'The Smart Kid' | Oskar Newell | TEDxRossall School
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFMFlevL2is Video ID: PFMFlevL2is ============================================================ [applause] nerd, geek, the smart kid. There they are. That one with the glasses sitting at the front of the class. They're the type of person who finishes the test first every time and has a better relationship with their calculator than with some of their classmates. They have no charisma, no social life, no up-to-date technology, and no skill in sports. At least that's how other people see them. Is that really all there is to a smart kid? Or underneath that, are they just normal children like everyone else? At any school, any class, there are a few main classifications of students. There's the sporty ones, the performers, class clowns, and the smart kids. This is important. If everyone was the same or good at the same things, it would just be boring, really. They each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Like the stereotypical sports players tend to be shown as fairly popular but less good academically. The class clown as good at making people laugh but not much else. And the smark is also popular to sit next to in a test. True, they do have friends but not as many as some of the others in the class. And some of them maybe just want to sit next to them for that test. I mean probably not all of them. The media give us several examples of the smart one in a group. Think Kowalsski from Madagascar, Hermione from Harry Potter, and they tend to be quite similar. They normally have glasses, can't function outside the group, overthink everything, and either talk way too much or way too little. And obviously, this isn't always the case with these, especially the glasses part. But nine times out of 10, that's the way you'll see them. Even if neither of my examples have glasses because one's a penguin and the other one's from Harry Potter and only one main character in that can wear glasses. The point is sometimes they're not even a relatable even a likable character and sometimes that part gets taken to the extreme. They might be called know at alls or tryards mocked for putting themselves out there like that. In short, it just isn't cool to be smart when you're young. One word pops up quite frequently when talking about the smart kid and you've probably all heard it. I mean, you've definitely all heard it because I open the speech with it. Nerd. The word brings with it an array of images, an emoji, even its own catchphrase. But originally, it had nothing to do with any of this. It was actually created by Dr. Seuss as a name for a creature which appeared once on one page of one book. Somebody must have taken inspiration from the creature's appearance to start using the word in its much more common context today. And I'm not entirely sure how though because the creature didn't do anything and the word was just mentioned next to his picture. By now you're probably starting to wonder why am I talking about this? Either that or you've managed to figure it out already. The reason is I am a total nerd. Glasses, check. Lack of sporting prowess, check. The smart one in the class, check. And that's just how people see me, the nerd. As far as some are concerned, I have no friends, no life, and may as well be living in the 1800s with the technology I have. If that part is a tiny bit true, you're listening to the proud owner of a Nokia. Yes, the one with buttons and snake. Yes, you do have to press it three times to get certain letters. Yes, I am going to go back to the point now. The point is to some people I'm effectively an answer sheet for a test or shouting material during a football game. I have that label so that's what they see. Important information. Labels are dangerous. No, not the kind you snip off your clothes. I talk about the labels that people apply to you. They could be based on a reputation, what event, even just who you are. label only shows that one aspect, one idea. And so people who won't look beyond that only see that one aspect. They don't see the layers that make up a person. A label is not the person underneath it. Labels are literally labels. They attach themselves to the outside of a person without ever bothering to consider the true depth of the person underneath. The worst part is once label gets applied to you, it can take a lot to change or get rid of it. But it isn't the label of a nerd itself that's a problem. It's the way people react to it. The traditional assumption is that the nerd is weird, socially awkward, and impossible to have a meaningful conversation with before it laps into either a monologue or the effect of talking to a wall. And admittedly, I am a bit awkward sometimes, but in no way am I that awkward. But that aside, most people won't look beyond that traditional assumption and won't even bother trying to make friends with them or get to know them. And so they stick to that assumption that the supposedly weird classmates will only make friends with other weird people. As you can imagine, this leads to some issues. For example, they'll assume that the nerd's friends are weird themselves, which could make people want to stay away from them. Now I've said all this, you probably think I have to struggle with this 24/7. That's not quite true though. I have made friends. I can carry on a conversation. Some people still don't think so, but I can. And true, I may get called a nerd a lot, but I've learned to embrace that side of me sometimes. Laugh along with the jokes, sometimes make some my own, even just bring it up occasionally. I don't even take as an insult anymore. And that's coming from somebody who does take things a little bit too personally sometimes. The point is, I've learned to see past the label of myself and so are my friends. But as a thing, there's always a few people who just won't. One final thing to mention though, the nerd's not so different from anyone else. They just apply themselves slightly differently. Think about this. They, the sports player and the musician, they're all affected the same. They just put more into and get more out of different things and they each get different things out of it as well. Be that knowledge, fitness, a skill. Everyone has something like that, a passion or a hobby. But this does beg the question, why would something like this be talked down? Why is trying hard and knowing things a bad thing? There's no harm in just letting it all show through. Be yourself even if you don't feel confident. Embrace the person inside. Celebrate them for everything they are. So that's my opinion on being the smart kid. All in all, it's not that bad, especially when you think about the end of term grade card. Seriously, it's worth it. And I know it didn't really sound like it earlier, but a label can be changed if you put your mind to it. And labels become less and less important the older you get anyway. All you have to do is just show people who you really are. And that's even those people I mentioned back at the beginning, the ones who want to copy a test, they just want to be that little bit more like you. And that's really all there is to it. See, I told you it wasn't all bad. Thank you. [applause]