When I was in school, the attitude that many people had was that academic learning was worthless and that the only thing that mattered in life was common sense and social skills. You may want that attitude if you are raising salesmen and lawyers. But the country needs many people besides just that. You also need engineers, programmers, doctors, scientists, teachers and many others. And for these people, they better have academic knowledge. Having that attitude is one of the most irresponsible things that one can have. You are attacking your best minds and making enemies of people who otherwise would be your greatest contributors. And that hurts your country. So we have idiots riding around with signs that say “My son beat up your honor student.” Once again, these people are hurting mostly themselves. They make enemies of people who otherwise would be their greatest contributors. And that hurts their country more than it hurts anything else. For this state of affairs they blame – liberals, Jews, Communists, you name it. They should be blaming themselves. They destroy their best minds, and that renders them non-competitive. So then the minds attacked that way go into the academia. They are rightfully full of hatred. They buy into bullshit such as political correctness and Andrea Dworkin - Catherine McKinnon feminism. This does not serve the country at all. This serves its enemies. In school settings, the “jocks” are seen as exciting and the “nerds” are seen as bores. In the adult life that changes. The “jocks” settle into a predictable existence. The “nerds” keep learning, and they become more interesting people over the long run. At this point the “jocks” decide that the “nerd” types are evil. They are not. They are simply people who've bothered to educate themselves about many things, and they become more interesting over the long run than the people who have been “jocks.” Now not everyone who is a “nerd” is a good person, and not everyone who is a “jock” is a bad one. However for as long as people insist on destroying their best minds, they are going to lose. The correct solution to all this mess is to support and encourage academic learning. And then the people who tend to such things will become your country's contributors, and the influence of people who have a grudge against your country will be reduced.
I think what you're referring to came as a response to a push by academics to make post secondary education a "must". As this was gaining ground, there were many people who ridiculed any kind of job that didn't require education and training. Many working class people came to resent the idea that the jobs they did were for unintelligent people. The feeling of being insulted led to a backlash against academia. But I do see many people criticizing a college degree as too broad and wasteful. They seem to see college as some kind of job training rather than advanced learning. There's nothing wrong with public schools pushing to make kids college-ready, but college-ready can be community college with a training certificate or Associate degree. We just need to do away with the shaming style bumper stickers (on both sides).
There are more than jocks and nerds. There are also the stoners. Then there are the outcasts but no one ever noticed us.
When I was coming up all the starters in the backfield and on the wood were also in National Honor Society. The idea was to put out maximum effort to become well-rounded winners. The cheerleaders were just the same, all in National Honor Society, well-rounded winners. I didn't have as much ability and dedication as those high-ranking winners. I haven't done as well as those best of the best, but I have done okay.
https://www.hg.org/legal-articles/anti-bullying-laws-in-america-31372 I think it is now carefully addressed and deliberated.
