Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
After I finished reading Gerald Graff's essay, Hidden Intellectualism, I found myself agreeing with the idea that intellectualism is not, and should not, be measured purely by "academic" means. "Street smarts" and "book smarts" are put at odds by Mr. Graff, and according to his writing, the rest of our culture. The essay attempts to make the assertion that at the heart of "real" intellectualism is the ability to turn almost any subject matter into something interesting, or even more important, a way to connect to the world and a community where the discussion is important. The theme of this essay involves the writer's own internal struggle with his personal history, along with the failing of our education system to bring out the best in students, using material in which they show real interest. …show more content…
While I did not grow up in a “tough” neighborhood, I did grow up in a rural part of southern Louisiana, where dialects and accents were thick, speaking well and reading books would make you stand out. My grades were exceptional in early school years, but faltered during my teens, when social life, sports, and proving oneself physically became more important. The author mentions,“ I grew up torn, then, between the need to prove I was smart and the fear of a beating if I proved it too well”. Graff then attempts to convey a broader concept that while navigating the complexities within social groups, it is also expected that students work hard to learn the subjects and material placed in front of them, with sometimes no thought given to the individual interests of the students. Students are punished for not being engaged, struggle to learn how to be intellectual, and ultimately are not accepted by the academic
A Response To Gerald Graff's Hidden Intellectualism
1433 Words | 6 PagesHaving 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
Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
447 Words | 2 Pages“Everyone knows some young person who is impressively "street smart" but does poorly in school” (Graff). In Hidden Intellectualism written by Gerald Graff he started his writing off by talking about his main argument which was that the school systems had some major flaws that needed to be addressed. Graff argued that the schools should not only focus on the academic parts but also the nonacademic parts that could be used in real life situations. He ensured that he would get his message across by using Pathos (emotions), Ethos (credibility), and Logos (logic). He made sure to use Pathos, Ethos, and Logos by including personal stories, a strong tone His intended audience were teachers, students, and school boards.
Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
179 Words | 1 PagesIn Hidden Intellectualism article, Gerald Graff begins the article with talking about “street smart” and that not everyone have to be good in school to be considered smart. He also said that schools and colleges overlook the intellectual of street smart. For Gerald Graff he noticed that he had intellectual when he noticed that he was using reason and arguments to talk about sports with his friends. Then Graff moves to saying that Intellectuals is looked down at and that he was scared to show the intellectual side of him because he was worried of people bullying him but when he was talking about sport he was sharing his intellectual without anyone knowing. Graf mentioned that sports is more intellectual than school.
Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
557 Words | 3 PagesIn Gerald Graff's Hidden Intellectualism, he begins with a long lasting discussion about the the difference between “book smarts” and “streets smart”. Street smarts are frequently called “hoods” as they are the tough types and book smarts as the name suggests are typically referred to as “nerds or geeks”. Graff gives us insight on many cases of how these books smarts can take various forms, and hide in what people call street smarts, hence the “hidden Intellectualism”. He does this by sharing his story with us, growing up in his community where being “street smart” was more acceptable than being “book smart”. He would be bullied if he tried to pronounce words better than the others or spoke too intelligently around them, and as a result he
Rhetorical Analysis Of America Needs Its Nerds
532 Words | 3 PagesIn “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, Fridman addresses the American society values and lack of respect towards the “intellectually curious” and “academically serious”. Using strong diction along with the rhetorical appeals of ethos, connotations and comparisons, Fridman addresses the audience of Americans who do not appreciate “nerds”. When building up ethos to establish trust between the audience and himself, Fridman uses a definition of the word “geek” from the Webster’s New World Dictionary. In the dictionary a “geek” is a “street performer that bites heads off of live chickens in public” (2). After all, in his opinion, the real world’s definition of the word “geek” (someone who thoroughly enjoys academics) is derogatory and
Gerald Graff's Hidden Intellectualism
910 Words | 4 PagesIn 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.
Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Analysis
745 Words | 3 PagesThe main argument is that perceived throughout the reading is that the schools itself is failing students. They see a student who may not have the greatest test scores or the best grades, and degrade them from the idea of being intellectual. Graff states, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic” (Graff 244). Schools need to channel the minds of street smart students and turn their work into something academic.
Blue Collar Brilliance Mark Rose Analysis
776 Words | 4 PagesMike Rose disagrees with the assumption that “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education” (Mike, 247). Formal education does not always measure the level of intelligence of a person. Education as something people can gain not only in school, but every day of their lives. We should be learning from our experiences, and apply this knowledge to our everyday lives. Wisdom should not be looked at as just
Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Summary
932 Words | 4 PagesThe reading "Hidden Intellectualism" by Gerald Graff reflects views on being "street smart" and "book smart." He explains that society tends to associate people who are intelligent on solely being "book smart" and performing well in academics, rather than being street smart. He goes on to further explain that students perhaps can be intelligent on topics that interest them. Graff opens up the reading by giving his own personal experience on feeling torn between trying to prove that he was smart yet fearing that he was overdoing it. He was trying to prove that he learned just as much about the real world by reading his sports books and magazines as he would have if he had read the classic works of literature like most students in school.
Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Summary
663 Words | 3 PagesGraff explains how kids with street smarts aren’t interested in traditional education and consequently don’t do well in subjects of school studies. In his essay Graff states, “I was your typical teenage anti-intellectual-or so I believed for a long time. I have recently come to think, however, that my preference for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means.” (Graff 245) Graff thinks the education system is not benefiting from students’ street smart because students cannot use the cleverness they have for what interest them and apply it into their school work. I agree that by using what a student already knows will not only help benefit their learning experience, but it will also keep the
Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
171 Words | 1 Pages“Hidden Intellectualism” is a short article written by Gerald Graff. It talks about how teens who are street smart have a difficult time being smart at school. Graff blames schools for not tapping into student’s street smart and converting it to book smart. Ever since the beginning we see smart kids as nerds or geeky but everyone praises the athletic guy who plays sports. Through the beginning of the article Graff has an confusion of what is more important, being tough or being smart.
Summary Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff
138 Words | 1 PagesGraff describes his childhood experiences with his own hidden intellectualism. At the end, Graff notes that students need help figuring out their intellectualism, and educators can help by showing students how
Summary Of Leonid Fridman America Needs Its Nerds
284 Words | 2 PagesIn 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.
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1095 Words | 5 PagesGraff feels that teachers should base some of their lesson on what students have a connection so they can be more focus because they are interested and not bored. He talks about how if schools and colleges will connect with the kids that are "Street Smart" they won't do a poor job in school they will do fairly better if they were more intact with the topic itself. Graff explains to us his growing up in the "hood" you were more respected for being street smart then you was for being book smart. It took a discussion about toughness for him to notice how intellectual he was, but he as just different from others , it wasn't about everything it was just about things he had a strong interest in. He noticed from how he us to have serious verbal altercations about sports and how he acknowledge the difference in players through
America Needs Its Nerds By Leonid Fridman
821 Words | 4 PagesCertain 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.
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