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Americans today don’t place a very high value on intellect.Our heroes are athletes，entertainers，and entrepreneurs，not scholars.Even our schools are where we send our children to get a practical education—not to pursue knowledge for the sake of knowledge.Symptoms of pervasive anti-intellectualism in our schools aren’t difficult to find.
“Schools have always been in a society where practical is more important than intellectual，”says education writer Diane Ravitch.“Schools could be a counterbalance.” Razitch’s latest book，Left Back：A Century of Failed School Reforms，traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools，concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits.
But they could and should be.Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control.Without the ability to think critically，to defend their ideas and to understand the ideas of others，they cannot fully participate in our democracy.Continuing along this path，says writer Earl Shorris，“We will become a second-rate country.We will have a less civil society.”
“Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege，”writes historian and professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life，a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in US politics，religion，and education.From the beginning of our history，says Hofstadter，our democratic and populist urges have driven us to reject anything that smells of elitism.Practicality，common sense，and native intelligence have been considered more noble qualities than anything you could learn from a book.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children：“We are shut up in schools and college recitation rooms for 10 or 15 years and come out at last with a bellyful of words and do not know a thing.”Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn exemplified American anti-intellectualism.Its hero avoids being civilized—going to school and learning to read—so he can preserve his innate goodness.
Intellect，according to Hofstadter，is different from native intelligence，a quality we reluctantly admire.Intellect is the critical，creative，and contemplative side of the mind.Intelligence seeks to grasp，manipulate，re-order，and adjust，while intellect examines，ponders，wonders，theorizes，criticizes and imagines.
School remains a place where intellect is mistrusted.Hofstadter says our country’s educational system is in the grips of people who“joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise”.
重点词汇：
intellect 才学，学识（n.）
athlete 运动员，体育家（n.）
entertainer 专业演员（n.）
entrepreneur 企业家（n.）
pursue 追赶；追求；继续；从事（v.）
symptom 征兆；表现（n.）
pervasive 到处弥漫的；普遍的（adj.）
counterbalance 平衡力；使平衡（n./v.）
distaste 厌恶（n/v.）
vulnerable 易受攻击的；脆弱的（adj.）
resent 愤恨，怨恨（v.）
privilege 特权（n.）
populist 平民主义者（n.）
elitism 精英统治论，精英主义（n.）
rigorous 严格的，严厉的（adj.）
restraint 抑制，克制（n.）
bellyful 满肚子（n.）
exemplify 例证（v.）
contemplative 沉思的（adj.）(https://www.daowen.com)
manipulate [熟练地]操作，[巧妙地]处理（v.）
ponder 沉思，考虑（v.）
theorize 建立理论，理论化（v.）
militantly 好战的（adj.）
hostility 敌意，敌对（n.）
proclaim 声明；宣布（v.）
identify 识别，鉴别（v.）
难句分析：
①Razitch’s latest book，Left Back：A Century of Failed School Reforms，traces the roots of anti-intellectualism in our schools，concluding they are anything but a counterbalance to the American distaste for intellectual pursuits.
【结构分析】句子的主干是Razitch’s latest book traces the roots
。Left Back：A Century of Failed School Reforms是book的同位语，concluding引导的是状语。
【理解难点】其中they指代前面的schools；anything but在此处的意思是“绝不，远非”，counterbalance的意思是“抗衡”，distaste的意思是“讨厌”。注意concluding
后面的宾语从句中各个词之间的肯定和否定关系。
【句子翻译】莱维西的最新著作《落后：一个世纪的失败学校改革》探索了学校里反智主义倾向的根源，书中的结论是：美国学校根本未能制衡美国人对学识追求的厌恶。
②Encouraging kids to reject the life of the mind leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and control.Without the ability to think critically，to defend their ideas and to understand the ideas of others，they cannot fully participate in our democracy.
【结构分析】第一句话的谓语动词是leaves，动名词短语充当句子的主语。第二句话中三个平行的动词不定式to think，to defend，to understand做ability的后置定语。
③“Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege，”writes historian and professor Richard Hofstadter in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life，a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the roots of anti-intellectualism in US politics，religion，and education.
【结构分析】句子主干为一个直接引语，“Intellect is resented as a form of power or privilege，”writes historian and professor Richard Hofstadter后面连接的in Anti-Intellectualism in American Life做状语，斜体部分为书名，a Pulitzer Prize winning book为同位语。
【句子翻译】历史学家兼教授理查德·霍夫斯塔特在《美国生活中的反智主义》一书中写道：“学识被看作一种权利或特权而遭厌恶。”该书探讨了美国政治、宗教和教育中的反智主义的根源，曾获普利策图书奖。
④Hofstadter says our country’s educational system is in the grips of people who“joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children who show the least intellectual promise”.
【结构分析】本句的主干是Hofstadter says
，后面是says的宾语从句our country’s educational system is in the grips of people
。其中people后面的who引导一个定语从句who“joyfully and militantly proclaim their hostility to intellect and their eagerness to identify with children
，而children后面又有一个who引导的定语从句。
译文：
今天的美国人不是很看重学识。我们的英雄不是学者而是运动员、演艺圈明星和企业家。甚至我们的学校也只是我们送孩子去接受实用教育的地方，而不是让他们为了知识而去追求学问。在学校里不难发现反智主义的普遍表现。
教育学作家戴安·莱维西说：“学校始终处于实用重于学识的社会之中。”“学校本来可以发挥制衡作用。”莱维西的最新著作《落后：一个世纪的失败学校改革》探索了学校里反智主义倾向的根源，书中的结论是：美国学校根本未能制衡美国人对学识追求的厌恶。
但学校是能够并应该做到这一点的。鼓励孩子们排斥精神生活使得他们极易被利用和控制。如果不能批判地思考、不能捍卫自己的思想、不能理解他人的思想，他们就不能充分地参与我们的民主。作家厄尔·绍利斯说，沿着这条路线发展下去，“我们将变为二流国家。我们的社会将不再那么文明。”
历史学家兼教授理查德·霍夫斯塔特在《美国生活中的反智主义》一书中写道：“学识被看作一种权利或特权而遭厌恶。”该书探讨了美国政治、宗教和教育中的反智主义的根源，曾获普利策图书奖。霍夫斯塔特说：自我们的历史之初，我们对民主化和大众化的渴望就驱使我们排斥任何带有精英优越论味道的东西。实用性、常识以及与生俱来的智力这些素质一直被视作比可以从书本里学到的任何东西都高贵。
拉尔夫·瓦尔多·爱默生和其他一些先验主义哲学家认为学校教育和僵化的书本学习限制了孩子们的天性。“我们被关在中小学和大学的背书室里十年或十五年，最后出来时满肚子单词，却什么都不懂。”马克·吐温笔下的《哈利贝利·费恩历险记》就是美国反智主义的例证。书中的主人公逃避教化——不上学、不学习读书写字——因此他才得以保持善良的天性。
按照霍夫斯塔特的观点，学识不同于天生的智力，它是一种我们不太情愿去赞赏的品质。学识是精神世界中的批评、创造和沉思的一面。智力力求理解、运用、整合和调节，而学识力求审视、思考、探究、形成理论、批判和想象。
学校仍然是学识备受怀疑的地方。霍夫斯塔特说，掌握我们国家教育体系的人“沾沾自喜地、霸气十足地公然宣称敌视学识，迫不及待地认同那些看来在学识方面最难造就的孩子”。