This is somehow related to our worship of profit. "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" Beauty, kindness, knowledge, wisdom, education - these are things that in American culture are constantly under pressure to be nothing more than tools for money-making (and of no value when they don't produce).
Naturally, then, someone who pursued art or philosophy as his or her main endeavor would seem like a leech, sucking the life-blood out of what really matters: becoming a widget of increased productivity to increase the wealth of the wealthy. Unless, of course, he or she became a "real" artist - like, say, J.K. Rowling (real-ness being evidenced by profit).

Rameses, I recall the President's ...

This is somehow related to our worship of profit. "If you're so smart, why ain't you rich?" Beauty, kindness, knowledge, wisdom, education - these are things that in American culture are constantly under pressure to be nothing more than tools for money-making (and of no value when they don't produce).
Naturally, then, someone who pursued art or philosophy as his or her main endeavor would seem like a leech, sucking the life-blood out of what really matters: becoming a widget of increased productivity to increase the wealth of the wealthy. Unless, of course, he or she became a "real" artist - like, say, J.K. Rowling (real-ness being evidenced by profit).

Rameses, I recall the President's program entitled "No Child Left Behind." It battered American education into focus more exclusively on minimums at the expense of programs designed to inspire people to "rise above." It makes widgets.