Is there a difference between being cool and being popular?

[Teacher03]

This is true but then again if you really are well liked and popular you don't care- you just are.

-Becca-

I disagree-I think many popular kids think too much about their status as being popular. It's the cool kids who don't care, that is what makes them cool! Maybe it is different in every school. I would much prefer my kids to be "cool" than popular. Popular can change in an instant, coolness doesn't.

 

[SunKat]

In my dd's middle school, "cool" and "popular" girls are one and the same. My daughter tells me these girls are the ones who make fun of other kids,curse, and have boyfriends. They won't talk to anyone who they decide isn't cool or popular. Being a cheerleader, or being on a sports team, or having the right clothes doesn't automatically make you cool or popular in her school.

 

[HunnyPots]

Cool means different things to different people. When my daughter was in high school, she considered the cool kids to be the ones in computer science and marching band - like her!

 

[DISUNC]

Cant help you, I was always both!

 

[Sleepy]

When I was in HS, the popular kids WERE the cool kids--football players, rodeo team members, cheerleaders and drill team. They were usually the ones with the most money, so they always wore the hottest trends/styles, etc.

I've never been cool and now that I"m turning 30 I realize I don't give a flying fart.

Becoming an adult really makes you see life differently. I remember those kids from high school. Now, I realize they did not have money....their parents did. They lived off their parents' social status. 20 years later, they are SAHMs, car salesmen, dept managers in a store, etc. They are no better today than I am.

 

[phorsenuf]

Inspired by another thread about the 4th grade girl trying to be cool.

I noticed last year at the high school level that the most popular kids were the ones that were involved in sports.
The homecoming queen was Varsity cheerleader and basketball player. All the others on her court were volleyball and basketball...some track in there too.

Same things with the guys. Football and basketball and track.

And one sport wasn't enough. All these kids were involved in multiple sports.

So what's the difference between just being cool and being popular?

I think the cool kids suck their thumbs and the popular ones don't.

When I went to school the cool kids were the stoners and the popular ones were the athletes. Think Breakfast Club.

 

[kimmar067]

Cant help you, I was always both!

[....and then you woke up....]

 

[amyhughes]

Cool was always a different commodity than Popular.

I can't even say the word Popular without the song from Wicked getting stuck in my head. Popular is more of a contest, who sits where in the lunchroom, how many extra curricular activities you are involved in, what kind of clothes you wear, car your drive, kinds of friends you have.

Cool has always been the absolute opposite, these people are well liked, admired even, for not having to follow those rules to get friends or excel. They just are themselves around everyone, they don't placate, they dress how they like and for some reason it's always "cool" what they wear. It's a different being all together. They don't exist to impress, more to establish who they are and everyone admires them for it.

Geeks and nerds do everything that the cool guys do, but for some reason it never comes off the same. When they are themselves (which most of the geeks I know, yes I was one, are all the time) around the popular crowd it leads to ridicule more than admiration.

 

[tinkntraining]

I disagree-I think many popular kids think too much about their status as being popular. It's the cool kids who don't care, that is what makes them cool! Maybe it is different in every school. I would much prefer my kids to be "cool" than popular. Popular can change in an instant, coolness doesn't.

ITA! It's the "cool" kids who don't care what everyone else thinks, who marches to his/her own drum and who I believe has the most self-esteem -- "popularity" is highly overrated, IMO. It just takes a few years out of high school to realize which kids go the furthest in life. "Cool" is a way you choose to live your life, "popular" is a temporary judgment by others.

 

[Mkrop]

I just had a conversation the other day with my soon to be 5th grader. He was telling me that one of his buddies was having problems at school with the kids not liking him and teasing him. I asked him who was giving him a hard time and he said "oh you know mom the usual suspects" I said oh T and J, and he said yeah. He said yeah the popular kids, so I asked him if they were so popular why does everyone complain about them being mean and think there are cool. He just shrugged his shoulders and said I dont get it!

So even as an adult I alwys find it interesting that the popular kids are usually the ones that are the meanest to everyone else. Makes no sense to me why the garnish this power but they seem to be able to do so.

 

[DISUNC]

[....and then you woke up....]

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!