Reply #37: As a former college professor, I didn't judge my students' intelligence by

[Lydia Leftcoast]

what facts they knew but by their attitude toward learning. If they had intellectual curiosity, liked to read, and sought out new and enriching experiences, I figured that nothing could hold them back.

But there were too many passive blobs, students who just wanted the highest grade possible while learning as little as possible. They didn't want to be educated; they wanted to be certified.

It was sad to hear students say, "I hate to read" or to admit that they didn't read a single book during a five-week winter break. It was discouraging to have world-class speakers and performers come to campus to perform before audiences that consisted mainly of faculty, townspeople, annoyed students whose professors required them to attend, and a very few students who were genuinely interested. They didn't want to take advantage of the affordable and accessible study abroad programs. They didn't want to associate with the foreign students. All they wanted to do was watch TV, play video games, party, or possibly spend 15-20 hours a week on sports practice.

I blame our pop culture, which has consistently belittled intellectual activity or made it seem suspect and become consistently dumber itself. The role models that are held up for boys in the mass media are either strong, violent, and non-intellectual (in the thrillers and fantasy films) or crude and callous (in the comedies).

The way boys are raised in Middle America these days reminds me of the passage about the Epsilons in Brave New World. They are the lowest caste in that hypothetical future society, and they are prevented from ever having higher ambitions by being forced to associate books (knowledge) and flowers (beauty) with painful electric shocks. We perhaps don't use electric shocks, but we use negative role models to lure boys into the "strong but dumb" mold and ridicule to keep in line those who don't conform.