Is Washington D.C. the most intellectual city in the United States? (fit in, credit)
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This is just a general inquiry that I've had for quite sometime about Washington D.C., our Nation's capitol, and the amount of intellectualism that runs through it that is somewhat reminiscent of a well-oiled machine that is self-generating.
It's been duly noted, that DC has some of the most smartest, well-educated and creative people on the planet working and innovating all over the district. Can DC take this intellectual prize hands-down....Boston or New York anyone??!
I'm not trying to make this all about degrees and high level of educational attainment (no doubt-it matters), but I'm wanting to expand the definition of what "intellectualism" is and how it relates to everyday people and city life. There's always been a plethora of brilliant/creative people with no degrees doing positive, intelligent and progressive work out in the world who don't get the recognition they should. How do these people fit into that matrix?
I'd say we have a shortage of intellectualism, actually. What we have way too much of here, there, and everywhere is ANTI-intellectualism, so much of that having been shoveled off onto people by what passes these days for "the media".
I think Boston deserves to be called the intellectual capital of America because of the universities.
Washington DC is up there in the working world of politics, government, law, science and technology, etc. You have to survive intellectually (to a certain extent) to become successful in any field.
Degrees from the likes of Harvard and MIT are one reason why the DC area is so highly educated overall. The opportunity to work on serious problems with the best subject matter experts in the world lures many a top graduate to this area. The lobster salad and Fenway Park might keep some enslaved, but certainly many do still get away.
The only contender would be Boston, not NYC or SF. I agree Boston would come out ahead. There really are no other contenders. I actually think Boston wins out a little because it is more of an academy. In terms of education, DC is more educated than Boston, but the focus of DC is more one for praxis, not theory. Basically they are very close, but Boston edges out because it's more focused on the academy and research.
With that being said, because of the high concentration of think tanks, nonprofits, NGOs, and the intellectualism that surrounds policy and governance there is a high degree of intellectualism in DC.
I would not put NYC in this category. This is no knock against NYC, but it really is not the same thing, I would not even say it's a contender. It lacks the needed concentration you find in Boston and DC, and it doesn't get there just from being NYC. The Bay Area is close and there, but there is less of a focus on intellectualism even with it's highly educated population. Most just have a bachelors, and the drive is largely around financial success and product creation, it's more capitalistic than intellectual (the same can be said with regards to NYC). Both areas are more financially driven as well, less bastions of intellectualism than aggressive capitalism. People go to NYC and SF to get rich, people do not go to DC or Boston for that purpose. SF though does have a percentage going to there for scientific innovation for innovations sake.
Again if you look at the two cities with the highest percentage of graduate school attainment, it's just DC and Boston. This is number 1 (DC) and number 2 (Boston), and no other cities area really close. Boston though gets the edge, because intellectualism is it's primary industry, DC, it's something else.
DistrictSonic, where would you place the cities of Baltimore, MD and Philadelphia, PA on the intellectual scale?
Quote:
Originally Posted by DistrictSonic
The only contender would be Boston, not NYC or SF. I agree Boston would come out ahead. There really are no other contenders. I actually think Boston wins out a little because it is more of an academy. In terms of education, DC is more educated than Boston, but the focus of DC is more one for praxis, not theory. Basically they are very close, but Boston edges out because it's more focused on the academy and research.
With that being said, because of the high concentration of think tanks, nonprofits, NGOs, and the intellectualism that surrounds policy and governance there is a high degree of intellectualism in DC.
I would not put NYC in this category. This is no knock against NYC, but it really is not the same thing, I would not even say it's a contender. It lacks the needed concentration you find in Boston and DC, and it doesn't get there just from being NYC. The Bay Area is close and there, but there is less of a focus on intellectualism even with it's highly educated population. Most just have a bachelors, and the drive is largely around financial success and product creation, it's more capitalistic than intellectual (the same can be said with regards to NYC). Both areas are more financially driven as well, less bastions of intellectualism than aggressive capitalism. People go to NYC and SF to get rich, people do not go to DC or Boston for that purpose. SF though does have a percentage going to there for scientific innovation for innovations sake.
Again if you look at the two cities with the highest percentage of graduate school attainment, it's just DC and Boston. This is number 1 (DC) and number 2 (Boston), and no other cities area really close. Boston though gets the edge, because intellectualism is it's primary industry, DC, it's something else.
People need to stop confusing education with intellectualism. Its not the same thing. Any moron can get an education. Learning to THINK and having real intelligence is what intellectualism is. It has nothing to do with how many colleges or schools are in an area.
People need to stop confusing education with intellectualism. Its not the same thing. Any moron can get an education. Learning to THINK and having real intelligence is what intellectualism is. It has nothing to do with how many colleges or schools are in an area.
Boston has hundreds of thousands of people dedicated to advancing research as their profession. It goes beyond education, but life purpose and focus. They do it for little money and the explicit purpose of advancing human knowledge and understanding.
These are not just kids in school getting an education, these are professional researchers. This is not confusing education with intellectualism, it's understanding much of the focus of Boston universities is not "education", but research.
DC has a great deal of research too, but it happens at think tanks, government facilities, etc. Again this is real intellectualism, it goes beyond getting an education, to intellectual curiosity and advancing humanity.
Boston gets the credit it does for a reason, as does DC. In a country filled with anti-intellectualism, these two cities do stand out.
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