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Zonie63 -> RE: Why Are Americans Anti-Intellectual? (10/10/2012 5:33:13 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: GotSteel
quote:
ORIGINAL: Zonie63
I'm not sure that Americans are necessarily anti-intellectual.
Part of the Texas GOP platform is keeping the next generation from learning to think for themselves. If that's not anti-intellectualism, I don't know what is.
quote:
ORIGINAL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2012/07/01/texas-gop-platform/
The document (available here) has already made headlines with the portion that opposes the “teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills” and “critical thinking skills.” Although a partial retraction followed, this was in terms of the wording, not the general meaning. It appears that their fear is that these “focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.” Think about that for a moment. First off, do they really and truly believe that teachers and school boards across the State of Texas are designing curricula specifically aimed at training children to challenge their parents? Second, do you know which values and concepts are rejected in the absence of higher order and critical thinking? None! Therefore, depending on the time and place when we decide to stop challenging ideas and meekly accept what we are told, we might thereafter and forever be racists, sexists, communists, fascists, democrats, capitalists, Christians, Buddhists, Lutherans, geocentrists, pacifists, Wiccans, or whatever the prevailing views of that day were. Nothing would ever again be questioned. Were we to implement such a policy, we’d have to be certain that we had already identified the concepts and values that were “correct” (whatever that really means). Even a cursory reading of their platform makes it very clear that this is precisely what Texas Republicans believe and what those concepts and values are. This begs the question, who is really aiming to force their beliefs on our children, Texas schools or Texas Republicans? Personally, I prefer what I learned during my twelve years of Catholic school and eight years of public higher education: if a belief cannot stand up to scrutiny, then we shouldn’t believe it; and if it does, we will hold it all the more strongly for the very reason that it withstood our challenge.
I get what you're saying, and I agree with you for the most part. However, that's just the Texas GOP, not all of Texas, and certainly not all of America. I think America is kind of a mixed bag, some intellectual, some not so intellectual, and some decidedly anti-intellectual.
I guess the real question is why, as the OP was asking. One thing I've noticed about the political processes in various regions of the country: Some areas tend to be more reactive to what they regard as the centers of power in the country. So, it could be more a matter of political antagonism, but it's hard to say. Perhaps a bit of regional antagonism is at work as well. It might also be a matter of political pandering, to appeal to the more religious portion of their constituency.
Politically speaking, there might be a method to their madness. After all, those who already hold well-defined political and economic viewpoints are already set. The staunch free-market fiscal conservatives might not agree with the religious elements and other social conservatives, but they won't care as much about those issues to change their vote. The religious voters might be a bit more fickle, and even if they don't represent a majority of the electorate, they might just bring in the few extra percentage points needed for victory.
So, that's how I would read it. I don't think that Americans as a whole are anti-intellectual, but there are enough of them to become the "wild card" of American politics.
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