Anti-intellectualism and the Education of High Ability Learners

This book is a study of anti-intellectualism and how it negatively influences the popular culture, general education and the education of high ability learners. The first chapter explores the author’s real life encounters with anti-intellectualism. The second chapter helps the reader understand anti-intellectualism by providing definitions and a typology of its different forms all set in historical context. The next portion of the book is devoted to examining how anti-intellectualism manifests itself in the popular culture and the mass media. The fourth chapter examines the many ways that the hostility toward education and learning affects general education. Next is an exploration of the problems caused by anti-intellectualism with regard to gifted students and high ability learners. The rest of the book is devoted to a review of the solutions offered by researchers and authors and recommendations to solve the educational problems caused by the antagonism aimed at learning and students who do well in school.