Comments on: Monday PSA: Announcement from General Hap Arnold http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2121 a blog of medicine, comics, television, science and other fun stuff Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:37:50 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Sean Duggan http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2121/comment-page-1#comment-433629 Sean Duggan Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2121#comment-433629 @Khalil - It is an interesting phenomenon. I find it fascinating that we have no problem saying that one person is faster, stronger, or healthier than another, but the moment you say someone is smarter or better educated, the hackles raise. Some of it's probably due to higher degrees often concentrating on the theoretical versus the practical. There's probably also some romantic notions of "pioneer spirit" and American <a HREF="tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Determinator" rel="nofollow">determination</a> where people are convinced that hard word and a dose of common sense will trump education each time. I think this bias may also be one of the reasons why teaching is considered to be such a lowly job in the U.S. as well. It's interesting looking at it from the perspective of folklore as well. Other than Batman, how often does the hero succeed because he's more intelligent? More often, the intelligent people trip themselves up while it's the craftier and more enduring people who succeed. @Khalil – It is an interesting phenomenon. I find it fascinating that we have no problem saying that one person is faster, stronger, or healthier than another, but the moment you say someone is smarter or better educated, the hackles raise. Some of it’s probably due to higher degrees often concentrating on the theoretical versus the practical. There’s probably also some romantic notions of “pioneer spirit” and American determination where people are convinced that hard word and a dose of common sense will trump education each time. I think this bias may also be one of the reasons why teaching is considered to be such a lowly job in the U.S. as well.

It’s interesting looking at it from the perspective of folklore as well. Other than Batman, how often does the hero succeed because he’s more intelligent? More often, the intelligent people trip themselves up while it’s the craftier and more enduring people who succeed.

]]> By: Khalil http://www.politedissent.com/archives/2121/comment-page-1#comment-433445 Khalil Wed, 12 Nov 2008 01:23:28 +0000 http://politedissent.com/?p=2121#comment-433445 Too true. I'm a med student right now, and it amazes me that people sneer at "egg-heads." It's like, if your dad or mom is sick, are you going to take him or her to an "egg-head" doctor or a doctor who says he got bad grades in med school? Too true. I’m a med student right now, and it amazes me that people sneer at “egg-heads.” It’s like, if your dad or mom is sick, are you going to take him or her to an “egg-head” doctor or a doctor who says he got bad grades in med school?

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