Audience participation requested

[velvetpage]

Statement: people who are insecure in their own intellectual pursuits find intelligence and higher learning intimidating. This effect is magnified when the higher learning is in a field seen as esoteric, particularly abstract, or which most people see as "other." (For example, few people are intimidated by a graduate degree in teaching, because people see teaching as something they can relate to; they were in school themselves, after all. But a graduate degree in microbiology or physics is an entirely different story.)

Discuss.

(Note: this topic came up a few weeks ago and I never got back to it, and I was just reading back in my journal and spotted it. I am about to take pain meds and have a hot shower to get the knots out of my shoulders before I go to bed, so play nice until tomorrow morning!)

Comments

[lovmelovmycats.livejournal.com]

One of my husband's esoteric intellectual pursuits is philosophy, and I find it intimidating. I have tried to read it, but my eyes start to cross. I managed (long ago) to get through some of C.S. Lewis's nonfiction, which was heavy, but not as heavy as other philosophers, and I was a Christian at the time, so it didn't hurt that he was speakin' my language/preaching to the choir.
I've read some history/biographies about philosophers, my favorite one being The Courtier and the Heretic about Liebniz and Spinoza. And I'm reading about Rousseau now (wanker!). But I can't plow through their works!

My preferred areas of study include memorizing a lot of interesting facts and new words. Like studying language, or taking medical courses. I love history, but I've only loved one history class out of the many I've taken. I'm more of a self-teacher in history.

About the science degrees you mentioned: they sound cool, but not intimidating to me. Now, math; that's intimidating! I know the Physicist has to do all kinds of calc. But when I was in college, I rocked at Physics math while I barely passed math. I guess it was important to me that it had context.

[lovmelovmycats.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I didn't state an opinion. I would say I slightly disagree, but it's hard to know. I don't know who is or is not "insecure" in their own intellectual pursuits.