It pays to be pretty, starting in high school, research says

[joeybee12]

Those awkward teenage years may be costing people more than just a date at the prom.

A new research paper finds that attractive young adults enjoy a pay advantage over their less attractive peers, and that advantage starts building as early as high school.

“There may be this kind of snowballing effect across time,” said Rachel Gordon, a sociology professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, and one of the study’s co-authors.

The researchers found that, starting as early as high school, more attractive people were rated as more intelligent and more promising. They also got higher grades and were more likely to graduate from college than their peers.

http://www.today.com/money/it-pays-be-pretty-starting-high-school-research-says-2D11742024

[In_The_Wind]

1. As a high school ugly duckling, I remember that seemed to be true.

Even back in '66 when I graduated.

[BlueJazz]

2. I'm sorry you had to go through that crap. Of course, Albert Einstein was an VERY attractive man.

.
.

[In_The_Wind]

4. Teachers seemed to be so prejudiced.

I outgrew it. Kids can be so mean.

Thanks

[aikoaiko]

3. What is beautiful is good.

Elaine Hatfield conducted a long line of research that explored this stereotype.

http://www.elainehatfield.com/35.pdf

[Tom_Foolery]

5. Janis Ian knew this in 1975 and wrote a song about it...

Wanna hear it? Here it is:

[KurtNYC]

6. also more prone to riskier behaviors -- sex and drinking

As usual, they found an academic with a twisted "solution": "help less attractive students feel more included and confident." In other words, treat less attractive people like it's their fault, or like there is something wrong with them that makes teachers and employers prefer others.

What? The problem is that employers over-pay for these risk taking, sex-addicted beauties. So perhaps a better course of action would be to make sure that grades and hiring is done with less bias toward looks.