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Analysis Of Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate The Smart Kids

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In Grant Penrod’s Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, Penrod states his belief that we seemingly “hate” the brightest kids in school partially because of some of the most “noted dropouts” in today’s society. Additionally, Penrod claims that the perceived hatred of intelligence in a high school setting is causing actual emotional harm to the children who are labeled as the “nerds” or “geeks”- thus, the classic “smart kids.” If entering just about any of the several thousand high schools around the country, they will hear choruses of “Did you actually study?’, “Why would you even bother studying- the game was on last night”, “Of course I didn’t study; I had football practice” or dozens of similar taunting phrases can be heard constantly …show more content…

In Penrod’s Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, Penrod provides a brief summary of how teens are affected by their peers ridiculing and judgement. *insert supporting (integrated) quote from the article* From this, it is clear to see that it isn’t harmless what is being done in these situations. Kids are going home from school feeling broken, embarrassed, and outcast by those who were once their friends. Anyone can tell stories about how high school is all a popularity contest of different cliques, but no one is ever really willing to talk about how extreme this contest really is. There have been several news articles chronicling the bullying of kids who are designated as ‘too intelligent’ and are thus being bullied because of it. In a survey by Huffington Post, evidence dictates that, “When it comes to core academic subjects, one in 10 children say they have made an effort to hide their science ability, while nearly one in five girls and more than one in 10 boys deliberately underachieve in math to evade bullying (Kuczynski-Brown).” The children surveyed ages spanned from eleven to sixteen, when we are most conscious of how our peers perceive us. If kids are being this noticeably harmed by how they are being treated, something should be done to correct the issue. Kids across the world are being endlessly bullied because they enjoy something- but if the matter were reversed- meaning, if a ‘smart’ kid teased an athlete- the consequences would be much more severe than they are now, seeing as they are essentially

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