It has long been an article of our folklore that too much knowledge or skill, or especially consummate expertise, is a bad thing. It dehumanizes those who achieve it, and makes difficult their commerce with just plain folks, in whom good old common sense has not been obliterated by mere book learning or fancy notions. This popular delusion flourishes now more than ever, for we are all infected with it in the schools, where educationists have elevated it from folklore to Article of Belief. It enhances their self-esteem and lightens their labors by providing theoretical justification for deciding that appreciation, or even simple awareness, is more to be prized than knowledge, and relating (to self and others), more than skill, in which minimum competence will be quite enough. — The Underground Grammarian
I wonder if this observation is generally true. And what cultures it applies to.
I believe it. You can see it in the students too… they have a tendency to believe that in all issues, there are only two possible options. Opening their eyes to the middle ground is probably the hardest part of teaching freshmen. So, naturally, they believe that there are only two types of people: overedcuated bookworms with no social skills or understand of real life, and undereducated morons who are nonetheless more interesting but actually as smart as the bookworms. I blame PBS, Disney movies, and dumb people for perpetuating the belief that no matter how smart you are, you’re just as smart as everyone else.