Please tell me Americans!

Probably because the writers were jealous in high school

In most schools... Yes the jocks are the top of the pecking order... I think because they are generally the kids that don't spend the amount of time doing their work that they should, they have time to be jocks or simply become jocks because they have no hope at doing anything academic... It also means that they tend to be jealous of the other kids which is why they tend to be the bullies in most schools.

Other kids might envy them some in school because they aren't grinding away on homework... but in the end the jocks tend to become the Al Bundy types in the world that will only fall further and further from the top of the pecking order as the years go by... After all when you piss away your chances of any education by playing football and patting other guys on the butt you're not left with much of a chance at a college education or the career that can come from it... So they get to just think back about how they were the big man on campus way back in highschool while they toil away in blue collar jobs. Frankly it always seemed like Karma to me.

It's not just an American thing, it's a human/animal thing. Physical superiority is valued because of evolution. Only in the modern age have other qualities that ensure financial success or stability have become valued.

I used to teach in a US high school.

Generally the most driven students are quite popular, but this doesn't always hold true. If you think about it for a moment it isn't hard to discern why. Are you more likely to idolize a fellow student that is fat, lazy, antisocial and untalented, or someone who has an athletic physique, outgoing personality as well as being bright and talented? Many students possess some of these traits, but it is those who have them all that are usually the most popular.

Now where I think the films usually get things wrong is that the most popular students are often very nice towards other students. If they were jerks and bullies, as the movies tend to depict, then nobody would like them very much, especially in our modern times.

So yes, hot, skilled, outgoing and bright students, whom seemingly have it all going for them, are generally pretty popular in real life. They do indeed tend to attract similar friends, with the occasional friend that isn't so well-rounded, but is really funny.

I've always wondered that too, you can only be slushed so many times before going on a rampage :)

@Raglagertha

"What the heck is America's obsession with the so called 'Jocks'??"

Lol. Yet ANOTHER moronic generalization from a non-American about Americans. Sports are big in US high schools, as they are in most high schools around the world. Should we ask you what's with your countries obsession with your football and your football hooligans? No.

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