Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate The Smart Kids By Grant Penrod

In Grant Penrod’s Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, Penrod states his belief that we seemingly “hate” the brightest kids in school partially because of some of the most “noted dropouts” in today’s society. Additionally, Penrod claims that the perceived hatred of intelligence in a high school setting is causing actual emotional harm to the children who are labeled as the “nerds” or “geeks”- thus, the classic “smart kids.” If entering just about any of the several thousand high schools around the country, they will hear choruses of “Did you actually study?’, “Why would you even bother studying- the game was on last night”, “Of course I didn’t study; I had football practice” or dozens of similar taunting phrases can be heard constantly

While this line is also sarcastic, Klosterman is able to enhance the humor of the line with profanity. In Klosterman’s Harry Potter essay, he states, “I honestly don’t give a shit if my assumption is true or false” (“Death by Harry Potter”). Klosterman casually throws around words most professional writers avoid because it fits his style of humor and connects him with readers. Since Klosterman’s essays are already more informal due to his biting sarcasm and hyperbole, his use of curse words only adds to his growing bond with the audience. Modern society has built crass language into our basic vocabulary; Klosterman’s use of profanity presents him as an average person to his audience in order to connect with them.

Despite the connotations that Adventures of Huckleberry Finn may have lost focus in its message of anti-racism, the novel still displays a thoughtful and engaging take on the status of racism through setting and character development. Though authors like Jane Smiley believe the book is overpraised because the characters are shallow and ignored, Twain’s subtle commentary on racism through the use of his characters helps to create a realistic understanding of the social conditions at the time. One of Smiley’s main arguments against Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is that the novel overshadows Uncle Tom’s Cabin which she considers has more in-depth characters than the former book. “Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which for its portrayal of an array of thoughtful, autonomous, and passionate black characters leaves Huck Finn far behind.” From the excerpt we can see that Smiley

Overall, Nemko’s argument about sending too many students to college has some effectiveness to it while also having some ineffectiveness to it. He makes good use of pathos and his alternate ideas, but he fails to provide compelling refutes while

This hurts his credibility a bit because the author is already creating the idea that he does not seem like a good person but as the story goes on the word actually has a different meaning. The word victim shows that people who have feared him rather than people who were harmed by Staples. The use of victim is strong, even if it creates a bad impression, it creates the belief that the author is

The first time we encounter Nick, we can already see that his views on the mentally ill are derogative and that he’s only going to assist Lewis for his own benefit “Mad actors are bad enough, but madmen…” and “As long as you do Galileo with me”. When we see more of this behaviour displayed we abandon Nick as a likable and morally correct

Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids is written in first-person point-of-view that gives the reader insight on why the majority of the population “Hate the Smart Kids”. This argumentative essay talks about why the majority of the population makes fun of the intelligent students in school and turn their backs on them. The tone that Grant Penrod gives off is his sympathy towards the intelligent students who are basically being bullied. This bulling of intellectuals is mainly receiving verbal abuse. As Penrod said, “Unfortunately, it represents just one statement along countless similar sites and positing, a veritable cornucopia of evidence attesting to society’s distaste for intellectuals” (755).

According to the Article “Diane Ravitch: Charter Schools are a Colossal Mistake. Here’s why” Diane believes charter schools are just taking money away from public schools and steering away from the real problem, which is academic performances are low where poverty and racial segregation is high. Charter schools are not reforming schools for the better. She says they go to the extreme of pushing students out of the chance to go to the charter school, because they’re afraid it will bring down there test scores. When before charters school were supposed to be working with public schools and help the weaker students get that extra help they need to do better in school.

Each word is meant to be sarcastic as she is being compared to great people and Lawrence sarcastically represents her as a hero. Lawrence also says, “The Scarlet Letter gives the show away.” He elaborates on this statement for the remainder of the analysis. He uses mockery and sarcasm in his sentences to state that “the show” is in fact pretentious behavior exhibited by the characters (especially Hester) and should therefore not have pity taken on them. By using the choppy sentences, each word is very emphasized. As he is very critical of Hester, the words in his sentences tend to be negative.

The people are so tired of these handicaps they are trying to figure out ways to relive themselves. Hazel said “If there was just some way we could make a little hole in the bottom of the bag, and just take out a few of them lead balls” (Vonnegut.p2). To make the situation worst, their entertainment has to be handicapped as well, so they would not make anyone feel bad about themselves. They have masks on their faces and weight around their ankles. If they are truly a utopia they would push their citizens toward success instead of holding them back with these torcher methods.