Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
It's not just high school. Even in elementary school (for kids about 5 to 10) kids are cruel, and the smart kids are looked down on.
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Anti-intellectualism: America's fundamental flaw.
- Thread starter Valjean
- Start date
Bunyip
pro scapegoat
I think it is one of many things that our societies really need to examine deeper. One thing I think has contributed greatly is that modern societies tend to emphasise competitiveness. A highly competitive paradigm ignores the alternative to competition - cooperation.
Children must feel safe, protected and respected in school - otherwise they will not learn how to be safe, protective and respectful.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
I can say I never felt unsafe. But when you are bullied, and the picked on even more for being smarter than others, for reading, and for excelling in some areas, it really makes it hard to learn how to socialize when you already have difficulties learning how to socialize. For me school, in it's entirety (excluding my higher education), was hell.
It also built my difficulties in trusting people and opening up to people.
Bunyip
pro scapegoat
Sure, absolutely - it leaves scars. I think many people are traumatised by their experiences at school, and carry that through their lives. I lived in a small country town for many years and the suicide rate for young gay people was absolutely astronomic. Not good to be different. When we need to celebrate difference.
As for me, I have always been from somewhere else. I was born away from my parents home, and migrated at a young age. So I do understand what it feels like to be an outsider.
This is why the environment we create in schools is so critical - it is formative.
Apologies for stating the obvious.
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That's horrible.
My experience was that we weren't treated differently for being smarter.
However, that's not to say that those of us with other bullyogenic traits didn't suffer.
Weird kids were picked on, whether smart, dumb or in between.
Worth a read. The whole thing.
True enough, but that is poor consolation, if it is any at all.
Marisa
Well-Known Member
Rest assured the left has its own anti-intellectualism, but in 2012 the Texas GOP added in its party platform that it was against critical thinking skills because it poses a threat to "fixed beliefs".
http://www.tfn.org/site/DocServer/2012-Platform-Final.pdf?docID=3201
Parenthetical aside.....
I recall (not too clearly) something Stephen Hawking said about the culture when he was a young student in Englandistan.
Working hard was a sign of being common or ordinary or some such disparaging term.
It influenced him such that he was a lazy student....to avoid being looked down upon.
I recall (not too clearly) something Stephen Hawking said about the culture when he was a young student in Englandistan.
Working hard was a sign of being common or ordinary or some such disparaging term.
It influenced him such that he was a lazy student....to avoid being looked down upon.
I suppose it is difficult to avoid the allure of socially-encouraged shortcuts to feelings of security and prestige.
Marisa
Well-Known Member
Not to mention in our political sphere, where higher education is often conflated with elitism and the "average voter" wants a president they can envision themselves having a beer with rather than someone with the education and skill set one assumes would be required to run a nation, as opposed to a paper route.
Movies can be a tad inaccurate.
It was only recently that I discovered Australiastan is not a desolate wasteland filled with road warriors driving around supercharged cars seen in movies.
It's just an ordinary wasteland.....but with beer.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber
And what makes it so ironic is that the national-level politicians typically come from the "elitist" universities.
dust1n
Zindīq
A new study by the Pew Research Center finds that the GOP is alienating scientists to a startling degree.
Only six percent of America's scientists identify themselves as Republicans; fifty-five percent call themselves Democrats. By comparison, 23 percent of the overall public considers itself Republican, while 35 percent say they're Democrats.
The ideological discrepancies were similar. Nine percent of scientists said they were "conservative" while 52 percent described themselves as "liberal," and 14 percent "very liberal." The corresponding figures for the general public were 37, 20 and 5
Among the general public, moderates and independents ranked higher than any party or ideology. But among scientists, there were considerably more Democrats (55%) than independents (32%) and Republicans (6%) put together. There were also more liberals (52%) than moderates (35%) and conservatives (9%) combined.
"These results were not a complete surprise," said Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research at Pew, in an interview with the Huffington Post. He said they can be mostly attributed to "the difference between Democratic and Republican parties with respect to issues."
The wide ideological and partisan gap among scientists may have been exacerbated by the Bush administration, which often disputed broad scientific consensus on topics such as evolution and climate change.
Keeter acknowledged this factor, but said that "many of these disputes probably predate the Bush administration," noting that scientists have favored liberal views in numerous past studies.
Religion also plays a role. Republicans tend to promote the centrality of religion more often than Democrats, and while 95 percent of the public said they believe in "God" or "a higher power," only 51 percent of scientists claimed either.
"Many Republicans, especially the Evangelical wing of the party, are skeptical of evolution, and have argued for the teaching of creationism and intelligent design in school," said Keeter.
The results could merely be a reflection of how scientists see the world, rather than of partisan loyalties. In a series of questions posed, the study found that the answers of scientists were consistently more in line with liberal viewpoints than those of the general public.
"The Republican Party has a number of leaders within it who have challenged the accuracy of scientific findings on issues such as climate change, evolution and stem cell research," Keeter told the Huffington Post.
"It suggests that scientists who are Republicans might feel some dissonance from the party's position on some things that are important to them. And while there are Republicans in the scientist sample, there are really not that many," he said.
Only Six Percent Of Scientists Are Republicans: Pew Poll
Marisa
Well-Known Member
I was particularly fond of the right's bashing on Obama's degree from Harvard, while promoting their own "Harvard Man".
Skwim
Veteran Member
Further proof that even scientists can be suffer from boneheaded magical thinking!
dust1n
Zindīq
I suspect many have their grants at stake, and Republicans in general have no problem cutting public funding for science. So, I suppose it's not really a surprise the lesser of two evils applies for scientists as well. They certainly have their own conditions, and it wouldn't make much sense to vote for someone who is going to make your professional life more difficult.
Mrs Revolt once worked at a non-profit which did research.
Under Carter, they had a contract to study if minority elderly got a fair share of benefits.
It concluded that they did.
Wrong conclusion....no more fed funding for them.
dust1n
Zindīq
That's alright. Sometimes projects end. As far as I see it, people get freed up to address the next possible challenge.