[vihren]

This is a very interesting observation if its real. I am from Bulgaria and I am a PhD candidate in physics. Whenever I tell someone that, they always say that its sounds cool and difficult and the next question is: What are you going to work after that? I guess that physics, at least in Bulgaria is not considered as a field that you could work in, more as in something you learn for the sake of knowledge.

Why do you think that in English speaking countries is different than others? I temporarily currently living in France and I do not have many contacts with non scientists, but the ones that asked me what I do all found it cool sounding.

[agent008t]

I meant more on the secondary/high school level. From what I read, it seems almost everyone good at maths/physics that grew up in the US had a miserable experience in school. The whole "nerd/geek" thing and being near the bottom of the school hierarchy.

In my experience in Russia, "nerds" were rather those that were extremely diligent but did not really have passions or interests; being good at science was actually seen as kinda cool. Sports achievements were not really emphasized at all.

But it is all anecdotal, and I would like to see some actual studies on this.