America Needs Its Nerds Summary

Well known article writer, Leonid Fridman, in his article, “America Needs Its Nerds”, describes the truthful idea that nerds and geeks, in our society, are ostracized while the kids who play sports and party are prominent. Fridman’s purpose is to impress upon the readers that nerds should not have to conform to society’s unimpressive values of what it means to be “popular”. He adopts an indignant tone in order to convey to his readers that the idea of nerds and geeks needs to fought.

Mike Rose shares his personal story to the public in “I just wanna be average”, as he reveals the many flaws within the educational system of a high school in an economically depressed neighborhood in Los Angeles. He effectively directs his arguments towards both educators and parents by utilizing emotional and logical appeals. By convincing the audience to fear that children placed on remedial tracks are being hindered rather than assisted, the author causes both awareness and a feeling of duty to change the way we handle teaching children.

“Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff starts off with an older argument between being book smart and street smart. Throughout the reading, Graff uses his own life experiences to critique the education system today. Points made focus on the idea of overlooking the intellectual potential of those who come across as being, “street smart”. Different authors cited in the reading to show how to accept another’s different intellectual. However, we realize that people who come across as being intellectual weren’t always labeled as that.

In Andrew Delbanco's essay, College At Risk, he talks about college education in America and at some different points, he compares them to other countries education systems. In the beginning of his essay, the basis of American college education is discussed, and how furthering your education past high school helps us become productive adults. It is also mentioned how college is a place to expand your knowledge and critical thinking skills. It is pointed out that other countries may have a better education system and possibly outperform the U.S. when it comes to certain jobs. The author then goes on to mention that the standardize testing that the American education system has, can't measure all the things we have learned in life.

A respected author John Green questions, "Why is being a nerd bad? Saying I notice you 're a nerd is like saying, ‘Hey I knows that you 'd rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you 'd rather be thoughtful of them be vapid, that you believe that there things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan and why is that?” Many people who are passionate about their studies question the same thing. Leonid Fridman wrote a passage “America Needs its Nerds” in order to raise concern that our society does not value intelligence. Fridman uses compare and contrast to get his point across to the readers. He makes the text more relatable by characterizing the typical American mindset. He successfully explains to the reader that the persecution of intellectuals is something our country should not be doing.

Year after year, America has been singled out for its deteriorating educational system. Fridman suggests in his passage that this is due to the attitude of anti-intellectualism plaguing American society. Fridman decides to use ethos and logos as his rhetorical strategies in his essay. Ethos convinces someone of the character or credibility of the persuader. Logos appeals to an audience by using logic and reason. In his passage, Leonid Fridman utilizes logos and ethos in order to urge his audience to value intellectual curiosity.

It is evident that Americans are passionate about their country’s education. According to a poll created by Gallup, Inc., an American research-based global performance-management consulting company, said that 55% are dissatisfied with the quality of education students receive (Gallup, 2016). When you combine that data with Shirey’s data, then you can conjure up some trouble. Another great example is when Keith incorporated a quote from a college president saying that he is fed up that the institutions are frauds because they put sports on a pedestal above academics. Even to an average joe, hearing that from an institute’s president is powerful. To an author, catching his/her audience is the most critical method in swaying their

The mental capacity is treated as a disadvantage in the America, despite the fact it already helped the country many times. This long-term problem became the main topic of the Leonid Fridman’s essay “America Needs its Nerds”. The work first appeared on January 11, 1990 in the New York Times as a part of the series “Voices of the New Generation”. The author spoke about the negative attitude the American society has to smart people and demonstrates it with the usage of words like “nerd” or “geek”. Fridman’s essay applies to different groups of people, as the problem exists on different layers of the society: from schools to universities and the adult life. The author’s purpose is to demonstrate

Why Benjamin Barber's Argument in "America Skips School" Trumps William Henry's Argument in "In Defense of Elitism"

Gerald Graff’s argument on how educational systems are missing a great opportunity to tap into “street smarts” and focus them into a path of academic work is indeed convincing (Graff, 198). After all, anyone who’s been through the American educational system knows odds are often stacked against the “street smarts.” This is especially true in english classes, where one is often required to read boring and somewhat heartless books like, 1984, Beowulf, and the majority of Shakespeare’s classics. This is not to say these books are bad or shouldn’t be read during one’s schooling years, instead, the problem is one of apathy. For instance, in my high school years I never even remotely liked to read books Othello, but I loved to read magazines and

3) “Surely, every American college ought to defend this waning possibility, whatever we call it. And an American college is only true to itself when it opens its doors to all - the rich, the middle, and the poor - who have the capacity to embrace the precious chance to think and reflect before life engulfs them. If we are all serious about democracy, that means everyone.”

In the article, “Anti-Intellectualism and the “Dumbing Down” of America” Ray Williams discusses the increasing trend of anti-intellectualism in American culture. There is an anti-intellectualism that exists in American culture that is the result of the unpopularity of being smart in High School, the lack of the importance of teachers in the U.S. compared to Japan and the effect of reality TV and pop culture. Williams indicates that one of the reasons that anti-intellectualism exists is that education in the United States is not as strong as it once was. Williams says, “After leading the world for decades in 24-34 year olds with university degrees, the U.S. is now in 12th place. The World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. at 52nd among 139 nations

In paragraph 37, Rosin’s limited thoughts of educational background exclude men’s competence in the society. He starts by arguing that “If you really want to see where the world is heads… looking at the current workforce can get you only so far,” but it is only focused on the development of society and economy which only a small part. Individual’s leisure time, public peace, and happiness index also can be an indicator of the world’s growth spiritually. Furthermore, she states that “to see the future… you need to spend some time at America’s colleges and professional schools”, and it means that Rosin puts emphasis on educational background. There are numerous educational institutions other than America’s colleges and professional schools in

One of the history's greatest figures, Nelson Mandela, once said: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Over the course of years, this statement has only become more relevant. Maybe that is the reason why the topic of the decline of the American education has been recently spurring such a heated debate among national academic and teaching communities. In “The Chronicle of Higher Education”, Carl Singleton, a faculty member at Fort Hays State University, also presented his reflections concerning the U.S. education system.

Brent Staple’s essay "Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A's" had various elements that helped provided evidence and persuade the readers. The first thing I noticed when reading this essay was the comparison between the marketplace and college. This comparison helps to develop Staple’s argument because it explains something that is unfamiliar by comparing it to something that is more familiar. I can assume that the target readers were business men and women. Since I am unfamiliar with some business terms, I found that this essay explained something that was unfamiliar with something else that was unfamiliar. Therefore, I found this essay to be a difficult read. Despite my lack of business knowledge, I liked how Staple’s showed a direct