Posts by Bryan Jackson98

You’ve all drifted completely off course here, and it isn't really about who's the smartest person in the room; just go back and give the original post another read.

hiddenhawk3 said:The hardest one is probably specialized STEM academies, ☕, where all the smart kids end up.

I can't tell if this was meant to be sarcastic, but I'm actually headed to the STEM track myself.

Thomas Wilson4 said:So, I finished high school too. Every time someone asks what kind of school I went to and I say "traditional prep school," they always give me that look, like "ohhh, a 😁 type." It’s the same story at the train station—I was lugging around my backpack, met this guy, and when he asked where I studied and I told him it was a classic prep academy, he just goes, "Whoa, so you're one of those smart ones..."

Honestly, that was basically my entire four-year experience. Same deal in college during freshman year, too... professors would constantly grill us about which high schools we came from. You could actually see the difference in how they treated us; they definitely had a different vibe for the kids coming out of the prep schools. 🤷

At least someone here gets it, even if it's just a small consolation.

Brenda Booth5 said:A plumber pulls up in his Ford—or maybe a Mercedes, if you want to get fancy—and rings the bell. The homeowner answers, glasses perched on his nose, clutching a book, with a whole stack of literature scattered across his desk. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, there’s a pipe hissing away and a literal flood on the floor.
Within an hour, they've got it all sorted out: the leak is plugged, and the plumber's daughter is set to get some tutoring sessions.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but looking back, everything eventually settles into place... It's all relative, really. All that talk about high school kids being a "superior class"... honestly, it's just prejudice and a total waste of energy.

Whether they're headed for prep school or trade school, these kids are going to grow up to be serious adults... and perhaps even future business partners one day.

Just my two cents from the perspective of an old man...

I appreciate you mentioning your age, because everyone chiming in here is viewing things through the lens of who they are today, whereas I'm interested in how my generation sees it; I know firsthand that the pieces eventually fall into place.

They don't bother hanging out with high schoolers because they label us all as "nerds," mostly because they’re too afraid to actually face the reality of what goes on in those hallways. Sure, there are plenty of idiots who just memorize everything to get by, but there are also genuine geniuses in the mix—people they refuse to acknowledge because it’s apparently beneath them to strike up a conversation with someone from a prep school and actually engage their brains. I have friends from vocational schools who are incredibly sharp, yet most people won't even give them a chance. To be clear, I'm not saying high school is superior, but this whole dynamic likely stems from middle school dynamics; when kids pass eighth grade with top marks and head to an elite academy, they get branded as the "smart ones," creating this immediate prejudice that everyone there is a scholar. Anyone knows you can cruise through middle school with straight As without ever opening a book. It feels like a certain level of immaturity, if you want to call it that. For most of them, the priority is just where they're going to grab drinks after class—it's become this pervasive trend where social status is measured by how much you can drink, which is fundamentally broken. If you try to point out how hollow that is, they just dismiss you as some bookworm who doesn't know how to live, when in reality, they don't have a clue what the actual high school scene looks like; they’re just clinging to a preconceived vision instead of actually experiencing it.

hiddenhawk3 said:I don't really get the point of this thread, other than the author trying to flex their intellect 🤷

You really have to live through it to grasp the dynamic. People who went to prep school tend to view them as nothing more than straight-A nerds, instantly placing them a notch lower on the social ladder.

Patrick King7 said:They won't bother because they know you're talking nonsense. And it happens because they know you're talking nonsense, so they don't give any weight to what you say.

My point was that I have the capacity to manipulate people if I felt like it; essentially, if I chose to, I could talk anyone into believing a lie.

Daniel Moore3 said:I’ve gotta admit, I spent my entire high school years under this massive delusion that prep school kids were basically gods.
I didn't hang out with much of anyone back then, so I had no clue what the actual vibe was like on the ground.

Then I finally hit college and realized they’re just regular people—flawed, messy, and totally unremarkable. 😁
Sure, there are always outliers. You'll find geniuses in both elite private academies and local trade schools, but generally speaking, being a "prep kid" isn't some magical status worth worshiping.

If someone is a complete jerk, they're going to be a jerk whether they graduated from an Ivy League feeder school or a vocational program. 😬

That’s exactly the point; I never claimed we actually were superior, just that everyone acts as if we are.
I'm not sure if I've made myself clear, but I am talking about this specific phenomenon among my own age group—those typical fifteen to nineteen-year-olds—not the older crowd.
The way you all are commenting suggests you're looking at this from an adult perspective, and since most of you seem quite a bit older than me, it feels less like you're seeing through the lens of a teenager and more like you're judging from the outside. I realize you've lived through enough to know better, and I know it too—there are plenty of brilliant kids in regular public schools who don't buy into this nonsense. The idea that prep school is some insurmountable academic mountain is largely a myth; you can breeze through it without much effort, yet the whole thing is packaged to create this aura of prestige, leaving everyone else to believe it's harder than it is simply because they follow the hearsay instead of looking at the reality.

vividmarlin11 said:I have no idea what kind of social circles you’ve been running in to feel that way. In all my years going through high school—and I’ve moved in plenty of different groups—I never once met someone suffering from an inferiority complex just because of where they went to school.

And let’s be real: prep schools aren't exactly breeding grounds for geniuses. Honestly, where you spent your teenage years says absolutely nothing about your brainpower.

To be blunt, I think you’re overthinking this. Maybe the issue is actually you? You sound pretty green. You might want to take a hard look at this supposed "intellectual superiority" you claim to have over vocational students. 😁

Or is it just the rural parts of the Midwest?

Jeffrey Hill39 said:It really all boils down to the individual... at the end of the day, someone who lacks sense will still lack it, regardless of what kind of degree they're holding. I was actually chatting with a guy the other day—he works a pretty blue-collar, unglamorous job—but honestly, his intelligence was just off the charts... it was palpable.
As for me, I went through a prep school, and if I'm being completely honest, my only real feeling about it is a bit of regret... I don't look back on it with any sense of pride, not even a little bit. It’s more of a lingering "what if"—I really should have opted for something much more constructive.

I’m just calling it like I see it, and while everyone is entitled to their own perspective, I only speak up because of how people react whenever I mention I’m heading off to prep school.

gentlesailor25 said:Maybe we should just toss this over to the teenagers... you know, let the kids from those vocational high schools tell us how they actually view the prep school crowd!🤣

That way, I’ll only ever catch their side of the story, never the actual reasoning behind it.

fadedbison282 said:It all comes down to confidence, really. You hear people peddling this nonsense like, "High school is tough, not everyone can hack it," implying that if you didn't go the prep school route, you're somehow less capable or missed out on the "real" knowledge. Personally, I don't give a damn about what degree someone holds or what kind of school they attended. I’ve seen straight-A students choose to go into trade schools because they actually enjoy the work, not because they aren't smart enough for academics. It's simple: those kids are mastering specific, high-level skills while the prep school crowd just skims the surface of a dozen different subjects. To me, there’s no such thing as a "smart" person or a "dumb" person. It’s all about how you carry yourself and how you view your own education. Some people just don't have the drive to sit behind a desk all day, or maybe they struggle to focus. Does that make them any less important? Not even close. In fact, they'll usually outclass you in something else. 🙂 These prejudices are just a byproduct of how people were raised.

It’s exactly that—they convince themselves they're operating on some lower intellectual plane, looking down at everyone else from a position of perceived inferiority rather than just treating people like equals.

hiddenhawk3 said:High school kids can be pretty full of themselves sometimes.
Yeah, prep schools are tough, but there's nothing special about them compared to other high schools. You find smart people everywhere. 🤷
I don't really get why you think your classmates would look at you as "superior" just because they didn't go to a prep school.😕
And I guess older people just look at you more favorably because they're old.😁🤷

As for what Edward Murphy4 said—that education isn't the same thing as being highly intelligent—I don't know, maybe she's partly right, maybe not. To me, an education just proves you have grit, a desire to learn, discipline, and the ability to actually finish something.

It’s like we fall into this trap of arrogance because others are convinced from day one that we're smarter, using all that specialized jargon to create this illusion that everyone else is just voluntarily stepping down to our level instead of actually being on par with us.
That’s exactly why I asked the question in the first place; the logic just isn't there.

I’m not sure if this has been covered yet, but I’ve been wondering about this tendency people have to voluntarily subordinate themselves—essentially placing themselves in a lower tier because they assume someone else is more intelligent. It’s like they stop trying to hold onto their own convictions or become too terrified to push back. I have two specific scenarios playing out in my life. The first involves older generations; for context, I’m just hitting my late teens. They look at me differently the moment I mention I'm heading to an elite prep school, instantly labeling me as some kind of intellectual prodigy who exists on a plane above my peers.
Then there’s the second scenario: when I tell someone my age that I’ll be attending a top-tier academy, they seem to regress, acting even more foolish than before, which I find fascinating. In those moments, once they’ve convinced themselves that they sit at a lower intellectual level than I do, I could practically lead them anywhere; I could convince them that nine is actually less than seven—a banal example, obviously, but that’s the point. I could spout absolute nonsense, and they would nod along, refusing to even take a second to verify the truth. I’m curious about the root cause here. Is it driven by some deep-seated prejudice regarding prep school students and the prestige attached to them? I’m not saying I dislike having this advantage, but I’d love to understand the psychological mechanics behind why people surrender their agency like this.