Jaclyn Wu

A
The teacher begins handing back tests, which are met with a variety of responses. One girls eyes widen almost imperceptibly and with a slight groan, she flips the page upside down, the front hidden from view. Wow, I failed that one, she laments. The boy in front of her turns around. Yeah, me too. Whatd you get? 85. A commiserating nod. Same. For a brief moment, they wallow in this shared failure, but with a quick calculation to past test grades, weeks left in the semester, and relative point value, the test is soon out of their thoughts. True story. Welcome to Topics. According to the BHS Program of Studies, the class is called Advanced Math Topics, prerequisite: completion of AP Calculus BC. Translation: more math than the average person will ever need to know. If you wanted to find one of the so-called nerdiest groups in the school, thatd likely be one of your best bets. The average GPA in is higher than is probably healthy, with over half of the class on the top 5% wall. When you get Bs, youre not doing well. We are the elusive species that lives in the library and never sees the light of day beyond what filters through the stacks of books piled high in front of us. Well, not really. The running joke at my lunch table goes a little something like that, that my home is the library, but I could probably count on my fingers the number of times Ive been in the library on my own. The nerd and smart kid image is definitely inflated beyond the truth. Yes, we know and get a kick out of random physics, biology, and calculus pick-up lines and yes, there are the few who have extra math textbooks just for the sake of math. But the vast majority

of us do not switch out batteries in each others TI-84s and 89s for fun. (Thats not until UChicago.) Perhaps one of the most entertaining aspects about falling into this stereotype is the assumptions people make. In an Algebra I-C class that I student-taught for two weeks, the best questions from the students werent related to topics like slope-intercept form. What did your parents feed you? one kid wonders. So you guys are, like, really smart? Another student offers, When you were little, did your parents let you have friends? If this is being assumed by freshman year, then its no surprise by senior year were supposedly living in the library. But the kids in topics are among the most active kids out there: swimmers, runners, dancers, musicians, soccer and football players the list goes on. A large part about being nerdy or smartsy isnt about hours and hours of books and homework. Its about learning to be good at the game of school, because thats really all it is. Id say most of us like to consider ourselves strategic slackers. Youd be surprised at some of the actual amounts of studying that happens and Id say just about everyone has walked into tests before. Walking into a test while keeping that 4.0 (or 4.4+) is knowing ones own strengths and weaknesses, which of the homework problems to actually do, and test-taking strategies. Otherwise, theres simply no other way to fit everything in and still do other things because yes, we do like to get out. And when that happens, I think most of us nerds blend in well. The typical image of big framed and taped glasses and shirts tucked into high-waisted pants is something you never see anymore. Why, glasses can even be fashionable now. And while I cant speak for everyone, Id wager to say we dont really want to stick out as the know-it-alls. We dont derive pleasure from raising our hand first and getting the answer right. During group work, you dont want to be identified as the kid who gets assigned the hardest or most annoying parts to do because the group knows youre the smart kid. If were working on a reading or worksheet in class, I

purposefully dont answer all the questions first because lets be honest; after about three questions, that just gets awkward and youre basically on your own in the group at that point. That isnt to say that in certain classes, usually APs, there isnt a good level of competition. Truth: we always want to know what everyone else got on the test. Even among us, we know the curve-setters and its always a good moment to score higher than they do. Its almost a challenge, to beat so-and-so on a test. Yes, theres a time period in the first few years of high school when grades have an over-inflated meaning and importance for many of us (case in point: the intro conversation) but it does pass and like anyone else, we move on. Were fourthquarter seniors too. And Id almost argue to say that we have even less motivation because most AP classes work entirely to prep for the exam and once thats over, its a free for all. Mr. Lane, the topics teacher, has been attempting to get us to learn and do homework for the last two weeks to absolutely no avail. We might be in some of the highest level classes offered at BHS but I have been watching movies in at least half of my classes for the past week. Dont tell. I suppose the nerd stereotype, like any, will persist as long as there are a handful of people that come close enough to fitting it. As if stereotypes have ever needed valid backing to exist. Im sure that there are people reading this now that still arent convinced Im not going to go home and study. But I think most of us kind of like being nerds. Someone in the senior lounge the other day made a comment about E-team kids, a label that goes back to middle school, and any image held over so many years definitely becomes part of your identity. And you know what? Im sure sooner or later itll help that I know what a parallelepiped is.