Should schools fail students based on their popularity rather than grades?

[eternus]

Based on real world value, I'd say so. Because it's the popular kids that know how to "network" and follow fads, trends, celebrities, etc. What kind of person do you think invented Facebook, Twitter, smartphones, Web 2.0, etc? It's not the stereotypical computer geek, which seems like an outdated 90s stereotype these days, but someone who knows that Paris Hilton can't type more than 140 characters per post. I'm not saying it's the right thing to do. In fact it may award bullies. But based purely on employability, bullies are good because have the mentality of aggressively making money and destroying corporate competitors. Also, unpopular kids that do not have friends and never dated are more likely to be depressed. All those A's I got in school are useless. But a straight D student is more confident than me and more likely to get a job, because getting one is just one goal compared to having friends to lean on, getting married, starting a family, etc., goals that he can easily accomplish.
I'm that unpopular kid, if I didn't make it clear. And I know I'm pathetic, you don't need to tell me.
mooka - I have one of the degrees on that list. It's great you are smart AND popular. What I'm saying is that uber-unsocial people like me have trouble.

[...]

u have a pathetic view of life.. man

[theda]

Untrue. The most popular kids at my high school end up staying in my town their whole lives working low-wage jobs; the smartest/least popular get the hell out of there and are generally successful.

[Alison]

what the hell is wrong with you?
you should probably rethink a lot of things if this is how you really feel...

[Nicholas]

Uhmm, you sir are an idiot. Do you realize how many things were invented by "geeks"? If it weren't for Bill Gates you probably wouldn't have half the electronic shit you have now. Iam pretty sure he wasn't popular in high school. And on top of that, a bully or some popular kid doesn't have the drive or determination to make a legitimate career without "geeks". They thrive on the weak to survive, for without them they would be nothing. They only live off their parents success in high school. And that wont matter anymore in the real world.

[Snippeh]

Considering that most of the 'popular' girls from my high school are now pregnant and on the dole I would have to say no.

There is no empirical evidence to support your claims.

[Marlene B]

I totally disagree. I actually think it's the other way around. I've noticed that the people who were popular in high school are either pregnant, still flipping burgers/ working at Walmart, or still stuck in community college and have no idea what they want to do. (F.Y.I. I graduated in 2007). The unpopular people are ready to graduate with their bachelors degrees or have great jobs or internships.

[Sarah T]

who are you? the kids that make it in the world are the ones who equally balance 'networking' and all those other things with building the knowledge they need to make a good career. if kids were simply graded on popularity, this would would be a sh*thole. you need people with the brains and the know-how in order for society to be functional. popularity is not indicative of brains or know how. it's only indicative of an ability to be the media's puppet. so I have to respectfully disagree with you... plus.... this isn't really a question...

[mooka]

I think the people who built the smartphones are Computer Science majors who likely got straight A's in high school and then got into really good engineering schools and did well there too. Real world value depends on the job in question. For a marketing job, the real world value of popularity might be more valuable than grades. However, when it comes to designing your car, or airplane, or house, wouldn't you rather have someone do that who got really good grades and knows all about mathematics and science, than someone who has a lot of friends. This is how the world works, and why eight of the top ten highest paying starting salaries go to engineers. Intelligence is much more valuable than popularity in the scheme of things. Sure there may be a few celebraties who make money off being popular but factor in the salaries of all the scientists, doctors, and engineers, and way more money is going towards intelligence than popularity.

[K]

ROFL!!!!

Honey, the founder of Facebook started programming when he was in middle school. In high school, he excelled in the classics, immersed himself in Latin. He also built a program to help the workers in his father's office communicate; he built a version of the game Risk and a music player named Synapse that used artificial intelligence to learn the user's listening habits. Microsoft and AOL tried to purchase Synapse and recruit him, but he decided to attend Harvard University instead. In college, he was known for reciting lines from epic poems such as The Iliad.

That's no bully, that's a gold-plated nerd!

Socialites invented smartphones? They came out at COMDEX in 1992 for Pete's sake! Remember the old PDAs, like the Apple Newton and the HandSpring, the PalmPilot? Those were hardly fashionable, let me tell you!

I'm thirty-aught years old, and from what I can see, most of the bullies and popular folks hit their prime very early in life and have been on a steady downhill slide since. They tend to stay in their hometowns after graduation and fall into a routine and stay stuck. My spouse had a cousin who was all that and a bag of chips...Mr. Popularity, Mr. Quarterback, Mr. Prom King. The fool jumped out of a moving truck and splattered himself across the highway one late drunken Friday night, dead before he reached 25.

The people who seem to do the best are not the A students with no friends, nor are they the uber-popular cheerleader types with no brains but huge boobs. They're people who have a lot from each camp...they've GOT to have brains, and they have to be open to other people.

Based on pure employability, the bullies might make good lawyers, but certainly not sales guys, certainly not marketing guys, certainly not someone you'd have interfacing with the public. Good bail bondsmen. Good bounty hunters. Even successful, evil cops. Terrible at negotiation, partnership and collaboration, which are WAY high on the job market list of needs and wants. (And those are good marriage qualities, too. Ever want to know who the bitter, single guys at the bar happen to be? Yeah, those guys.)

All those As you got in school ARE useless. Totally. Always were. Isn't that sad? You were being trained to seek self-approval from outside sources. You're still looking at things that way. Popularity is mob rule.

Should schools reward students based on their acceptance of conformity?

They already do.

But thankfully, real life doesn't bear any resemblance to school life. So all that "proper" training leaves an awful lot of confused kids in its wake.