It’s part of the American tradition of anti-intellectualism and placing the value of common sense over true knowledge and genuine insight.

I was in a conversation a day or so ago, with a guy who was down on The University of Notre Dame, "Because that’s where all the smart, rich kids go." I replied that the students there were pretty much from all classes, and that no qualified student has ever been denied admission and education at Notre Dame because of money. He replied, "Yeah, but that’s for the smart kids.The ones who get straight As" Uh, OK. I guess I don’t want to have Notre Dame trying to teach Theoretical Physics to C+ students, but who knows what a motivated average guy or gal can learn? I answered back, "Yeah, but they’re OUR smart kids. We’re gonna need them to be smart when all those Muslim and Chinese and Russian kids start catching up."

He was OK with it then. I didn’t bother explaining the obvious idiocy of his stance, or my counter argument, for that matter, which was the only way I could drive him out of his provincial attitude.

Tom