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My parents visited last weekend, and as always, there was plenty of lively conversation across a broad spectrum of topics. However, one idea that popped up a couple of times keeps bouncing around my head.
We were discussing the ongoing political campaigns, and I complained about how certain types of candidates are attacked as being "intellectual elitists." My mother's response gave me pause. She claimed that there is a prejudice against smart people in this country. I'm not sure that I'd ever thought about it in those terms before, but it does make some sense.
This is not to say that all (or even most) Americans are prejudiced against intelligent and/or educated people. But there does seem to be a segment (or maybe several different segments) of the population that exhibit a bias against people who value education and knowledge. I have personally experienced some of this during grade school, especially in the public schools I attended. I was often picked on because of my high grades, called names that implied that I got those grades by sucking up to the teachers.
We also talked about the current town government where my parents live. Most of the current town council have no education beyond high school, and are openly vocal in questioning the value of such town services as the public library and public pool. They never needed these services, so why would anyone else? Its frustrating to look at how many young people in that community cannot find adequate employment, who scrape by, barely, from paycheck to paycheck. Many can't even do that, and collect checks from various government agencies to survive. If we valued education, if we really put forth an effort, couldn't more of these people be more successful? I don't know, but I wonder.
Until my mother vocalized this idea, it was something I hadn't really given much thought to in a long time. Living in the prosperous suburbs, I only rarely encounter this bias. Here, the parents push their children to excel in school, and the children compete to be the best and brightest. Education and knowledge are valued. My career is also founded upon the importance of intellectual property, of promoting knowledge and learning as keys to the future. So it was a bit of a shock to be reminded that not everyone values these concepts.
I don't have any ideas about how to address this bias. How do you break through that wall and convince these people that education and knowledge are good things, tools that can help them make their lives better? I wish I knew...
We were discussing the ongoing political campaigns, and I complained about how certain types of candidates are attacked as being "intellectual elitists." My mother's response gave me pause. She claimed that there is a prejudice against smart people in this country. I'm not sure that I'd ever thought about it in those terms before, but it does make some sense.
This is not to say that all (or even most) Americans are prejudiced against intelligent and/or educated people. But there does seem to be a segment (or maybe several different segments) of the population that exhibit a bias against people who value education and knowledge. I have personally experienced some of this during grade school, especially in the public schools I attended. I was often picked on because of my high grades, called names that implied that I got those grades by sucking up to the teachers.
We also talked about the current town government where my parents live. Most of the current town council have no education beyond high school, and are openly vocal in questioning the value of such town services as the public library and public pool. They never needed these services, so why would anyone else? Its frustrating to look at how many young people in that community cannot find adequate employment, who scrape by, barely, from paycheck to paycheck. Many can't even do that, and collect checks from various government agencies to survive. If we valued education, if we really put forth an effort, couldn't more of these people be more successful? I don't know, but I wonder.
Until my mother vocalized this idea, it was something I hadn't really given much thought to in a long time. Living in the prosperous suburbs, I only rarely encounter this bias. Here, the parents push their children to excel in school, and the children compete to be the best and brightest. Education and knowledge are valued. My career is also founded upon the importance of intellectual property, of promoting knowledge and learning as keys to the future. So it was a bit of a shock to be reminded that not everyone values these concepts.
I don't have any ideas about how to address this bias. How do you break through that wall and convince these people that education and knowledge are good things, tools that can help them make their lives better? I wish I knew...
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