Michael’s Reviews > Anti-Intellectualism in American Life > Status Update

Statement on "abnormal" children From the United States Office of Education (1950s) - "A considerable number of children...deviate sufficiently from mental, physical, and behavioral norms to require special educational provision. Among them are the blind, the deaf and the hard of hearing, the speech defective, the crippled, the delicate, the epileptic, the mentally deficient and the extraordinarily gifted."

Religion in the United States started with a schism that rejected leadership and diluted itself to convert others out of practicality. This practicality combined well with the early American businessman who saw himself as "self made" and not in need of a formal education which was viewed as lacking monetary or technical value. These two factors all but guaranteed most Americans would view art/intellect as useless.