Analysis Of America Needs Its Nerds By Leonid Fridman

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.

Certain ideals that are valued in American society have caused concern in some people due to the alarming threat they pose. In the passage, “America Needs its Nerds,” by Leonid Fridman, the author discusses a social problem he sees that is prominent in the United States. Throughout the reading, Fridman mentions how often anti-intellectualism is seen and why it is our issue in America. Fridman’s purpose in writing this passage is to bring the issue to the minds of people and to make them question their own personal stance. Fridman uses different strategies in order to convey his idea that people who are curious and serious about knowledge should not be labeled a nerd.

Greg Graffin’s Anarchy in the Tenth Grade represents the in-group theory presented by Gordon Allport. The in-group theory proposes that people belong to cliques, some by choice and others by chance, and society affects or has influences on these in-groups through equal out-groups. Mr. Graffin explains how it feels to be a new kid in a new school and how he became a punker. Mr. Graffin explains his endeavours through the in-group “punk” and also expounds on how different out-groups react to his in-group.

“America Needs Its Nerds” an article created by Leonid Fridman, puts forth a pertinent issue in today’s society: intellectually adept students are ostracized. Fridman argues that smart, curious students need to stop feeling ashamed for being smart and curious. Society needs to change because their current philosophy towards intellect is one of pessimism. Fridman develops these arguments in his essay by utilizing the rhetorical strategy of parallelism, drawing conclusions, and through his use of diction.

“The first hour of blowing off school is great. No one to tell me what to do, what to read, what to say. It 's like living in an M T V video—not with the stupid costumes, but wearing that butt-strutting, I-do-what-I-want additood”(97).

Jocks have made their way into our hearts in television and media all over the world. Stereotype of jocks are clear and is further displayed in the book “skud” and in the movie “The Breakfast Club”. The book “skud” by “Dennis Foon” is about four boys who attend the same high school all face problems relating to their understanding of what it means to be masculine. Tommy, a model student, is headed for the militar; Brad is looking at a hockey career; Andy, who has just secured an agent, may or may not break into the movie. These three have shared a common friendship that is challenged when Andy turns to a new kid, “ Shane” to teach him how to be a punk for an acting audition. The film “ The Breakfast club” by John Hughes is about five students from stereotype endure a saturday detention under a power- hungry principal. This group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, Brainy Brain, and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell their story, making the others see them a little differently. These characters are very similar, in terms of their family pressures, personality, and their relationships with other

“Like, when I step outside myself kinda, and when I, when I look at myself, you know? And I see me and I don’t like what I see, I really don’t.” Anthony Michael Hall played the role of the brainiac, Brian Johnson, in The Breakfast Club. Likewise, Brian is portrayed as the typical “nerd” in high school; he strives to do his best and please his parent’s. Similarly, I can relate to Brian because my parent’s expect as much from me as his do. They are always encouraging me to strive to do my best and never settle; nonetheless, I now push myself to try and accomplish anything I set my mind to. Although Brian Johnson is very successful in his school work he struggles deep beneath his skin with being accepted by society.

Mark Bauerlein, author of ‘The Dumbest Generation’, argues that today’s youth has had a decline in academics due to new technology in today’s economy. In retrospect, we’re growing up in a different time than the generation before us; the world and it’s products are different as to be expected, and with them we must learn new materials than they did. Today’s generation isn’t ‘dumb’, instead we’re adjusting to the times and retaining different knowledge than the generations before us.

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.

America Needs Its Nerds, written by Leonid Fridman, expresses the country’s need for studious people. The United States look down on kids that would rather learn than play sports. Leonid argues that this anti-intellectualism idea is not good for the greater community. Without intellectuals the U.S. will not be as great as countries that value academics. Leonid Fridman uses motifs, hyperboles, and criticizing questions to support his argument on how nerds and geeks are essential to society.

Every high school has two categories, and I bet as always, the jocks are popular and the intellectual or “nerds” are at the bottom of the social ranks. What would happen if the social categories were flipped? In the article, “America Needs its Nerds”, Leonid Fridman uses emotionally charged diction, an honest atmosphere, and syntax in order to argue that if America is going to thrive, then the negative outlook on nerds must be flipped to a positive view.

Throughout the passage, Fridman compares “nerds” to those who not identify as not being a nerd. The juxtaposition of these two opposites, help clarify Fridman’s argument that “nerds” should not be ridiculed for wanting to study rather than expanding their social status. Fridman compares these two by explaining, “Children who

“Celebrating Nerdiness*” by Tom Rogers by far demonstrated the purpose of exposition for this week’s assignment. Rogers’ uses a comparison strategy in his essay to explain the differences in the labeled “nerds;” an example would be the comparison attitudes of the famous individuals such as Newton and Einstein in the essay. Additionally, this topic highly relates to me because of the issue of bullying, as I too was bullied for being different than the others in elementary to middle school. He addresses that individuals not only endure bullying from their peers, but also from adults that should be acting as role models. Consequently, tyrannizing often creates an insecure individual with lack of self-confidence about themselves. Rogers’ challenges

The speaker in “The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth” is the writer, Alexandra Robbins. Alexandra Robbins is a journalist, lecturer, and an author and many of her works center around the life of young adults and education. She graduated from Yale in 1998 and has written for multiply publications including USA Today, The Washington Post, Self, and many others.

As a teenager myself, I believe that every teen will face a form of peer pressure growing up, whether it’s negative or positive. Loneliness and desire for acceptance often drives students to give in to negative peer pressure. We often hear about the dangers of peer pressure and its effect to teens. One of the negative effects is losing their interest in their hobbies. Teenagers who resort to peer pressure will conform to the opinions of their peers as they value what their peers think of them more. For example, a teenage girl wants to join the math club but is hesitant to do so as she is afraid of what her peers may think of her, a math geek or a nerd. Deciding to give up on her interests, she has given in to peer pressure. From this, the true interests and hobbies of