If there is one major occupational hazard of going to a school like Penn, it's this: people think that you think you're either the shit, or a shit. The veracity of that isn't really relevant, because perception kicks truth in the ass every time. It's no surprise we've got an image complex.
As if to avoid developing a reputation for thinking we're smarter than everyone else (which we are), we put on a display of exaggerated normalcy. We advertise our unofficial motto of "work hard, play harder" and pride ourselves on being the Social Ivy. Being the rowdiest partiers must make us the coolest kids in the Ivy League (roll that in your joint and smoke it, Brown). Sure, the Whartonites stress, but for every one of them busting their ass at Huntsman, there's some girl staggering down Pine at 2 AM trying to find the Champagne and Shackles party.
But being laid back isn't enough for us; we want everyone to know it. It's just as important to broadcast our nonchalance as it is to be mellow in the first place. What are we trying to prove? It's evident we care - we are here, after all - so why go to all the trouble of acting like we don't?
This trend would make some kind of twisted sense if it was the only image we tried to project, but we defend our intelligence just as vehemently as we deny it. " Seriously, ask me if I go to Penn State one more time, you dumb bitch." Why the contradiction? Not wanting to be seen as stupid makes sense; we didn't work our asses off to go to Penn so people could ask us how those Nittany Lions are looking this year. So the flip side of the equation - dumbing ourselves down - hardly makes any sense at all.
It's a situation that's as oxymoronic as our Fighting Quaker of a mascot. Scared of looking too smart for our own good, but defensive when our intellect goes unrecognized, we waste our time obsessing over image.
And it really is a waste of time, because there's really nothing attractive about being an idiot. Case in point: that tool in your math recitation who asks the most obvious questions - the one that makes you think "Your parents must have bought Amy Gutmann some Postal Land because you can't throw a football for shit." Conversely, there's nothing inherently uncool about being smart. Which we are. Really. Fucking. Smart.
As long as we're on this campus, this isn't too elitist an attitude; it's not that we're better than each other, we're just better than everybody else. Because if we're dumb enough to act this stupid, you have to wonder how smart we really are.
