The Historical Development of Anti-Intellectualism in American Society

Implications for the Schooling of African Americans

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4766400
AutoresRobert D Cro (0000-0001-7654-9196, autor correspondente), Robert D Cross
Ano1990
Volume59
Fascículo1
Páginas19
Data de publicação1990-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Journal of Negro Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-2984 • E-ISSN: 2167-6437
EditoraJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2295289
OpenAlexW2316789140
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas4

Americans, perhaps more than most people in other nations, have been particularly ambivalent about the pursuit of intellectuality. On one hand, Americans passionately believe that every American child should receive extensive formal education; by the end of the nineteenth century, each state in the Union required that every child attend school. On the other hand, Americans have a history of being suspicious of intellect and of believing that common sense is more reliable than learning, that nature is a better guide than training, and that practical experience in the school of hard knocks is more valuable than formal education. An example of this preference can be found in Melville's classic, Moby Dick (1851), in which the American seaman Ishmael proudly declares that a sailing ship had been his Yale College and his Harvard. This article will examine the historical development of anti-intellectualism in American society, with particular emphasis on its implication for the schooling of African Americans. The most systematic elucidation of the peculiar sources and consequences of American anti-intellectualism can be found in Richard Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life (1963). As Hofstadter wrote

Intellectualism · Political science · Sociology · Anthropology · Law · Race, History, and American Society