I recently came across a discussion that sparked my interest.

Do we, as a culture believe that being intelligent is a virtue? Do we think smart people are “stuck up”? Do we value educational achievement as a society or only in individual families? I’ve had people tell me that they never watch the news, read a paper or check out a news site on the internet. Do adults in our society value learning new things or is it viewed as acting “intellectually superior” to do that?

I was never the “smartest kid” in the class growing up, but often times felt there were some kids that just didn’t care about their education, and it was evident that their parents didn’t either. These kids often ridiculed the kids that took their education seriously, and would make it known that they “looked down” on them. This behavior, as I look back on it, was prevalent from middle school through college. It seems to me that this behavior isn’t necessarily a “one off” thing, but something that is in fact inherent in American society.

Could this be a worldwide epidemic, or a trait found only in America?