Anti Intellectualism Why We Hate The Smart Kids Summary

In Gerald Graff 's essay “Hidden Intellectualism” starts of by talking about the stereotype of being so called “street smart” and and being “book smart” and how in school when you see someone who is street smart but doesn’t do go in school get a bad wrap. People look at them as a waste because they can’t apply there intelligences that they have and use it towards school, so people view them as not the right kind of smart because they are not a A student in school. Graff then goes on to say that maybe it is not the students that are the problem with how they do in school but maybe it is the school that have missed or overlooked the intellectual potential that kids with street smarts have. Graff also says that we only view the educated minds through schooling as the right way and schools and colleges look at kids who do not like school and don’t do well as anti-intellectual people. As Graff continues his essay he says that he was on the side of being more anti-intellectual and he found that through sports he was more interested in sports then he was in school. He would use this love for sports to build up his hidden intellectualism with sports. I think that Graff is right about what he is talking about with how we as a society think if you want to be smart them you need to do well in school and get all A’s or then you are not that smart. In all reality there are many times that kids go through school and don’t do well not because they are not smart,but because people don’t

“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.

Students. In “Consumerism Invades Education“ Simon Benlow is dumbfounded on why people are comparing the words “students” with “customers.” He portrays a customer with fast food, it is getting easier and easier. You use to have to look everything up while ordering, now you have the “meal deal.” Benlow states “We don't have to reflect, invent, or research,” talking about education, fast food, and many other things (140). Benlow provides an example of students with his experience-----when he was in school his teacher made him/all students to be active learners------ they had to use dictionaries, research things, they felt uncomfortable, and it all came from their teachers. This experience shows how education use to be, now “consumerist students”

In the popular video “Why I Hate School but Love Education” a man named Darryll Amoako introduces us to some of the issues with today’s upper education system. The presenter, Darryll, is a distressed college graduate who wishes to persuade the viewer to not fall into some of the traps along the way to becoming successful. The main trap talked about is the idea that to be successful, you need to attend some form of higher education. Throughout the video the use of rhetorical devices, such as logos, ethos, and pathos are employed to make the viewer understand and agree with the idea that higher education should not be forced upon students.

To many, the Fourth of July was a day to celebrate the anniversary of the United States signing the Declaration of Independence in 1776. However, to others it was a day to realize the injustices and brutality that many people lived in. Frederick Douglass was not only an African American political activist, but also an extraordinary speaker who desired to abolish slavery. He addressed the problem of American slavery from a slave 's point of view throughout his notorious Independence Day Speech At Rochester when he said, “What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.” Douglass explained from his

Perhaps one of the most valuable opportunities in life is education. In a conversation between Adam Howard, associate professor of education at Antioch College, and Arthur Levine, president of Teachers College at Columbia University, in “Where Are The Poor Students,” some subjects at hand are the availability or unavailability of opportunities, the missed value of education, and the irrelevant comparison of test scores directed towards the poor students. Likewise in “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, topics such as schools missing opportunities to engage students to their intellectual

“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 fourteenth amendment protects the little people. The people who are slipping through the cracks, the ones that have fallen by the wayside of the majority. Recently, this has meant rulings in favor of same-sex marriage. Historically, it has granted women the right to an abortion and given African Americans the right to go to the same schools as their fellow Americans. In each case, an oppressed or otherwise infringed group from the overreaches of the state, the society at large. But something else has begun to slip through the cracks, and nobody is rushing to save it. It is impossible to tell where this slippage first began, but its ever increasing severity is in full display: Middlebury students turnings their backs and chanting as the

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

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

One way in which Fridman shows that the shaming of young intellectuals is affecting society is through the use of comparisons that show the way U.S students compared to others in other nations are doing and how the performance of the U.S students has been affected. Fridman shows that in the United States students such as the ones at Harvard ¨are ashamed to admit, even to their friend, how much they study¨ all because of the ridicule that they would face for their abilities (3). Fridman than explains that this also occurs not only in Harvard but also at elementary and high schools all over the U.S. The comparison is then made as he explains how a kid in East Asia ¨who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students¨ unlike the students of the United States who would only face bullying (7). He goes on to also state that in America, ¨average professionals ball players are much more respected and better paid than faculty members of the best universities¨ (8). With these two comparisons Fridman highlights just how different the United States is to other countries in terms of intellectual praise. He demonstrates just how much the U.S must change in order stop limiting the potential of young intellectuals and instead encourage them to use these abilities to further progress in

Throughout Leonid Fridman’s essay “American Needs its Nerds” , the author displays how knowledge is extremely important and anti-values needs to be stop. First the author introduces his argument by starting a definition of the term “Geek”,then he exemplifies that people discriminate toward geeks and nerds for their intellectuals and passion for academics. He continues his argument by stating “ Even at a prestigious academic institution like Harvard, anti-intellectualism is rampant: Many students are ashamed to admit, even though their friends, how they study”(Fridman 10-14). Fridman perfectly shows a great source of irony by visualizing how people treat nerds differently from other and how they are a social outcast, even though students at

"Anti-intellectualism is rampant." This quote from the passage, " America Needs Its Nerds" by Leonid Fridman is portraying the author's main point that intellectual students are frowned upon by our society. He uses examples, strong vocabulary, and facts to develop his argument.

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

Many readers will easily recognize the expression "Big Brother Is Watching You." It is a reference from Orwell 's novel 1984 in which the country of Oceania tries their best to destroy the past and remake the future. Oceania tries many things to keep their people quiet and repressed so they cannot question the government 's authority. One example of how the government represses their people can be explained by the slogan Ignorance is Strength.