Leonid Fridman America Needs Its Nerds

The irony cannot be avoided for it is blatantly written, under all circumstances, it is incredulous that Pap continues to believe he is superior to the Black professor solely because of his race. Twain effectively uses these authentic characters to satirize them by exposing the fallacy in their logic. The “N-word” should not be removed because it is demeaning, rather it accurately reflects the attitudes of the time in which it was acceptable. An Oregon publishing company censored the word and replace it with “slave” to allow its universal use in public schools. While it is an attempt to appeal to wary English teachers, the replacement of the word supplants its value altogether.

They believe that no one would ever defy a direct order from them, so they never accounted for the possibility. Another flaw of the collectivist fallacies lies in its inability to match the technological development of Equality. The Council rejects the lightbulb because it “would wreck the Plans of the World Council … and without the Plans of the World Council the sun cannot rise” (74), and by the end of the novel, Equality’s scientific skill advances enough to construct an electric fence around his home in the woods. As Equality says, “[the Council] has nothing to fight me with, save the brute forces of their numbers. I have my mind” (100).

He states “It’s up to us, the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” (Fitzgerald 13). This event exposes a side of Tom that shows how he believes he is superior to not only those of the lower class, but also those of another race. Tom runs off of being in power, and at all times he wants to feel as if he is above everyone else. Tom’s condescension

Schuld writes about the discrimination in hopes to show that schools are in a way, going against what Title IX stands for, just not in the way that many would expect. Even though Title IX does not require schools to cut men’s sports to meet women’s sports, however, that is a solution and if schools did this they would be in total compliance with Title IX. This, Schuld writes, points to significant damage in school sports. Particularly men’s sports, which is a shame considering the strides for equality that so many are pushing for. Title IX itself should not be undone, simply the poor interpretation and execution of the bill.

“America Needs its Nerds” Analysis Leonid Fridman’s use of irony, the rhetorical triangle, and rhetorical questions in his article “America Needs its Nerds” develops his argument that American society should be more accepting of intellectuals. His tone is critical of society’s values, which is seen through his use of phrases such as, “there is something very wrong with the system of values,” (1). Through his reference to Harvard University, a “prestigious academic institution” (11), he demonstrates that society tends to look down upon intellectuals by revealing that many students are “ashamed to admit” (13) the amount of time they spend on their studies. The fact that even at Harvard, a school known for its focus on intellectualism, students still perpetuate the anti-intellectualism stereotype shows the extent of the problem with the values of America’s current society.

“America Needs Its Nerds” The average high school/elementary school student is looked down upon for wanting to be academically curious. Students who want to be our nation’s next great minds in any respective field. However, our society brings these students down and insists that they spend their academic career partying. Leonid Fridman objects this social norm in the book “America Needs Its Nerds” Through the use of logic, Fridman attempts to persuade his audience on seeing academic curiosity as a gateway for our nation’s future.

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. Fridman moves to the idea that children who would rather read and build model airplanes are the social outcasts compared to the ones who would rather play football and get wasted at parties.

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.

Though, it is considered rude for him to ask them about their political views, they don not hesitate to ask him about his thoughts on Obama, and the possibility that he could be the very first black president. Sedaris realizes that his opinion will speak for the rest of America in their eyes, thus when he tries to fight the stereotype and admits he is in fact rooting for Obama, they tell him that the rest of America are too racist to ever elect a black man. (Everyone was an expert and what they all knew was this: Americans are racist. P. 8 out of 10 and “Americans are afraid of anything different” P. 9 out of 10) though, the former is written with heavy sarcasm, the point with that sentence remains the same as the latter.

Welders Equal Philosophers Consider the idea that a welder deserves the same intellectual respect as a philosopher. If you have conformed to society’s standards of what jobs require the most intellectual activity, then this idea might seem irrational and intriguing. On the other hand, people such as Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work, would claim that this idea is true and even defends it in his book. Rose is a firm believer that the modern world has undervalued blue-collar workers. It is common for people to criticize vocational schools and advertise for four-year colleges, and that is what provoked Rose to take a stand.

In the article “America Needs its Nerds” by Leonid Friedman; Fridman argues that “intellectually curious and academic serious people” are not as respected as they should be. Instead of the more intellectual people being praised for their intelligence, they are ignored by society. Fridman builds this argument by using logic and facts, creative word choice, and comparisons. Leonid Fridman uses interesting facts to develop his argument "nerds ".in the American society.

In the weighty argumentative essay, “America Needs Its Nerds”, by Leonid Fridman, he points out a very important issue students who are academically gifted face: their intellectual advances often have them labeled as degrading terms such as geek or nerd. Throughout Fridman’s argument, he structures his agreement to attend to the appeal to logos and his belief that we do, in fact need our “nerds.” Fidman first exemplifies his assertive tone in the mere first few words of the text saying, “There is something very wrong with the system of values in a society that has only derogatory terms like nerd and geek for the intellectually curious and academically curious.” His anger towards the American system of values becomes evident early on, thus

The author of this essay, Marty Nemko, has worked in both career and educational counseling, as well as writing as a columnist. His has firsthand experience with not only university presidents, but also a wide range of the students. Knowing he’s worked with the area he is writing about, may led some credibility to his ethos. However, he may have a personal stake in writing this piece because he has written several books concerning educational psychology and its related issues. He even directly says in this essay “…data I used for my book, How to Get an Ivy League Education at a State University.”

In the essay What Makes Superman So Darned American by Gary Engle, Engle suggests the possibility that Superman is the epitome of being an American, even more so than actual Americans such as John Wayne, or fictional ones such as Paul Bunyan. Engle states that out of everyone in American history Superman is the only one that “achieves truly mythic stature, interweaving a pattern of beliefs, literary conventions, and cultural traditions of the American people more powerfully and more accessibly than any other cultural symbol….” This is Engle’s thesis, he goes into more detail using those three aspects to explain why he believes that Superman perfectly represents America. He succeeds at it and he doesn’t at the same time.