Asia's Cult of Intelligence versus the US' Cult of Ignorance

[eric82oslo]

A Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas, John W. Traphagan, has written a very interesting and perhaps somewhat thoughtprovoking essay for The Diplomat: http://thediplomat.com/2014/06/asias-cult-of-intelligence/

A couple of excerpts from the essay...

"The answer, I think, can be found in a comment science fiction writer Isaac Asimov made about the U.S. while being interviewed in the 1980s: “There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”"

"The troubles lie in the cult of ignorance and anti-intellectualism that has been a long-standing part of American society and which has become increasingly evident and powerful in recent years through the propagandizing and proselytizing of groups like the Tea Party and the religious right."

"In Japan, for example, teachers are held in high esteem and normally viewed as among the most important members of a community. I have never run across the type of suspicion and even disdain for the work of teachers that occurs in the U.S. Teachers in Japan typically are paid significantly more than their peers in the U.S. The profession of teaching is one that is seen as being of central value in Japanese society and those who choose that profession are well compensated in terms of salary, pension, and respect for their knowledge and their efforts on behalf of children."

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The thing is, aside from Israel and Japan, every university in Asia is outranked by schools like Arizona State University . Not one Chinese university is in the top 100, and it was a Chinese university that compiled the rankings, LOL.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities

[Mordecai]

This isn't very surprising to hear from a liberal university professor. Of course he would value the contributions of his own profession to society above all others, the lazy moocher. He seems to think that you can come full circle by increasing funding to the government education industry complex. The only result is that the unions win and the common man loses. I hope he gets fired so that he can find a real job and stop mooching off the public treasury.

[Meursault]

The problem is populism. In all other societies - at least those with a history of aristocracy - the conservative impulse translates itself as an elitist, hierarchical phenomenon. Education is to be valued as a status symbol.

Not so here in America, where the Right is socially levelling. Here we have the sickening experience of right-wing class warfare, against cultural 'elites'. Which is why our Right can make a champion of so vile and inferior a specimen of humanity as, say, that bearded "man" from Duck Dynasty.

[All Along The Watchtower]

In all other societies - at least those with a history of aristocracy - the conservative impulse translates itself as an elitist, hierarchical phenomenon. Education is to be valued as a status symbol.

This is a good thing....why?

Anyway, I think the problem isn't "populism" per se, but rather the importance of racism in how social class is experienced in America (and how American society is highly stratified largely on that basis).

[krazen1211]

Strange, given that US spending on the government education industry complex dwarfs Japan on a per capita basis.

But I suppose they don't have a moocher problem.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Strange, given that US spending on the government education industry complex dwarfs Japan on a per capita basis.

But I suppose they don't have a moocher problem.

All the fact that you think Japan doesn't have what you would consider 'a moocher problem' demonstrates is that you don't know anything about Japan.

[AggregateDemand]

Religious studies professor unhappy with his social capital and salary. Alleges sophisticated conspiracy organized by the dumbs.

If anything, this article illustrates the culture of entitlement within the US education system, and our society's proclivity for humoring academics who complain about their chosen profession. Besides basic coordination of curriculum, nationalizing healthcare holds very little promise.

I don't know much about Traphagan, but this sounds like routine clueless ranting from a liberal Texas educator. They state is heavily Republican. They live in a state where education is not particularly well-regarded amongst the elites, compared to other regions, like the Northeast.

Rather than looking at Texas' actual track record of educational reform and innovation, which has a history of mixed results, liberals create a narrative that indulges their confirmation bias about "conservative" Texas.

[krazen1211]

This isn't very surprising to hear from a liberal university professor. Of course he would value the contributions of his own profession to society above all others, the lazy moocher. He seems to think that you can come full circle by increasing funding to the government education industry complex. The only result is that the unions win and the common man loses. I hope he gets fired so that he can find a real job and stop mooching off the public treasury.

All good points! These are thrifty and crafty folk. Japan shows a good path to winning the treasury back.


Link

Teachers’ wages in almost all countries in the world have been on an increase over the last ten years. In Japan, however, their wages were reduced by 9% during the same period of time.

Compared to 21.2 pupils on the OECD average, 28 children on average are crammed in one classroom in elementary schools in Japan, and 32.9 students in junior high schools as of 2010, making the class size in Japan the second largest among OECD member states.

[All Along The Watchtower]

By the way...is this yet another OMG THE ASIANS* ARE THE MODEL MINORITY type sentiment that is all too common among middle-class white Americans?

*As if "Asians" or "Asian-Americans" really existed, let alone were a monolithic group. I mean, seriously folks...

[Miles]

Strange, given that US spending on the government education industry complex dwarfs Japan on a per capita basis.

But I suppose they don't have a moocher problem.

All the fact that you think Japan doesn't have what you would consider 'a moocher problem' demonstrates is that you don't know anything about Japan.

It's funny when some project their bizarre beliefs onto others.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

This isn't very surprising to hear from a liberal university professor. Of course he would value the contributions of his own profession to society above all others, the lazy moocher. He seems to think that you can come full circle by increasing funding to the government education industry complex. The only result is that the unions win and the common man loses. I hope he gets fired so that he can find a real job and stop mooching off the public treasury.

All good points! These are thrifty and crafty folk. Japan shows a good path to winning the treasury back.


Link

Teachers’ wages in almost all countries in the world have been on an increase over the last ten years. In Japan, however, their wages were reduced by 9% during the same period of time.

Compared to 21.2 pupils on the OECD average, 28 children on average are crammed in one classroom in elementary schools in Japan, and 32.9 students in junior high schools as of 2010, making the class size in Japan the second largest among OECD member states.

Read a Japanese satirical novel written after 1980, or any work of modern Japanese crime fiction with a teenage culprit.

[traininthedistance]

This isn't very surprising to hear from a liberal university professor. Of course he would value the contributions of his own profession to society above all others, the lazy moocher. He seems to think that you can come full circle by increasing funding to the government education industry complex. The only result is that the unions win and the common man loses. I hope he gets fired so that he can find a real job and stop mooching off the public treasury.

All good points! These are thrifty and crafty folk. Japan shows a good path to winning the treasury back.


Link

Teachers’ wages in almost all countries in the world have been on an increase over the last ten years. In Japan, however, their wages were reduced by 9% during the same period of time.

Compared to 21.2 pupils on the OECD average, 28 children on average are crammed in one classroom in elementary schools in Japan, and 32.9 students in junior high schools as of 2010, making the class size in Japan the second largest among OECD member states.

Read a Japanese satirical novel written after 1980, or any work of modern Japanese crime fiction with a teenage culprit.

Wait a second, you're asking krazen to read?  Good luck.

[Indy Texas]

By the way...is this yet another OMG THE ASIANS* ARE THE MODEL MINORITY type sentiment that is all too common among middle-class white Americans?

*As if "Asians" or "Asian-Americans" really existed, let alone were a monolithic group. I mean, seriously folks...

Upper-middle class white people love Asians and Asian-Americans even more than we hate poor whites.

[AggregateDemand]

Upper-middle class white people love Asians and Asian-Americans even more than we hate poor whites.

Go to the south side of Houston and see how the Vietnamese live. Upper-middle class white people respect northern Asian cultures.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Upper-middle class white people love Asians and Asian-Americans even more than we hate poor whites.

Go to the south side of Houston and see how the Vietnamese live. Upper-middle class white people respect northern Asian cultures.

.....

[Meursault]

Elitism is useful because it dissolves artificial hierarchies rooted in popular superstition and prejudice (homophobia and racism) in favor of a natural stratification founded on ability. This is not the false market meritocracy of Capital, but a modern reconception of the ancient sense of noblesse oblige.

The masses love Jesus and hate the Other. The masses, then, should be brought to heel.

[AggregateDemand]

.....

My post was unclear. Look how Vietnamese Texans are segregated (somewhat voluntarily), ignored or scorned by the greater Houston community.

Elitists are not interested in normal cultures. They want to latch on to the glamorous exceptional achievers on the Asian continent.

[Meursault]

^

Observe the stupidity that attaches itself to market liberalism, in the guise of populism, at work.

[The Mikado]

Elitism is useful because it dissolves artificial hierarchies rooted in popular superstition and prejudice (homophobia and racism) in favor of a natural stratification founded on ability. This is not the false market meritocracy of Capital, but a modern reconception of the ancient sense of noblesse oblige.

The masses love Jesus and hate the Other. The masses, then, should be brought to heel.

I'm sure you'll fare so well in a society based purely on elitism and aristocracy.

[Meursault]

Not at all. I've never attended college - I never even completed high school. I do not expect to be a member of the elite, and would not warrant being one. What I advocate for I do out of contempt for the course of Western history since the eighteenth (and really since the third) century and because a vertically-structured society, done right, can accomplish progressive aims better than a democratized one ever will.

[AggregateDemand]

^

Observe the stupidity that attaches itself to market liberalism, in the guise of populism, at work.

Social Security and Medicare reform. So populist that everyone is against it.

Deficit spending and self-destruction are populism in the US.

[Meursault]

I don't remotely care about economics. Being lumpen frees me to focus my attention on cultural concerns. And in that sphere you peddle the same mindless moronism as your fellow Republicans, despite the veneer of being an accultured neoliberal you've adopted.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

The truth is that one of our parties is devoted to hillbilly supremacy and the other is partially devoted to coddling losers. East Asia lacks those types of parties, so they naturally work harder and are smarter than either your soccer moms, your rednecks, or your hoodlums.
This is why we need Obama: he is cutting through this nonsense with common core.

[AggregateDemand]

I don't remotely care about economics. Being lumpen frees me to focus my attention on cultural concerns. And in that sphere you peddle the same mindless moronism as your fellow Republicans, despite the veneer of being an accultured neoliberal you've adopted.

Sociocultural politics is the epitome of idiocy. I'm sorry you haven't realized it yet, but that's why the socioeconomists and behavioral scientists are working to make the social crusaders learn to live with one another.