Are Americans just plain dumb?
Let me start off this post by saying this is not about bashing Americans. I’m sure we all have an opinion about the current state of the US and the War on Terror. But this post is asking something I’ve pondered before when I took a look at the New York State Regents Exam in History, with its multiple-choice questions accompanied by plenty of clues. Are Americans less well-educated than the rest of the world? And warning: there’s a bit of a rant ahead, so skip it if you’re not interested in thinking about whether contemporary society is guilty of shallow intellectualism.
I’ll back up a bit: my first introduction to the US and Americans was in the late 1990s, when I was asked by a US technology company to do a conference and workshop tour, talking about their technology and KM. I have to say I really loved the US, particularly Boston and Chicago. Would even consider living there if it wasn’t for the circus that is their immigration system.
What really stunned me though was this - over dinner with some executives in Philadelphia someone commented that Australians always seem to be so well-travelled (well, that’s because we live at the arse-end of the world as Paul Keating had a habit of reminding us and so we need to get off our proverbial butts to see anything). But it was the next comment that stopped me in my tracks: “so do you really have kangaroos hopping down the streets of Sydney and what’s it like to have a Queen as your President?“.
I took a few moments to see whether this question was a joke at my expense. And did he mean THE Queen or a queen? I had visions of seeing our Prime Minister (note to Americans: we don’t have a President) participating in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras!
Over the next month, I travelled through Texas, Virginia, New York, Florida and LA and I started to notice a pattern. The news on TV talked only of America and US events. Hardly a word was uttered about international news. But then of course 9/11 hit the US and forced Americans to lift their collective heads up and notice that there is a world beyond the borders of the Land of the Free.
So it was interesting to read about a new book by Susan Jacoby, The Age of American Unreason, which bemoans the current state of American “culture”. Jacoby is 62 years old but I don’t think she can be accused of being a fossil blaming young people for an apparent demise in intellectualism.
I’m sure you’ve all seen this cringe-worthy video on YouTube of Kellie Pickler (of American Idol 15 minutes of fame). Competing against a 5th grader, she was asked: “Budapest is the capital of what European country?“. Her reply? “I thought Europe was a country“.
Is this an isolated case or are we living in such an age of commercialism and obsession with self and reality TV that there is a backlash against the acquiring of basic knowledge? A varied intellectual life is the very basis of a functioning democracy. But 6 out of 10 young Americans didn’t know where Iraq was on the map when National Geographic conducted a poll in 2006 and recently an American I met confused Australia with Austria (okay, I can see the similarity, we Australians love to yodel too!).
Have Americans given up on the Enlightenment values of rationality, pursuit of the scientific method and encouragement of diversity of thought and argument? Are Americans now a society being kept amused and stupefied by infotainment; determined to weed out “the different”; and demonstrating an antipathy towards science from the fundamentalist religious right?
Jacoby’s book brings to mind Richard Hofstadter’s tour de force, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, published in 1963. I read it during my university days and if I remember correctly, Hofstadter highlighted three pillars of anti-intellectualism — evangelical religion, practical-minded business and the populist political style. Despite the rise of the notion of expertise enshrined in knowledge management and despite the expertise of technology geeky types, I think the three pillars are still firmly rooted in America.
Anti-intellectualism can be seen everywhere: the decline of educational standards; the corporatisation of universities; suspicion of science and medicine, leading to the rise of alternative medicine and so on. We have “expert intellectuals” (consultants), not “critical intellectuals”, schooled in the art of argument, debate and the ability to reason. We have specialists rather than expert generalists.
The postmodernist mood following WWII reacted to, if not rejected, the assumed certainty of scientific efforts to explain reality. So no one explanation is valid for all groups, cultures or races. Reality is constructed individually through our own interpretation of concrete experiences. The abstract is rejected in favour of the concrete.
This is why today’s mantra of “well, I’m entitled to my own opinion” is so sacrosanct. This is why reality TV shows reign supreme - they’re about real world experiences of grappling with weight issues; surviving isolation on some Pacific island; racing around the world looking for clues to the next destination or what task to perform.
This is why you have an American President that is better known for his comic gaffes and lack of curiosity about the world than for serious intellectualism. It is why we tend to speak or advertise in slogans and it is why our society is one of glibness and self-absorption. It is why popular science tries to pass itself off as serious science and it is why we are critical of each other rather than providing a critique. It is why business is obsessed with the bottom line, efficiency and productivity because serious intellectual pursuit requires inquiry and reflection (aka time wasters). And so we have closed minds.
Okay I realise I’m on a rant here. I’m not saying that Americans are the dumbest people on the planet. I could sling all of the above at Australia. And I think the internet, our obsession with iPods, YouTube, MySpace and so on has ushered in an age of solipsism.
What do you think?
Made in Australia
Curtis said,
March 5, 2008 @ 1:36 pm
Those executives in Philadelphia could have used with this blog entry I think you might enjoy, “20 Things that culturally defines Australia” —http://www.the-trukstop.com/articles/2008/australia.html
I have to tell you, it makes me sad that the first image isn’t a reality…
thinkingshift said,
March 7, 2008 @ 5:06 am
Curtis
LOL! great blog link and thx for the sharing.
Kim
Grad Student said,
March 10, 2008 @ 5:17 am
Great post thinkingshift, I have a couple random thoughts about your essay.
1) Are you falling for a caricature of Americans seen in shows like the Simpsons? Is it possible that Americans with an average (mediocre) education are just as dumb as average citizens in other first world countries?
2) You might be overreaching a bit when you place (at least part of) the blame on that extremely nebulous overused (okay so I use it too much also) word, “postmodernism.” After your paragraph starting with, “the postmodernist mood,” you have a bunch of “this is why” statements. I assume you’re using the postmodern condition to explain all the negatives you list after that paragraph, but there may be some more banal explanations for why our– yes I’m one of them– president can’t seem to master basic English grammar.
In the end though, I think you’re correct. The American culture could use some drastic improvements.
thinkingshift said,
March 12, 2008 @ 9:17 am
Well grad student good to hear from you. Would be interested to hear why you think I’m over-reaching by raising postmodernism (yep, agree it’s a used and abused term) - however, does it not go some way towards explaining the rejection of the scientific narrative & its replacement with a myriad of narratives, one of which is the “me as individual and I’m right” narrative? And so mediocrity counts for just as much as intellectualism. Glibness & self-absorption count as much as caring for others and communal spirit.
But as I said in the post, the same can be slung at Australia.
biosios said,
March 13, 2008 @ 8:03 am
Aussies are no position whatsoever to criticise America; Hofstadter’s criticisms apply here too, and forget about this post-modernism bollocks; it has little to do with the issue. these problems are endemic to the anglo saxon world, esp in the ‘new world’. go and do some proper research. Australia is a country full of small men, with small ideas. American is also a country full of small men, but due to its relative size, it appears they have big men. both countries place great reliance on the ‘efficiency principle’, and it has affected almost every major sector of social/political/economic, and even ’spiritual’ life. over specialisation creates an ignorant society. the difference between the ‘new world’ countries, and that of most of first world Europe, at least in terms of general knowledge, worldview, and ethos, is considerable.
forgot postmodernism. Weber provides more insights into these problems.
later
thinkingshift said,
March 13, 2008 @ 9:07 am
and you are from where biosios? if you read the post carefully, I said that what I was saying applied to Australia too. I think if you researched postmodernism you might find it has quite a bit to do with the issue IMHO.
Perhaps you’d like to enlighten us re your Weber comment? (don’t take this question to mean I haven’t read Weber: I have).
biosios said,
March 13, 2008 @ 10:04 am
postmodernism is a load of bullshit. most of the theories are rubbish. i understand the problem of relativism you are getting at, but that’s not specifically a ‘postmodern’ problem; it has been around for ages. you are definitely correct in identifying it as one of _the_ modern problems now, especially in the absence of a true elitist culture, but even Nietzche was concerned about it in his day.
if you have read Weber why do i need to explain my position?
Weber’s point about rationality, and how it relates to efficiency, is part of the reason we are in the mess we are in now. Marx got the first part right, about the dangers of rigid specialisation in work and life, but Weber took it further by explaining how this ‘iron cage of subordination’ blinds us to the possibilities of a world outside of the one we have–both consciously and unconsciously–created. once we can no longer agree on values, and once they become drained of all substantive meaning and purpose, all that’s really left is the market, and Australia and America are both work oriented cultures. any idea that is not conducive to hard work is usually feared or dismissed. this obviously has massive(i.e negative) effects on the development of ‘culture’, which is practically non-existent in Australia. so if we Aussies are ignorant and stupid, it’s because all these ‘administrative techniques’ have seriously undermined our ability to think, eroded individuality, and turned us into conformist, consumerist, economic drones.
the only postmodern thinker that came close to addressing this was Foucault, but he didn’t really consider himself a postmodernist, plus his ideas about power are sometimes fanciful and based on his own unique brand of intellectual dishonesty; Foucault was (rightfully) accused of factual distortion.
thinkingshift said,
March 13, 2008 @ 10:17 am
well, we’re not in disagreement biosios and I asked you to talk about Weber because I’m interested to hear what you have to say and I’m sure other TS readers will too. Check out some of my previous posts where I rant and rave about the consumerist/materialistic society that we are in the grip of. Individualism has been lost.
The only part I don’t agree with you on is the postmodern condition. I don’t think it’s rubbish.
biosios said,
March 13, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
^^ok, i’ll check out your other posts sometime on the weekend.
i take it your familiar with Donald Horne? it’s really quite startling to think how accurate his portrayal of Australian life was in the 60’s, and how relevant it is today, forty years on. ‘The Lucky Country’ ought to be mandatory reading in secondary schools across the country.
thinkingshift said,
March 13, 2008 @ 7:13 pm
I thought the Lucky Country WAS mandatory reading!! damn shame if it’s not.
Luke Naismith said,
March 23, 2008 @ 10:23 am
Hi there Kim
Nice to bash the seppos - they are such an easy target!
One of my favourite books on the topic is Why Do People Hate America by Zia Sardar
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Do-People-Hate-America/dp/184046383X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206267701&sr=8-1
And the answer to your title of this post is - not dumb, just ignorant. But maybe I am being too nice
thinkingshift said,
March 23, 2008 @ 12:06 pm
Hi there Luke
I’ve read Sardar’s book - it’s good isn’t it. Possibly you are being too nice
Kim
eric said,
July 20, 2008 @ 5:50 am
As an educator in field of higher education for the last twenty years, I have discussed this very question with many of my colleagues. I have come to my own conclusion, that, yes indeed, Americans on average have gotten dumber over the last several decades. Many of my colleagues vehemently disagree. I have listened to their arguments, and I still reach the same conclusion. I can not help but think that the American welfare system has essentially eroded the nuclear family structure, replacing fathers, and allowing, even encouraging, the less intelligent to reproduce at a much higher rate than would otherwise have happened. Mix in so called no-fault divorce, the feminist takeover of the family court system, and an open border that allows any criminal to walk across the border and the conditions are perfect to allow the less intelligent to thrive. The once mighty and noble United States is now just another third world country living off its laurels. Soon, nobody will remember its accomplishments and contributions and we will be blamed for every problem facing the world. Hell, we already are blamed for everything. It’s sad, but every empire eventually falls.