Kids need to know that life is about finding what YOU are passionate about and living it to the full. It is not about trying to hang with people who seem to be of the acceptable cool factor that you have.

It’s hard for kids to see at that point in their lives, but if they don’t get told by someone who is living life passionately, they may never figure it out.

At this point in the year, I’m sure the kids seem really shallow, but don’t give up on them. Keep your standards high and expect them to succeed. They will live up to the minimum of what you think they can do.

OK – I need to stop. I’m not a teacher, you are. I just pray that this year is one of encouragement for you and that your gifts will have a chance to shine and make a difference in this world.

Take care,

STeve

It originally referred to the carnival performers whose act consisted of biting the heads off chickens and eating glass. Looks like it came to be applied to anyone who got paid to do work considered odd or bizarre by mainstream society. Now it’s all the tech and science stuff that others dislike or find themselves unable to understand.

Both Random House and American Heritage dictionaries give it a pejorative sense to the word, but at least the Random House says in the second entry for the word that if self-applied it has more a prideful sense to it.

The funnier dictionary, anyway, was the Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary dot com). It includes as the first meaning of the word: “The people you pick on in high school and wind up working for as an adult “. The fifth entry is the one worth a look, tough. It includes the differences between a normie, a nerd, a dork and a geek.

Also, according to the Wikipedia project on Nerds, depending on where you are geek or nerd might be the less derogatory term. I believe that applies not only to the USA, but also here, where sometimes it’s better one word than the other.