Popular teens nosedive as adults. Home school your kid with comic books

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The Rage always suspected that prom queens and quarterbacks fizzle out soon after college. Early bloomers -- who enjoy adulation and popularity in the high school cafeteria -- don’t develop the skills needed to function as adults. They don’t realize that ‘great hair’ and ‘killer biceps’ don’t cut it on a resume. Now, Psychology Today reports that the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor confirms this suspicion. According to the study, 29% of people who did well in high school were not financially independent as adults. And 20% had not met their goals. (To be prom queen forever?) They revisited the former students at ages 22 and 26. ‘What’s scary is that it’s unpredictable,’ says John Schulenberg, Ph.D., professor of developmental psychology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the study’s lead researcher. ‘We used to think that if things were going well in high school, they’d continue to go well.’ (Anyone who saw ‘Say Anything’ -- see movie poster, left -- knew that the Lloyd Doblers would inherit the earth.) The Rage, a former fat kid, is relieved that she didn’t make the cheerleading squad in 6th grade and failed a few subjects.