Gerald Graff's Hidden Intellectualism

The argument developed in Chapter 3 and 4 of the Outliers contends that IQ beyond a point is not a determining factor in success. Gladwell implies that a higher IQ to a certain extent is optimal but once a defined threshold has been achieved, having greater intelligence provides limited or possibly no additional benefits in the attainment of success. An analogy in the book that is used to convince us that opportunity matters more that talent is an example from the studies of Annette Lareau comprised of a group of third graders residing in lower and middle/upper income households. Her studies showed that the middle/upper class students were provided opportunities to cultivate their talent/abilities in a meaningful way along with support and

We all have stories and memories tied to songs that have become a part of who are. Remember the violins playing in the background while watching a sad movie or the song that helped you through difficult times or the song you and your friends sang while attending a concert? Whether it’s on the television, the radio, in a movie, in the car, or at a sporting event, music is everywhere. Feeling the rhythm of music brings us so much joy and excitement but playing musical instrument is even more fulfilling because it has many benefits. Everything I do revolves around my music. I have been around music all my life, whether it was listening to it or playing it. I’m very passionate about music and I love playing an instrument. The instrument

“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.

Having never taken a college writing course before, I did not know what to expect and therefore assumed that I would choose my own topic to write about; of course, this isn’t the case. However, if I had the choice, I would not have chosen to write a response to Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism”. After going through his essay with a fine-tooth comb, I have found a few flaws in his reasoning. Gerald Graff believes that schools and colleges are not taking advantage of “street smarts” by not using them in an intellectual setting when in fact, schools are providing students with a large assortment of other knowledge and skills. In Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, he argues for the importance of changing school curriculums in order to better reflect the interests

In Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” he implies that “street smarts” is an underappreciated trait that many people view as “anti-intellectual. He believes that street smarts can pave the way to becoming book smart and that schools may be at fault for these students not doing well by “overlooking the opportunity to channel it into good academic work” (1).

The goal of the usage of this fact is to show readers this common term does not reflect real traits of smart people and can be treated as an insult because of that. It is one of the few examples of Fridman’s appeals to readers’ logic. The essay is based on general data; the author mentioned schools and universities promote negative attitude to smart students: “Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized” (Fridman). But he did not use any statistical or science data to support his position. For example, Fridman could provide data about scholarships and other types of funding for sports and other activities. The author also mentioned that such negative attitude to smart citizens is not common for other developed countries. While he named the region, “in East Asia, a kid who studies hard is lauded and held up as an example to other students” (Fridman), he did not provide more detailed information, like results of surveys or funding statistics of the foreign universities. It is also possible to question this argument, at least in respect of the past. It is difficult to provide a source, but there was a joke that said “the intellectual is a kind of an insult” in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and some of its

He argues that there is perhaps some sort of hidden intelligence being masked behind the traditional coursework taught in schools and colleges. In addition, he refers to his past experience of using sports to inspire him to succeed in his academic life. Through this argument Graff informs the reader that when he talked about sports with his friends, he was able to create ideas and form arguments when discussing sports. Graff simply argues that when one uses his/her topic of choice to study, read, or write, they will excel academically. Though I somewhat agree with his arguments, I do not agree with them all; in my opinion, I believe that talking about your favorite topics and subjects are not enough to excel

Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism” goes through many reasons why not being book smart could be a good thing. The sports world is a way of people connecting through the competitive sports that always lead to some sort of debate (268). Graff grew up always liking sports and being “street smart” living in Chicago. He always read sports magazines growing up and realized that reading magazines was a good tactic for schools to teach street smart kids how to write good essays based on their hobbies of reading magazines (265). “What doesn’t occur to us, is that schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work”(264).

“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 the short story "Hidden Intellectualism" by Gerald Graff, the main idea is to bring acknowledgment to the idea that educators of schools and colleges should incorporate students interest into their teaching. In other words, Graff believes schools and colleges are at fault for not taking the opportunity to use "street smarts" for good academic work (Graff,2010). If Gerald Graff is right about educators needing to incorporate "street smarts" into scholarly works, as I agree, then educators should reevaluate their teaching methods. Students are becoming negligent of gaining knowledge of social interest because it is not encouraged by instructors. Therefore, the only topics students can converse with are related to school work (Graff,2010). Graff consistently targets teachers in this story, mainly because he knows that educators are capable of changing the never-ending pattern in the school system but educators are not attempting to use the many opportunities available (Graff, 2010). The author, target teachers not in a negative aspect but in a positive aspect to invite change. Graff is approaching the situation in an

Intellectualism is the factor of being intellect or intelligent. The idea of what it means to be educated can be interpreted many different ways by different people. Some think it’s having a 4.0 and going to Harvard, while others believe in the idea of having common sense. In the essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff reflects how lack of education is viewed negatively in society. On top of that, a question also lies what it means to educated. In order to be truly educated, a person should be well rounded not in just tests of intelligence, but the tests of life as well.

Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” contemplates the age-old idea that street smarts are anti-intellectual. However, as Graff points out, “schools and colleges are at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into academic smarts.” (244). What Graff means by this is that being street smart does not mean a person lacks intelligence. Rather, educational institutions need to find a way to effectively ‘tap into’ this different format of intellectualism to produce academic intelligence. Graff goes on to point out that society associates ‘weighty’ subjects, like Shakespeare and Plato, with intellectualism, but not less serious subjects, such as sports and video games. In consideration of this overlook

In "Outliers: The story of success", Malcom Gladwell explained and gave examples of ways to be successful. There are many ways that Gladwell mentioned, such as luck, practice, background, family, and culture. There are many more of course, but I will save time. There are three of which I think are the most important, these being Intelligence, Social Skills, and Location; and these are explanations as to why I think these are the most important.

The author uses reasoning to justify his belief that geeks and nerds should be shown and treated with respect. “Many students are ashamed to admit, even to their friends, how much they study”. This point that the author made shows that smart people are afraid to be themselves around others and that they shouldn't be the way it is. The author also emphasized how the numerous who do choose books over other things become punished for it.”Children who prefer to build model airplanes rather than get wasted at parties with their classmates, become social outcasts.” These points that the author describes validated his belief about the way society treats smart people. The reasoning for why he believes that we need to pay more attention (heed) to intelligent people is justifiable and allows his argument to become more credible and taken more

Author Gerald Graff’s talks about how colleges and schools are not taking into consideration the importance of “street smarts.” We may not see this type of intellectuals as important but they are. One and all know one person who is not that bright but can solve a difficult challenge and has useful knowledge about our environment. According to Graff, “Schools and colleges might take fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work.” This taken