the damn homework.

In middle school and grade school though, I was picked on constantly. For just about every reason they could think of. It varied depending on the class. If I wasn't skilled in one class: picked on. Too skilled in another: picked on. Not athletic or fit enough: picked on. Too athletic (I could do martial arts): picked on. So yeah, I've seen it all in terms of bullying. I even have a scar above my right eye from when one kid came at me with scissors for one of the aforementioned reasons.

But back to the question: people will pick o anyone for any reason. Because it makes them feel better about themselves.

 

[TurboPanda]

It doesn't help that teenage culture is based around doing the opposite of what society wants you to do. Despite being bombarded by leaflets, programmes, outside speakers etc about the dangers of smoking, alcohol, underage/unprotected sex, drugs and even eating too much junk food teenagers still do all of these things regardless of the consequences. Smart kids on average are well behaved and are less likely to rebel so they're looked down on by everyone else for being boring. (when actually they're just using common sense).

 

[Rin Little]

I never personally got bullied and by the time I got to middle school I was the one who was always defending friends against bullies and other idiots. Mostly from what I saw, the people who picked on others were the ones who had no self-esteem and needed something to feel good about so they picked on those who were easy targets and unfortunately a lot of those people were the smarter kids who were a bit more reclusive like myself. Main difference was that people started being afraid of me cuz I never took crap from anyone.

 

[Acier]

The universe's way of balancing IRL. The intelligent were OP, so God Nerfed us.

Um, Athiests are smart and get picked on too? Dunno why god needs to be a part of this but whatever.

I can't believe someone even made this comment.


as for the OP, smarts have nothing to do with it. The biggest drawback to being smart if that some jerks want to take advantage of you academically. Because of this I was incredibly shy about my academic performance. I've been bullied extensively, and I can assure you. The bullies are different than the people who just want to copy you.It's just some that kids are socially inept/advanced, and they are the targets of bullying.

 

[justnotcricket]

In my experience it boils down to one of two things:

1) The 'smart' kid is:

a) utterly obnoxious about his/her abilities,
b) a goody-two-shoes/nark/blatant teachers' pet
c) some toxic combination of the above

and the less academically able kids respond by trying to 'take them down a peg'.

2) The 'smart' kid is just trying to live their life, and other kids are being kids, and therefore having a go at anyone who is 'different' for any reason.

I was a 'smart' kid at school. I survived quite well by trying to be a nice person, and using my abilities to help other people. It helps that I love teaching/tutoring. I was also fortunate that I was part of a cohort of kids moving through the local school system who were, by and large, a pretty decent bunch. Other 'years' suffered much more than ours. I had my share of discrimination, but it was mostly of the quiet, shunning kind, rather than the fisticuffs kind.

There was a boy in our year who did get bullied mercilessly though. He fitted squarely into the first category I mentioned. Literally, he could not get out of his own road. I'm not saying the bullies should have behaved as they did, but damn, if he didn't provoke them!

 

[Ironsouled]

Hmm...
I'm an American, nerdy enough to deeply relish Lovecraft and Tabletops, was in choir, and I've never had a problem with bullying. I was quicker than some, sure, but that just meant I helped them if they were stuck.

I've noticed that the people most often picked on weren't necessarily smart, they were just people who liked to use what brains they had to belittle their classmates with recondite verbage and pedantic mannerisms. Granted, is this always true? Probably not, but I haven't seen someone bullied for no other reason than being of above average intellect.

 

[ShakyFt Slasher]

One word: Insecurity. Bullies bully because they know the smart kids are more useful than them. They want to lower them by physical or emotional domination.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I guess it's the stereotype that the kids with the smarts won't fight back, and it's someone people dislike because they may be jealous.

Gah, that hurt my mind to think. Don't ask me again or I'll beat you up and take your lunch money.

 

[Xanadu84]

British imperialism.

No, seriously!

Check out "American Nerd: The Story of my People" by Benjamin Nugent. It details how basically, in order to keep a rapidly expanding empire, the Brits started the idea of, "Muscular Christianity", a religious infused sense of spirituality and athleticism, in order to breed strong soldiers willing to fight for God and country. It got imported over to the Americas by an admiring and "robust" Teddy Roosevelt, who introduced sports heavily into the school curriculum for character building, strong soldiers, and religious values. In time, strong arms were less important to warfare then able minds, but the need for athleticism never completely dissipated, and the tradition had caught on. The jocks were the most accepted and appreciated social group, and the sudden need for the nerdy skills ended up breeding resentment. And so, the backlash against the smart kid.

Seriously, it's a really fascinating book, detailing quite an extensive history of geekdom. And it's written by an actual geek, so it doesn't feel awkward and embarrassing to read.

 

[A Shadows Age]

Because we are different, if you don't understand this answer or disagree with it you probably think it refers specifically to you and it doesn't... Simply goes like this: nerd bullies idiot, idiot then associates people who act like this person as the same as this person and proceeds to retaliate. The person he retaliates against probably doesn't understand why he is being "picked" on and from that point forward retaliates in his own way against people he thinks are the same as this idiot.

Doesn't have to be in that order or related to intelligence. The key is often in the number of differences vs. things in common, people will do this in regards to hair shape or color for gods sake. I have been given shit for being an idiot, for being intelligent, for liking sports or outdoor activities, for not conforming, for being a member of the status quo, for being affable, for being intolerable, for being talkative, for being quiet, for helping animals, for not helping animals, for believing in god, for not believing in religion, ect. ect. ect. And have given it all back too.

Just calm down and realize it's the same for everyone is about all I can say. It's like a fucking pinball machine of action and reaction, newtons laws might as well be describing people for all of the similarities.

 

[zarguhl]

It does happen, but I don't think it's as prevalent as people claim.

I spent all my primary school years and most of my secondary school years thinking I was being bullied for being smarter than everyone else.

Looking back though, I also happened to be a douchebag.

Maybe if I were just smarter there would have been a couple of annoying kids, but being a douchebag is what caused the real problems. And of course teachers, school counsel, etc. were all telling me it's everyone else's fault. Poor me, I'm just a victim of the other kids and I just need to accept that's how people act when someone is different, blah, blah, blah.

What I really needed is someone saying "Hey, maybe if you stop being an arrogant, condescending douchebag to every kid you talk to, they might not dislike you so much."

 

[Tdc2182]

I've never seen a kid get picked on purely based on the fact that he was smart.

Usually, along with being smart, they are very socially awkward.

Hell, a few of the "bullies" at my school were straight A students.

 

[poppabaggins]

http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

<--That about sums up my feelings on the matter (nerds have better things to do than try to be popular).

I graduated 9th of > 360 in my high school class, but I never got picked on for being smart. Quite the contrary, I floated around a bunch of social groups and knew a bunch of people, largely due to the friends I had coming in to high school, even though I primarily hung out with the nerdy crowd.

No, the kids who were shunned and derided were the ones who were asses about how smart they were, even though they weren't actually all that smart.

 

[zarguhl]

No, the kids who were shunned and derided were the ones who were asses about how smart they were, even though they weren't actually all that smart.

Exactly.

 

[Fishdog52]

Ironically, I took geometry at the high school while in middle school and had to be short bussed back daily because I was more advanced. Not once was I picked on then.

As soon as I was a student there, it was hell. Never was too sure what happened.

 

[Pibb Omega]

Kids are bastards sometimes. If you weren't good at those subjects they would make fun of you for something else. I for one got made fun fun of for being fat and that happened until middle school.

Okay, to really your question its probably because they felt threatened because you were better at it than they were.

 

[Moraki]

i don't get why UK US schools have this problem herein kuwait for me has happed only once and ended after 5 min after smacking him upside the head but as i can see here they just get tesed or annoyed but not bullyed maybe becase of envy probebly

 

[mornal]

I don't know about everyone else but I had a very different experience, I was a very quiet smart kid in high school and I was one of the more popular kids for reasons I can't fathom. What would happen is that every class I took I would start out as the quiet kid and in two weeks I was one of the most popular kids in the class that everyone wanted to talk to. The thing was while I was quiet I just never started conversations but I am very talkative once I get started and I believe that's what everyone wanted that and I was very generous with helping everyone in class.

Are you me? That's a fairly accurate description of my high school career.

I was never physically bullied or teased/picked on (at least to my face) for being smart. It also probably helped that I took classes that only the smart people took and that I was always willing to help people. I also did most of the work in group projects because it was easier than getting other people to do what needed to be done.