Does high school popularity forecast career success?
Back when you were in high school, chances are you fell into one of five groups.
A photo gallery of those potential stereotypes: Number one. Number two. Number three. Number four. Number five.
But that was high school, right? We’ve always been told to throw out everything we knew in high school. For instance, we were often lectured, ‘Be nice to those nerds. They’ll be your boss someday.’
And, in some cases, that is surely correct. A guy probably considered a nerd in high school had a pretty big hand in the computer company that led to this site you’re reading now.
Yet can we negate everything? Does, somehow, the social pecking order of high school also forecast the professional pecking order of the career world?
A research paper from the Institute for Social and Economics Research suggests that, yes, it does.
According to the study – which measured popularity by asking people to list their friends from high school 35 years ago, then cross-referencing those lists with their current income – showed one additional friendship nomination was associated with a two per cent higher wage down the road.
Similarly, by the study’s account, if you shifted somebody from the “bottom fifth to the top fifth of the school popularity distribution (in other words, turning a social reject into a star),” that would be the equivalent of a 10 per cent wage advantage over their career.
You can learn more about how the research was done here, but there are surely some holes in the conclusions. For one, you’re asked to name your friends from high school decades before, which I’m sure could easily be skewed based on what happened to Friend X or Friend Y – personally or professionally – since high school ended.
But, then there might be some fire to this smoke. Certainly, increased self-confidence and people skills are offshoots of popularity, attributes that are quite valuable in the corporate world.
What do you think? Is there much to this report? Does high school popularity predispose you to professional success?
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
Posted by: Dave | Jun 2, 2021 4:09:13 PM
Delineation into stereotypical high school groups is a myopic and unrealistic version of the world. I think most people's experience could be framed in a number of contexts, and trying to classify into 5 groups is an exercise without much practical value.
Posted by: Steve | Jun 3, 2021 10:28:35 AM
So career success is exclusively related to wages? Boy, Gandhi was a massive failure then. I keep hearing this correlation =/= causation in my head and think of the popular kids who's parents drown them with money going on to Ivy League universities with Tutor's doing their assignments and graduating into top jobs at daddy's company.
Nah... their popularity must be what is at the root of their 'success'
Posted by: Jeremy | Jun 3, 2021 12:26:05 PM
Hold on, where in that article does it say "exclusively" related to wages? They just said there was a correlation. Big difference. Correlations do not suggest causation (though a lot of authors fail to recognize that).
And I think if you remember back to high school, there was a lot of time spent categorizing people, whether it was practical or not.
Posted by: White Collar | Jun 3, 2021 6:42:15 PM
Professional Success? HMMM - what does that mean? We recently had this discussion at our annual "Boys Weekend" where the 7 of us get together every May longweekend. Professions range from Optometry, Food Sales, Banker, Police Officer and teachers. We all played basketball together but we were certainly not as popular as the Hockey Team. We kinda stayed as a group. We all make over $100K per year except for the 2 Teachers. Only 2 of us went to College while the others went to Univ. The reason we are humbly successful; was the willingness to move away from family to find the opportunities. The comfort zone was home but we all understood we needed to sacrifice and move away.
High School was merely a period of our lives to learn, to explore, to mature and to learn from our mistakes. Popularity allowed you more friends and attend more parties.
Once Post-Secondary kicks in, your dedication to schooling is of utmost importance. I believe it is ingrained in you from your parents' upbringing. This alone will allow you a better opportunity to a professional career.
Posted by: Duke Nukem | Jun 4, 2021 8:34:06 AM
I was the coolest guy in high school, and now I'm the coolest guy in my office.
Posted by: Lisa | Jun 4, 2021 10:58:40 AM
Yes, popularity (or lack thereof) WILL play a part in your success, I believe.
It comes down to how much self confidence you had when you entered the workforce and I strongly believe that the peer infrastructure in high school had a part to play in it.
That is why, as a parent now, I am strongly against bullying in schools and believe the "no tolerance" policy should be regularly enforced, which incidentally, in the public school system, it is not. However...that's another topic for another day.
Posted by: crawdaddy | Jun 5, 2021 12:28:01 AM
in my child's public school, bullying most certainly is not tolerated.
and thru other parents i have found exactly the same approach is being used in other public schools.
i know parents in other cities, small and large, and once again they say the same thing. we are all amazed at how different it is now compared to when we were in public school.
even the hint of bullying is reprimanded.
other than that difference in opinion, i agree with lisa. it is about self-confidence, and popularity most definitely boosts that.
Posted by: Deaf ears | Jun 5, 2021 12:29:38 PM
Ability to do something (anything) well has a high correlation with future success. When an individual is good a task, they have an ability to put forth the effort to excel. I have known great athletes who were not particularly popular, but became successful at business. Conversely, I have known individuals who seemed to have no skills at all (socially, athletically or academically), who, many years later, are still struggling to find their niche.
Posted by: Lisa | Jun 5, 2021 5:54:00 PM
Thanks "Crawdaddy." I agree with you that things APPEAR on the surface, much better than 25 years ago. However, I'm in a town where there is a court date coming up between a mother and a school. The mother took the school to small claims court because her child was getting bullied. Apparently, after she filed against a certain school in the area, several others followed suit. Why??? Well, around here the teachers are taking the policy of "looking the other way." Conversely...I have heard that in the private school system, things are as they should be.
Posted by: megg | Jun 6, 2021 8:32:32 PM
No- I was a 'reject' in High School, but that was some 50 years ago. I strove and strugglesd to overcome this handicap and became successful.
Those who were popular in H S dropped out, girls got pregnant, took on menial jobs- no career- and a great many of them have expired now...
Most of those students - both girls and guys- married far too early which handicapped their further studies and unfortunately they sucummed to 'getting by'...
How do you explain my exception- or am I really an exception??
M
Posted by: Paul | Jun 18, 2021 11:10:07 AM
I was bullied in highschool. Through grade 9 and the first third of grade 10. One day, I got sick of it and kicked the jackass in the nuts, and followed up with a knee to the face when he bent over in pain. Bloodied his nose. Major self esteem boost, and he never bothered me again. Made a mess of my pants, though.
Kids need to learn how to deal with their own bullies. If parents and school admins step in all the time, how will kids learn to stick up for themselves? And yeah. I had a word with the VP over the incident. He advised me that violence wasn't the answer, but also congratulated me on having the nerve to deal with the problem myself.
4 months later, he came up to me in the hall and told me that the jackass had been expelled for various reasons.