The rockstar treatment for Ajay Bhatt, the co-inventor of the USB, is humorous because the object of worship is so incongruous. Instead of the doors opening for the 6′ 8″, 250 pound LeBron or American Idol winner Kris Allen, a short, dowdy, overweight computer tech strides into the break room and is immediately mobbed by devoted fans.

Annual lists of the hottest celebrities, the top selling artists, and biggest grossing movie stars show us what we value as Americans. Athletic ability, acting or singing talent, good looks, and hipness is what we idolize and thus what we teach our children to emulate. We perpetuate these values by consuming media about the people who personify what we desire for ourselves. This mechanism is actually quantifiable; compare the Nielsen ratings for American Idol (FOX) and Nova (PBS).

The celebrities we choose tell us much about what we value as a culture. In South Korea, when asked who they want to be when they grow up, kids are more likely to mention a Nobel Prize-winning scientist than a sports star. In America kids spend science class fantasizing about living a secret double life as a pop-star/actress.

Debates over the decline in the quality of American primary and secondary education tend to focus on the hardware of education: tax dollars, infrastructure, school vouchers, teachers’ unions. The closest thing to cultural values that you typically get in the discussion are laments about uninvolved parents. Rarely do we focus on the software of education, the system of cultural values that can either stimulate or hinder a child’s educational achievement.

Let’s be frank. In your stereotypical American high school who is cool? The jocks, preps, cheerleaders, musicians, or dancers, perhaps…but never the nerds, the debaters, the math club, or the chess team. This caste system in our high schools has become a trope in entertainment (ie “Saved by the Bell”). All too often, being smart = being uncool.

A co-worker of mine at the bank is actually quite intelligent, but she has no desire to do anything but be a part-time bank teller so she can afford to get drunk on the weekends with her friends. She told me that when she was in high school she purposefully failed tests and stopped studying because the smart kids were looked down on and she wanted to be cool. Book smarts are uncool, but street smarts are all the rage.

Among the reasons why, in comparison to the United States, countries like Japan and South Korea have superior pre-college educational systems (check out this OECD survey) is their culture of learning. They are told to emulate businessmen and scientists rather than entertainers. Now, I’ve enjoyed watching LeBron James hoop it up during the Finals as much as the next guy, but do we really want our kids to emulate a man who skipped classes to play ball, choose sport over college, and who makes millions but is barely literate?

Don’t get me wrong; I would love to be the best player on the court, a great singer or actor, or stunningly handsome. These abilities are gifts like any other. Indeed, even the mechanism for perpetuating our values is perfectly legitimate. After all, Hebrews 12 encourages Christians to run the race of a Christlike life by reminding them of a “great cloud of witnesses” watching them run. The Christian runner is encouraged to emulate these spectators who have finished the race before.

What we lack in American culture is a balanced appreciation of the gifts we have been granted. Intellectual ability should be valued as much as athletic skill or musical talent. If we do not change our culture than our educational system will continue to stagnate while other cultures pass us by. Of course, rather than change, we could always just export our value system to other countries and make them like us. Nike and Adidas are certainly trying their best to do so in China. If you can’t beat ‘em, make them join you!