Nerds and North American Anti-Intellectualism

[tealin]

I just heard a really fascinating discussion on the radio about Americans' mistrust of book-smarts, how this is apparent in the culture as a whole and affecting academic performance vs. the rest of the world. It was gratifying to hear confirmation of some of my own observations about the matter and doubly exciting to hear further conclusions and comparisons to other cultures from an actual anthropologist. Luckily the show is available as a podcast, so I don't have to rely on my shoddy memory! Right-click and download! I highly recommend listening to it; it's not too long (only the first segment of the show) and is really, really fascinating.

Unfortunately it adds another issue to the ever-growing list of Things Which Massive Injections of Cash Will Not Fix But Can Only Be Solved by a Massive Societal Overhaul, so it's unlikely ever to change.

Comments

[themarinator.livejournal.com]

Spot-on. On the same note: although people from large, coastal American cities generally know and respect the rest of the world a lot more than people from middle America, we also tend to know a lot less about other American states and cities. I don't think I've ever had to learn all fifty states at once (I'm from around San Francisco), and for an embarrassingly long time the only state capital I could name (besides Sacramento) was New York, New York.

[shamrockjolnes.livejournal.com]

And that's not even a state captial. ^_^

[themarinator.livejournal.com]

Exactly. For a long time I didn't even know that San Francisco was not the capital of California and that Toronto was not the capital of Canada.

Maybe it's just ME that sucks at geography. But, seriously, all joking aside, Native Californians tend to know nothing about other states.

[floramir.livejournal.com]

Oh, man, your icon is fantastic! It makes me laugh so much!

And it's not just you; I was great at everything in school EXCEPT geography. I still can't locate each state on a map (though I know some 2nd graders who can). I never knew it was because I was a Californian ^_^ But now at least I have an excuse.

And now I guess I've finally figured out why I like Brititsh TV and not American; the British like book-sense. And American's like... Westerns.

[shamrockjolnes.livejournal.com]

You don't need to say that twice. I'm from Nevada and talking to transfer students fresh from California was always an ordeal.

It's almost like another country.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Well, I dunno – I spent my early years in California and the year after I moved to Utah I got to State level in the Nat'l Geography bee. If you want to talk knowing nothing about other states or the rest of the world, try Utah...

[shamrockjolnes.livejournal.com]

Of course there are exceptions to the rule. Utah's insularity is understandable, being a very homogenous group that populates the state. The fact that Utah was meant to be its own country in the first place might also effect its populace's ignorance.

People don't really live in Nevada. They move there for a period and then settle elsewhere. Most of its residents hail orignally from California or Utah, so this might account for Nevadans being a little more knowledgeable about the rest of the states.

However, people can live their entire lives in places like California and Utah. Generations upon generations and no one leaves the state.