Anti-intellectualism and name calling are a problem all around
(unfortunately, we are also to blame: negative words like "slacker,"
"idiot," "fool," "birdbrain" come easily to my mind...).
My 8th-grader came home yesterday saying:
"I think it would be better if the school didn't post lists of who is on
the honor roll. Other people are jealous and make fun of them, and say
things like 'they are abnormally smart,' so kids who want to be liked
stop trying to do well." (At least for now she says that kind of thing
doesn't bother _her_...)
My 3rd grader had a falling-out with two classmates because she told
them she didn't believe in god, and they took great offense.
This is in Santa Cruz, CA, not the heartland.
We are at some risk of returning to the medieval mindframe. The schism
has grown between the educated and the undereducated, the wealthy and
the struggling, the elite and the many, of late.
We can take some solace in the possibility that the current presidential
race may shift the popular current toward support for education and
social justice, but we all have to work really hard in the next 7 days.
The bigger the win, the better for us all.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] EDUCATION Solution and Problem Re: [ECOLOG-L]
Acceptance of basic research, even with fruit flies
Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:39:48 -0000
From: William Silvert <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Joe I referred to was Joe six-pack the plumber who seems to be the
main voter in the current US election. I do not think that
anti-intellectual
snobbery is mainly or even largely due to intellectual elitism. Almost all
the scientists and academics I know are either passive with regard to the
general public or are actively interested in getting their message across.
Just look at language. There are tons of words that imply negative attitudes
or downright hostility towards intellectuals, but I have trouble thinking of
any in the opposite direction. Egghead, smart-ass, longhair, etc. Aside from
condescending references to "elevator music" I think that most of the people
I know are simply ready to say "I don't like hip-hop/country/R&B" rather
than putting it down.
Anti-intellectualism is a basic part of our culture, and many others as
well. Totalitarian regimes usually kill off or imprison the academics,
students and and anyone else capable of thinking critically. It is much more
fundamental than simply rejection of snotty professors.
Unfortunately trying to reach out to and communicate with the general public
often backfires. Telling people that we study genetics with fruit flies is
an example. Can you imagine Palin geting a laugh out of telling people that
funding was going to something called Drosophila?
Bill Silvert
----- Original Message -----
From: "Wayne" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "William Silvert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, October 28, 2008 7:14 PM
Subject: EDUCATION Solution and Problem Re: [ECOLOG-L] Acceptance of basic
research, even with fruit flies
I admit an imperfect knowledge, and one perhaps somewhat biased by USA
provincialism, but it seems that part of this phenomenon must be laid to
the researchers themselves, and to a great extent to the academic community
at large. I do not suggest that any given professor can single-handedly
create more than a ripple where a tsunami is required, but then we can't
cast them all, innocent and guilty, into the sea simultaenously, eh?
But seriously, folks, how hard a look has been given at the complex of
phenomena which have given rise to, shall we say, "anti-intellectualism?"
Let's face it, academia is a GUILD. It is, by definition, an ELITE group.
And the more it hardens the line between itself and the outsiders, the
more the outsiders harden their side of the line. "Joe," in this case, is
a thinly-veiled insult to those outsiders. Academics should, then, expect
support?
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "William Silvert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 8:22 AM
Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Acceptance of basic research, even with fruit flies
It isn't just the public Joes that pose a problem. Governments too tend
to dump basic research when funding gets tight, failing to realise that
this is the resource on which all our scientific advances are based. The
past few decades have seen drastic cuts in research funding around the
globe, with only the most obvious applied projects being funded.
