Now that in the lingua franca of water cooler conversations, developments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe may have replaced sports records, it feels like nerds have hit the Big Time. We can encourage our kids not only to read comics, but to curate a bagged-and-boarded collection without being afraid that we have pushed them too far to the fringes of their friend groups. Even a marginally-interested, rural great-grandpa knows what the inside of a comics shop looks like from watching Big Bang Theory each week.

So, does “nerd culture” — the sort of desperate camaraderie both championed and stereotyped in the 1984 movie Revenge of the Nerds — even exist anymore?

Yes, it does. And it’s even more important than ever to fight for it by waving your own freak flag of personal fandom.

Several years ago, I was presenting to a group of teachers and school administrators about using comic books in education, and a woman hit me with a tentatively-worded comment after I finished. “I’ve noticed that the students in my class who talk about anime,” she began, “and read those Japanese comic books you talked about, are of a certain type…” When I saw she was reaching for a question in her mind that hadn’t fully formed, I said this:

Kids who feel marginalized socially often gravitate to art forms that have been marginalized in our culture. They find connections there, and that they can hold conversations about what they saw. As an adult, I have become very proud of the label “nerd” and would not mind in the least if you identify me that way. But don’t call your kids that until you have listened to how they feel, and understand them the same way I understand myself.

I wasn’t trying to put her in her place, but I saw in her eyes that she left with an idea different from the one that would have initially ended her sentence.

Most importantly, this the definition of a subculture. When people find identity and community by discussing a specific set of books, or movies, or games… and their classmates and teachers identify and classify them by the most obvious outward characteristics of that shared interest, then you have culture.

Nerd culture still exists with kids, and as teachers and parents we must defend it.  First of all, kids can be mean, and no one who cares about children wants to see them ostracized. Today nobody will laugh at them for loving Guardians of the Galaxy, no, but the kids who have extensive knowledge and strong opinions about vintage science fiction or coding or progressive politics are used to whispers behind their backs. The next time a student rants about how the protagonist of Legend of Zelda is named Link and NOT ZELDA, watch how her classmates respond.

On a deeper level, what often drives a young person to become obsessively knowledgeable about pop culture or science or politics represents a safety measure that holds together a democratic society. America has always had a strong anti-intellectual strain that should frighten all of us, but especially touches those whom our educational system has singled out as “gifted.” These children know that some few classmates will never fail to seek out nerds — or LGBTQ or immigrants or any perceived “other” — for torture.

But I hope to everything I believe in that these kids come to agree that, when you become part of a culture, that someone somewhere has your back.