Bullied at Brown?

One of the most ghastly cases of bullying in recent years was the case of 15-year old Phoebe Prince, whose family came over from Ireland (hence she was a resident of the UK) and attended Boston's South Hadley High. There she was bullied mercilessly until she finally could take no more and hung herself. See, e.g.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-03-29/news/27060348_1_facebook-town-hall-meetings-school-library

Now the news is circulating that former Harry Potter star Emma Watson ("Hermione Granger") has been "bullied" out of Brown University, an Ivy League enclave where she'd been majoring in History. The story first emerged out of an April 21 piece in The New York Daily News, not exactly a font of wisdom and judicious journalism on a par with The Financial Times, but not The National Enquirer either. According to the piece, unnamed sources reported that Watson "didn't shy away from class participation and often would "answer something in class and get it right," calling the 21-year-old actress "really smart." Bad idea!

As Richard Hofstadter made clear in his book, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, Americans may tolerate a smarty-pants for brief durations but not over any consistent, extended time frame. Press them too hard, by showing up too often, and they will take it out on your hide. And nothing rankles many American college kids more than a feisty Brit girl with an "elitist" accent showing them up for the idle ipodders they are, and doing it day after day, class after class. Of course, this is bad enough in most high schools, what with the 'nerd-geek' persecution meme still running, but can also appear in colleges, even of the vaunted "Ivy League" (which recent studies, such as reported in The Atlantic, have shown are no better at generating academic stars than public universities.)

Author David M. Potter in his book, Freedom and its Limitations in American Life, Stanford University Press, 1976, cannily observed that people of most other nations understand freedom to be wide ranging and to include freedom to express opinions contrary to the majority, or the societal "norms" and even engage in active dissent. Also, for a university student, to chime in any time on any issue during a class lecture without being looked upon as a smart aleck by peers. However, in the parochial American mind, freedom doesn't extend that far.

To the typical American (p. 7) "freedom" is not so inclusive or expansive but is limited to two concepts: "free and independent" and "free and equal". The first implies "freedom to avoid dependence" , e.g on any higher authority, thereby to attain true independence. This "freedom" is what the wingers incessantly use to pursue the ultimate goal of "every man for himself" and no "nanny state". In essence, setting the path to potential personal ruin and no state support to help. Potter notes that the other concept, "Free and equal" imples the essence of freedom is:

"Not being different from other people, but rather on a par with other people".

THIS was the lesson one suspects that Emma Watson never did learn. I could see it before she barely began her classroom experience over a year ago. One network appearance may have thereby sealed her fate even long before any class participation. In a spot on Regis Philbin's Morning, show soon after being enrolled at Brown (still have the tape), she matter of factly informed her host that students at Brown came up to her and complained about her British accent, saying: “You have twenty points advantage in IQ on us just by opening your mouth”. It would be naïve to believe no Brownies saw this interview, or the word didn’t get around through the university grapevine (every college has one). The consensus from then may well have been, ‘Hey, what are we anyway? Chopped Yankee liver?”

More importantly, her words may have sparked the ire of potential classmates in signaling she somehow believed she was smarter than they were, hence didn't believe herself to be "on a par with them", according to David M. Potter's take. From there, her repeated class participation may only have reinforced that original perception of Watson thinking herself exceptional, and being inclined to "show off". One single heckle or catcall with no effort on the part of the presiding TA or lecturer to quell it, may have been all it took to encourage more, and it soon became a kind of general, habitual mockery. According to the NY Daily News piece, the most popular heckle was "Three points for Gryffindor!" following on from the name of the Hogwarts' House to which "Hermione" belonged, when it faced off in Quidditch matches against other Houses (in the British system, all year groups, classes are organized into different 'Houses' which then face off against rival Houses in assorted competitions, not only games but academic).

As for the denial of “bullying”, well what would you expect? Of course Ms. Watson and her agents, press reps will deny it! (You want her to be tagged with the 'whiner' or 'squealer' epithet?) Besides, they may not have regarded heckling as being in the same class as outright bullying, say like Phoebe Prince received. Rather it was enough of a nuisance to justify her move from Brown to a place where she can continue to build new academic bona fides. As for one PR cover story that Brown lacks the history specialist areas Ms. Watson wants, that appears unlikely, as Brown is noted for among the best history specialists in the nation (including women’s history) and even publishes a student -edited and published history journal (‘Brown Journal of History’).

The other cover story that Watson left to “finish work on the last part of Deathly Hallows” also doesn’t wash, since all of that film was completed at one time last year, on account of the young cast's ageing beyond the limits of plausibility. (It was just decided to screen it in two separate halves). Watson ought to know that most Potter fans would have been aware of this, so it might have been better to just leave that reference out and admit to wanting to look for other film opportunities. Besides, she told Regis Philbin in that interview that she cut her hair short to make a "break with the film character, Hermione".

What might be of interest to know, if journalists could perform more research than gossip mongering, is how it was that Brooke Shields was able to get her degree from Yale, and Natalie Portman hers from Harvard, with little fanfare. The answer might also help other celebs considering going back to finish college, or even start it. Meanwhile, the NY Daily News reported Watson is considering possibly enrolling in the Gallatin School for Independent Study which may well be her best move, somewhat akin to heckled or bullied high schoolers being allowed to complete home schooling.