What is anti-intellectualism dumbing down education

Historical Origins of Anti-Intellectualism

Anti-intellectualism exists in many cultures at different levels, and its exact origins are unknown.

One theory is that it came from a revolt by the general population of society against a small elite intent on controlling the social discourse. To put it plainly, you play your own game, I play mine; you play bridge elegantly, I fight the landlord vulgarly; you play Go at the high end, I specialize in backgammon on Lianzhong, we entertain ourselves without affecting each other, and make our own masters in their own turf.

2 Specific manifestations of anti-intellectualism

Social and cultural manifestations

The phenomenon of Sister Furong is considered a manifestation of anti-intellectualism.

Political embodiment

Mainly manifested in the behavior of the ruling elite and the academic elite is detached from public opinion , causing the people's ridicule or revolt.

Education

Anti-intellectualism is the opposition to children learning ivory tower studies that have no practical value. For example, China's widely circulated "study is useless theory"

Anti-intellectualism, in English, is "anti-intellectualism", and " intellectualism (intellectualism).

Anti-intellectualism, in English, is "anti-intellectualism", as opposed to "intellectualism", which at its core is anti-standard and anti-traditional elites, and is described in the vernacular as "I'm a big old man and I'm afraid of no one".

The term "anti-intellectualism" was popularized by American historian Richard Hofs-tadter's 1962 book, "Anti-Intellectualism in American Life," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1964. Today, there is still a small Hofstadter fever in the American media, which shows that its influence is still not insignificant.

Hofstadter wrote the book as a reaction to the **** and party rule of the Eisenhower years in the 1950s. At that time, from the New Deal to Nixon's rise to power in 1968, the United States was dominated for the most part by the Democratic Party, with the only eight years of Eisenhower's being the years when the **** and the Party were in the White House. The Eisenhower administration's pro-big business approach, which ridiculed the reasonably educated as "eggheads," was a great offense to the intellectuals who gained power after the New Deal. In the meantime, there was the rise of McCarthyism, which fiercely attacked and even persecuted the intelligentsia.

Hofstadter reflects on this political countercurrent with a historian's eye, attempting to clarify the origins of an anti-intellectualism that disrespected the intellect in the American cultural tradition. Thus, Hofstadter's use of "anti-intellectualism" is clearly a pejorative.