Why has ignorance become acceptable?

It always has been in this country, popular literature has been glorifying the big guy at the bottom of the cl who beats up the smart kids for years. How often have you seen a movie where the smart guy gets the girl? People in America have been taking pride in lack of education since the 18th century, check out Ben Franklin's "Silence Dogood" papers. When you raise kids to think of "nerds" as objects of derision how can you expect kids to want to be one, and the definition of "nerdy" to most people is "well educated".