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Revision as of 15:43, 10 November 2004 by Mailer diablo (talk | contribs) (duplicate paragraphs edited out)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)One danger for academics is academic elitism, which is (roughly) the view that only someone who has engaged in scholarship has anything worthwhile to say on any given topic, while all others are cranks. Of course, it is possible for one to value serious scholarship without being an academic elitist.
Another kind of Academic elitism is whereby when society gives upmost attention to students who are deemed more intelligent in the education system. This is including but not limited to being in "branded instiutions", "gifted classes" and "elite students".
One example is Singapore's educational system, whereby paper qualifications take an upmost importance in carrer prospects. Some in society, especially the academic elites, view those who are less intelligent as of a lower social class, with one even calling students in non-notable schools in Singapore to be condemned as "factory workers" in future. Others charge that academic elites live or work "in an ivory tower", i.e. that academics are removed from reality and unseeing of reality's practical demands and necessities.
Academic elitism is the opposite of anti-intellectualism, the belief that "ivory tower" academics are too far removed from reality to have anything possibly useful to say about practical matters.