Some Americans have always wanted their schools to provide a liberal education, giving students opportunities to read great books, study the academic disciplines, and expand their minds. But many others, perhaps most of us, have looked for ways to avoid the slow, hard work of academic learning. As the historian Robert Hampel explains, we tend to…

This article examines how the concept of freedom has been appropriated by the far right to impose a number of authoritarian policies designed to dismantle the critical functions of public and higher education. It explores, in particular, the ways in which Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis has used an appeal to freedom to punish critics,…

In this article, William Ayers constructs his Phil Smith Lecture as a call to action. Grounded in democratic principles of equality and social justice, the author invokes a liberal conception of human worth and the universal right to educational opportunity. The author critiques the passivity of the American polity in the face of Barack Obama's…

Earlier 20th-century thinkers like Lewis Mumford and Edmund Wilson kept the university and its apparatus at arm's length. Indeed, they often disdained it. They oriented themselves toward an educated public, and, as a result, they developed a straightforward prose and gained a nonprofessional audience. As his reputation grew, Wilson printed up a…

Our article seeks to integrate alternative voices into traditional rhetorical study by turning to "Bitch" and "BUST," two mainstream zines that serve as dynamic examples of young women's rhetoric in action. We believe these zines are shaping the present and future of women's rhetoric. Their most significant contribution to the understanding of…

In this article, the author refutes the arguments forwarded by William Deresiewicz in his much-discussed essay, "The American Scholar." Deresiewicz claimed that his background (as a student at Columbia and a former associate professor of English at Yale) rendered him incapable of a few minutes of small talk with the plumber who came to fix his…

The evangelical tone and history of American culture has long been identified as a force for anti-intellectualism. The metaphors of educational reform are a demonstration of how this plays out. The very nature of the positivist social science research used to support proposed reform is anti-intellectual and feeds a debate that favors extremes over…

Analyzes a number of situations that reveal students' disinterest in learning about events and people from the past; traces possible causes of this disinterest. (RL)

One goal of education should be to sensitize students to the meaning of what is said and the way valid knowledge is established. (JD)

Defines theory and the role of theory in envisioning new worlds, making things, and critiquing practice, and discusses theory and practice in information technology (IT). Highlights inappropriate uses of theory (superficiality, elitism, ivory tower syndrome, provincialism, muddled thinking, anti-intellectualism), and emphasizes superficiality and…

Maintains that anti-intellectualism threatens intellectual freedom when thinking is regarded only as an activity that experts and specialists do and when judgments of value are not regarded as central to library work. Intellectuals are seen as making discriminating judgments while anti-intellectuals discriminate against them. Six references are…

The author decries the tactics of one-issue pressure groups seeking to censor sex education and other educational activities. He sees these groups as an anti-intellectual force attacking the free exchange of ideas, which is the major purpose and function of schools in a democracy. (SJL)

This paper discusses anti-intellectualism in the United States from a rural viewpoint, defines "ideology," and questions whether the psychology of gifted education is an ideology. Fear and loathing of intellectuals are identified with the working class, a view that distorts the role of intellectuals. A rural view of anti-intellectualism…

A high school student discusses symptoms of Americans' lack of interest in pursuing their dreams. The American dream has been replaced for many by the need for financial security. The decline of the American dream is reflected in our political leadership and in the decline in importance of intellectual pursuits. (RM)

Critical thinking is not only the basis of philosophy, it is also the essence of education, the salient feature that distinguishes education from training. (CJ)