The disturbing trend of anti-intellectualism

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I do not know what it is like in Finland, but a cost-benefit analysis ought to be done with regard to education. If the cost is around $2,000 to $10,000 a class and the benefit is merely arbitrary deadlines, peers who don't even know how to spell, instructors who don't bother to read any of the copious written assignments required, and a piece of paper which just means that you persevered through disillusionment or were never bright enough to become disillusioned, then it may not be worth it to go to college. If the cost of autodidacticism is the cost of the textbooks and other materials in tandem with the opportunity cost of time to properly study, the benefit being no arbitrary deadlines so proper studying can occur and not wasting time with idiotic peers, thenI consider that to be worth it. When comparing the cost and benefits of autodidacticism versus the cost and benefits of a college "education", college loses and autodidacticism wins.

People are IMHO at least even hostile if you just study things on your own... you should try to read a book about OSes on a 12 hour trainride and when people ask just tell that you're interested in the topic... most people react as if you are just insane...

A book about operating systems? Let them look at you if as if you are crazy. If people can't imagine learning outside of a college or school environment, then I find it doubtful that they actually do much learning within such environments anyhow.

As I said, IMHO anti-intellectualism is related to other areas than college/school...

Would you mind specifying?

Yeah, I'm currently teaching myself Linear Algebra in case I need to go to grad school. I've been working on it for about 5 weeks off and on, and I'm already close to being done with the first term. I'm going faster than an actual class would, and it's much cheaper... I'm checking out an old textbook from the community college library for free and watching the free MIT lectures (though I may buy another book with more problems in it just for practice). All I'm going to have to pay is $100 for each of the 2 tests.

Now that's awesome. It would be surprising to find a college with a cost of $100 per credit hour, and I bet that class in Linear Algebra would be a 4 to 5 credit hour class in most colleges with an approximate cost of around $300 to $700 per credit hour. For both tests that's $200 and if it were 4 credit hours, then the cost of autodidacticism for your class would be $50 per credit hour. Really, I think that often the professors and other students too often get in the way of learning subjects, with few exceptions. You're probably doing a better job of teaching yourself the subject and for less money. And yet, why is it that some people would consider autodidacticism to be "anti-intellectual"? Because it's not just "going with the flow" of the bandwagon mentality of this generation?

There's a wave of anti-intellectualism here as well in Hell. Not anti-academia, mind you, we have some kind of weird fetish, even occult fascination, with educational qualifications here. The university degree here is now considered a baseline for normal, to be successful you need at least a M.BA and a Ph.D. And if you don't have a degree, you're going to be stuck at the sewers of society for the rest of your (not very financially comfortable) life. And bear in mind that these are just prerequisites, they are not guarantees. We have a couple of people driving taxis for really crap pay and worse working conditions who have M.Sc and Ph.D qualifications as well. However, not having that B.Sc virtually guarantees you get a crap job, or none at all.

The general societal undertone here is exemplified by a quote from the Minister Mentor - "In here you have a porcelain rice bowl, and if you break it it's your own bad luck." What the hell is a Minister Mentor? An invented position succeeding appointment as a Senior Minister. What is a Senior Minister? Yet another invented position succeeding appointment as a Prime Minister. But weird political manipulations aside and back to the topic...

Academia is considered as a compulsory prerequisite for normalcy, let alone success. Actual chances of getting a passable job include 'soft skills', contacts, and luck. However, even though we sacrifice young ginger kittens in an altar to the educational certificates (not literally in most cases), intellectualism is greatly frowned upon. Of all the attributes one might have, intelligence is the ONLY one you cannot state. You can say you're good at talking, you can say you're handsome, you can say you're adaptable. But say you're smart, and they will weave a voodoo doll out of aforementioned sacrificed ginger kittens, link it to your soul and stab you repeatedly with needles, cactus spines and durian shells (again, not literally, in most cases) in your eyeballs.

Aside from talking about it also, there is some kind of societal expectation that your performance lie within a certain narrow range. Say, mean results +/- 2 SD. If you dare exceed that (aka, get results above the 95th percentile) too many times, you will be instantly kicked from any social group you're in, and that is neither good for your future employment prospects nor your current social life. Also, you must never display ability beyond that which is expected of your level. Question the lecturer on a high-level topic, and your fellow students will drag out that ginger kitten hair voodoo doll, a hypodermic syringe, kerosene and a lighter. You know what happens next. Lastly, you must never display interest in studying beyond which is barely required to pass exams. In other words - exam period study = OK. Doing assignments as required and reviewing lecture notes = OK. Reading research papers and Wikipedia to clarify vague parts within the lecture notes = Ginger Kitten Voodoo Doll.

It's sadly amusing how you can place an emphasis on education and yet hate knowledge at the same time. At least from what I understand of the States, you have a more consistent system in which education and knowledge are despised together.

Oh yes, roots and solutions. For roots I blame overdominance of NTs in the higher echelons of society (aka the Demon Lords), and the resulting love of surface decorations, social manipulations and such simply passes from the Demon Lords to the Lesser Demons in reverse hierarchical progression. I don't see a single Aspie anywhere in educational admin, and given the tightness of hierarchies in Hell, one is unlikely to ever rise to any position of influence to solve this. It just so happened here that educational certs are included as one of the bells and whistles needed, next to Prada bags and Estee Lauder makeup, a leftover relic of the old China mandarin-scholar 'meritocratic' system. And as for solutions...

Actually, what you have in the States is a college degree being treated as a gateway to success... in advertisements. The cost of a college education, bachelor's degree that is, is about $64,000 to $250,000 because there is such a high demand for college education which has been indoctrinated in children via public school, literature, and television. The federal government continues to increase its subsidization and colleges continue raising their prices and as such the cost of a college education increases faster than the rate of currency inflation. Currently there is about a trillion dollars in student loan debt which may never be able to be repaid. Many grocery store clerks and fast food chefs have to claim that they've never been to college or else they are considered "overqualified". Knowledge itself is despised here too, at least in the sense that people are so incredibly lazy that they aren't willing to put any effort to think about the simplest things to understand them. They assume that you must have a college degree in order to understand anything and if they don't then they don't bother to think about them. I wish more people were like Nathaniel Bowditch and fewer like the idiotic college students who can't even recognize that they are being swindled.

Oh, I didn't say the States respected education. That was a reference to Hell respecting education.

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I'm not from the States, I'm from Hell. I'd like to move to the States. It sounds like a screwed up place at times, but most things are better than a place that is screwed up all the time.

I wouldn't comment too much personally on issues over there though, I don't know enough about the States for any of my opinions to merit further discussion. Part of the above was just what seemed to be the case from multiple earlier posters.

Last edited by Twilightflame on 20 Sep 2011, 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hell is a place in Michigan which freezes over once a year.

I wish my Hell froze over at times.

Eternal summer sounds good at the outset, but the devil likes his fine print.

Judging by your avatar I'm guessing you're part of a recent batch of new users here which could be said to be from Hell.

There exists in the general population a special anxiety about the loyalties of high achievers, especially when their success is largely dependent on being recognized by a so-called "Ruling Class". For example, every blue-collar achiever in a predominantly white-collar setting faces, at one time or another, claims from fellow working-class stiffs that he or she has "sold out" or "sucked up" to get ahead. Never mind that both the ability and willingness to excel are necessary for advancement. Never mind that demonstrable skills are also required. Never mind that a person who has achieved recognition for his or her outstanding performance from higher-ups has likely earned that recognition in some legitimate way. All that matters to this person's peers is that he or she has somehow "unfairly" pulled ahead in the corporate rat-race, and seemingly without extra effort.

These slacker just don't seem to recognize that it is not "who you know" or even what dark secrets you know about them. They don't see the hours of extra study, the finer attention to details, the higher standards, and the delayed gratification that is inherent in successful people. No, instead they see only the material results - the cars, the clothes, the jewelry, et cetera - and then their own jealousy and avarice kick in, prompting them to plot and conspire to bring about the downfall of those set in authority above them. The trouble is that anyone worth being promoted for their attention to detail will notice the shift in loyalties and act to block, divert, or completely avoid any attempts to denounce them.

It's only recently that I began to fully understand this. It was the election of Mr. Obama and the subsequent denouncement of his success by certain minority leaders that revealed that this slacker attitude is common at all levels of society.

It doesn't have to be that way...

What if one had simply chosen not to toss their pearls before the world?

Then the world would have less pearls but still the same number of swine.