The fundamental problem with much education and not only in the USA is that other students admire jocks, and classify the academically able as "geeks".

This follows into politics where those who do actually have and display a detailed understanding are dismissed as "policy wonks".

If a Frenchman in France says he is an intellectual others nod approvingly.

In the UK (and, I suspect, much of the USA) if a man says he is an intellectual, the reply is moronic violence.