Brendan Rieth
ENC1101
Pagan
10/30/16
Hidden Intellectualism
College, a new math assignment and paper assigned to you seemingly every night, but you’re a history major and have no need for learning the Pythagorean theory. This makes it easy to lose interest and fall behind in class. In his article, Graff cites works from many authors that correlate to his convincing idea of hidden intellectualism and looks deeply into the idea of finding and accepting someone’s “intellectualism”. While it is not a well-recognized idea, there is a lot of promise in the idea of hidden intellectualism, however, our society only focuses on the textbook and curriculum. Considering that some minds we consider genius today were not always seen as “intellectuals” maybe
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The only reading I cared to do or could do was from sports magazines.” (Graff 216). This is his first piece of evidence of his “hidden intellectualism”. Graff states this because he is trying to convey his idea that he would’ve been interested in school reading if it were based around sports or other interests he may have had. Graff also argues that “intellectualism is good, and that schools ought to encourage learners to read, think critically and write about their fields of personal interests like fashion, music, or cars” (217). What he is trying to prove is that students like himself that would be considered “street smart” could’ve had more success in …show more content…
Graff argues “we need to incorporate street smarts in traditional academic intellectualism” (217). It is evident that by incorporating both academic and social importance, a novel world of opportunity can be opened to learners. When students are given a chance to write about research topics that they are interested in, they would be able to learn more about the subjects linked to their social lives in addition to attaining the benefits of classroom knowledge.
Hidden intellectualism explores a refreshing and important topic of helping to change the school system rather than just rambling about what’s wrong with it. Every student has intellectual potential it just takes the right topic to bring it out of
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 paragraph 7, Graff also talks about that he did not like talking about books out loud in class because he never felt like he had the exact right things to say. Additionally, he discusses that even when he would speak up in class, his words didn’t seem intellectual enough to be fitting
In 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
A Summary of Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism” 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).
The Other Education Rhetorical Analysis David Brooks is a well-refined journalist for the New York Times News Paper Company. He writes many different controversial articles, that tends to focus around arguments of education. Within Brooks’ arguments he uses effective techniques to persuade the audience. In this specific column, he addresses society as a whole, but with special emphasis on students. David Brooks successfully persuades his audience through his presentation of his claim, his persuasive writing style, and his usage of emotional appeals.
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.
“Intelligence is closely associated with formal education- the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long- and most people seem to move comfortably from that notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (Rose). What Rose is trying to infer is that just because you are labeled blue collar: meaning you have to earn your income from manual labor, and have lack of educational knowledge, does not mean you cannot earn the knowledge in your work career. There are many opportunities to learn from your job even if you are less experienced. “...One who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work.
“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.
The 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.
In his essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff criticizes schools “for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work” (244). Graff argues that intellectualism does not only have to be something that is achieved through this idea of “proper” education which is obtained through school work, but it can also come from the form of “street smarts” which is referred to those who learn things outside of an academic environment, for example their neighborhood. He makes a good point here because if a student is more interested in what is being taught, they will be more likely to engage in the lesson and obtain the information. Schools should give students the opportunity whether they are interested
Graff 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
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 the reading, “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids,” Grant Penrod recommends that there should be a different way to socialize amongst other individuals. This entire description explains the personal burdens that the intelligent scholars undergo. The ideas are as follows: author 's guilt celebrates, ideas held as standard when communicating, and on the bandwagon to get smart people worn down by the individuals that are against smart people. The author is afraid that people would not take the time out of their day to read or study for their classes. Claiming that bad influence towards education makes it resistant.
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
The diversity of student backgrounds, abilities and learning styles makes each person unique in the way he or she reacts to information. The intersection of diverse student backgrounds and active learning needs a comfortable, positive environment in which to take root. Dr. King continues by explaining, “Education which stops with efficiency may prove the greatest menace to society. The most dangerous criminal may be the man gifted with reason, but with no morals.” From back then to today’s society, kids are failing because they lack those morals that they need to succeed.