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| More Tags: THE REALLY SMART GIRL College and high school girls are frequently concerned about the wisdom of dating boys who are not their intellectual equals. Boys worry less about dating girls inferior to them in intellect, since it is generally expected that a girl won't be as intelligent as the boy she dates. Indeed this is emphasized so strongly that a superior girl may find that if she has a reputation as a "brain," boys are afraid to date her. Such a girl may pretend to be dumber than she is on a date. She plays up to a boy in the age-old game of making him feel superior. But there are girls who resent having to "put their brains on ice," so they go out only with boys who like them as they are, who admire intelligence and are not threatened by a girl's superior mental ability. A girl who dates a boy who is not her intellectual equal must decide whether she dares be herself or whether she must put on an act. In time a really smart girl learns that she can enjoy different kinds of people in different ways. She discovers that flaunting her knowledge is not pleasant to anyone in any setting. She finds that even the least promising boy can be interesting when he's functioning in areas that he knows well. Such a girl is able to have a good time with whomever sheis and wherever she is. By getting to know different types of people with varying abilities, she eventually discovers the intellectual level in which she feels comfortable. Eventually she selects a compatible partner for marriage. FARM BOYS AND CITY GIRLS There is some feeling among farm people that a farm boy should go out only with girls who have been brought up on a farm. The chief reason seems to be the fear that a city girl won't know how to perform all the jobs a farm woman is called on to do, and therefore would be unsuitable as a marriage partner. As is so often the case, adults tend to visualize a dating couple as falling in love and getting married, and so they evaluate the pair not as dates but as mates. Nowadays, however, there is not as much difference between farm and city youth as once may have been the case. Boys and girls from farms and cities meet each other and share events in large consolidated schools. They have equal access to social affairs and activities via the family car, the same radio and television programs, and oftentimes the same college and vocational plans. Even if a relationship ends in marriage, the city girl is no longer at so serious a disadvantage on the farm because of modern equipment and labor-saving devices. In general, evidence proves that if the two persons have real interests in common and enjoy each other as friends, the locale of their families' residences is not especially important unless someone makes an issue of it. |