Thus the right's war on education. They want uneducated masses to inundate with propaganda, not critical thinkers.
Also I think your definition of "nerd" is absurdly narrow. Dictionary says it's someone who is either highly enthusiastic about a particular topic or someone who is boringly studious. That's like, virtually everyone with a college degree. People tend to major in things they're enthusiastic about. Or, if they're just after the "best" diploma, they're probably in the "boringly studious" category.
You can be a nerd about anything, and I'd actually wager most people are a nerd about at least one thing. It's not limited to the categories you arbitrarily selected to make your point (without any actual evidence presented, I might add).