u5“Let me give you one piece of advice,” I said to Ted and Mary just before they got married a few years ago. “If you want to stay happily married, always be prepared to compromise. When you have different opinions about something, you each give way a little. You take the middle course. That is compromise.” And Im glad to say that the young couple seemed to take that advice.I remember when they took their first holiday together. Ted wanted to do something energetic, because he didnt usually get much exercise during the year. Marys job meant that she was on her feet most of the time. All she wanted to do was lie in the sun. Ted hated the idea of lying on a beach; Mary hated the idea of being too active. They compromised, and took their holiday in mid-summer, high in the Alps. Mary was able to lie in the sun by the hotel swimming pool, while Ted went off for long walks in the mountains with a group of hikers. In the evening they met at the hotel, both content with their day, happy to eat a leisurely meal together and dance a little afterwards.They compromised over everything and they were very happy.To complete their happiness, they had a baby when they had been married for three yearsa son. But that, strangely, was when the problem arose. They had to name their son, of course, and each had a name in mind; not the same name, unfortunately. It seemed that a situation had arisen where compromise was impossible. Ted wanted to call their son Robert, Mary wanted to call him Lawrence. How can you compromise with names like that? No, this time one of them would have to give way, it seemed. There would have to be a winner, and a loser. That was how they saw things, at least.Mary told me all about it when I called at the hospital two days after the babys birth.“Ted wants to call him Robert,” Mary said, “because theres a tradition in his family. The eldest son is always Robert or Edward. His father was Robert, his grandfather Edward, his great-grandfather Robert, and so on.“That seems reasonable,” I said.“I dont want my son to be named after someone in the family,” Mary said. “Hes a unique individual, and I want him to have a name that no one else in the family has had. I want to call my son Lawrence.”9 “That seems reasonable, too,” I said.10 “Everyones been giving me advice,” Mary said. Then she told me who had given her advice, and what advice she had been given, (but not in the same order). I had to guess who gave what advice. Maybe youd like to try to do that as well?u6There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only unkind terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically serious.2 We all know what a nerd is: someone who wears thick glasses and ugly clothes; someone who knows all the answers to the chemistry or math homework but can never get a date on a Saturday night. And a geek, according to “Websters New World Dictionary”, is a street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens. It is a revealing fact about our language and our culture that someone dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge is compared to such a freak.3 Even at a prestigious educational institution like Harvard, anti-intellectualism is widespread: Many students are ashamed to admit, even to their friends, how much they study. Although most students try to keep up their grades, there is but a small group of undergraduates for whom pursuing knowledge is the most important thing during their years at Harvard. Nerds are looked down upon while athletes are made heroes of. 4 The same thing happens in U.S. elementary and high schools. Children who prefer to read books rather than play football, prefer to build model airplanes rather than idle away this time at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts. Because of their intelligence and refusal to conform to societys anti-intellectual values, many are deprived of a chance to learn adequate social skills and acquire good communication tools.5 Enough is enough. ? 6 Nerds and geeks must stop being ashamed of what they are. Those who dont study hard must stop teasing those who do, the bright kids with thick glasses. The anti-intellectual values that have spread throughout American society must be fought. 7 There are very few countries in the world where anti-intellectualism runs as high in popular culture as it does in the U.S. In most industrialized nations, not least of all our economic rivals in East Asia , a kid who studies hard is praised and held up as an example to other students. 8 In many parts of the world, university professorships are the most prestigious and materially rewarding positions. But not in America, where average professional ballplayers are much more respected and better paid than professors of the best universities.9 How can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber wh