Public education has always been a topic of intense controversy in the United States since its early founding years. There remain many sides to this topic of education and include anything regarding what should be taught, how it should be taught, and what marks the mastering of a subject. Gerald Graff brings up an interesting take on the topic of education through his article, “Hidden Intellectualism.” Written to the audience of students, future educators, professors, and educational commentators; Graff’s work describes the educational system as being one-sided. His idea of intellectualism versus hidden intellectualism remains one of the leading themes of his work and the main faults of schools. In other words, not everyone learns best through …show more content…
While society generally views blue collard jobs, street smarts, and athletes to be people of low education or intellectual standings, that may not be as true as believed to be. Students, as all people do, have a passion outside of the “get a job, pay taxes and die” quantities of life. Some people find their passion through sports or working with something with their bare hands. The educational system fails to recognize the distinction of these so-called anti-intellectuals as only the “book smart intellects,” as Graff described, are valued by the schooling system. Graff turns down the idea that school or book smart people are intellects based solely on that fact. Instead, Graff places that intellects are rather those who pursue their passion, whatever that may be. As Graff puts it, “Real intellectuals turn any subject, however lightweight it may seem, into grist for their mill through the thoughtful questions they bring to it . . .” (Graff, 2003, p. 265). Before continuing this quote, a line needs to be drawn to the meaning of pieces at the end of his statement. As this quote finishes “. . . whereas a dullard will find a way to drain the interest …show more content…
There are little to no hard-proven facts or statistics in his writing. Instead, Graff chooses to write more from the mere reflection of his childhood as the basis of his paper. While reflecting of one’s childhood may not be the best base for writing, there are little pieces and parts that can be pulled to show, even in his childhood days, the education system wrongly divided students. Not to mention that experience can be the sole deciding factor in many situations and can even weigh more than logic. Regarding this divide, Graff recalls the description of his hometown of Chicago. He draws a parallel between the night and day difference between the separation of the city blocks by their demographic, to the night and day difference between the young, working class “hoods” and the “clean-cut” boys that participated in school. While young Graff strived to fit in with the cool hoods and popular kids, he fell into the educated, clean cuts by default, being told that the hoods would never amount to much. The younger Graff understood that these kids had valuable “street smarts” and possessed the skills to fit in and thrive in the real world. The older Graff, through his reflection, realizes that book learning was not the only nor always the best way to learn things in the real
Co-author of “They Say/I Say” handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” that “street smarts” can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to “get hooked on reading and writing” (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than “academic work” is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, “Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a life-less explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology” (205). Graff adopts a jovial tone to lure in his readers and describe how this overlooked intelligence can spark a passion in students to become interested in formal and academic topics. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos to establish his credibility, appeal emotionally to his readers, and appeal to logic by makes claims, providing evidence, and backing his statements up with reasoning.
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff pens an impressive argument wrought from personal experience, wisdom and heart. In his essay, Graff argues that street smarts have intellectual potential. A simple gem of wisdom, yet one that remains hidden beneath a sea of academic tradition. However, Graff navigates the reader through this ponderous sea with near perfection.
Intellectuality needs to be redefined; what does the word intellectual mean? Typically one would describe someone as either “street-smart” or “book-smart,” in other words someone who knows how to live in the real world versus someone who has knowledge about academics. But is one more “intellectual” than the other? In the article “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff addresses this issue and brings to the audience’s—the audience being experts about the subject along with himself—attention that schools are missing the opportunity to fuse together street-smarts and book-smarts to increase overall academic performance. Graff definitively presents his opinion on this topic by manipulating ethos, pathos, and logos. Through ethos his credibility
A philosopher once said ”A child educated only at school is an uneducated child”. As we are living in a world where everyone knows the importance of schools and the meaningful of being educated, then why does he believe that a child is illiterate when he only studies at school? Are schools actually limit on areas of study and overlook the essential of real life experience? In the article “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff claims that schools and colleges are might at fault due to their omission of the “street smarts”-knowledge necessary to deal with reality-, and their failure to invest them into academic work. By stating the fundamental of intellectualism and the influence of personal interests, he informs readers that those street smarts,
College has always been a process that introduces students to academic challenges that are not present during high school. So when my professor assigned Gerald Graff's essay, "Hidden Intellectualism", I thought this was his thesis. “Missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work." (Graff 142) I thought that this was his thesis because it explains the main idea of the essay but I assumed its purpose because of where it’s placed. I am so used to reading an essay in high school where the thesis is located right in the first paragraph. So naturally that is where I look for it. However, with more reading I knew that the following is the thesis, not only because it discusses the main topic, but because it clearly shows what the author was making his argument about. "But [students] would be more prone to take on intellectual identities if we encouraged them to do so at first on subjects that interest them rather than the ones that interest us". (Graff 199) Your thesis is one of the major aspects of a good college paper because it shows exactly what the main claim of the entire paper is going to be about. Three main points to take out of a thesis is, is it your main claim or big idea that directly answers a question about the assignment of the paper. Is it written with the reader in mind with a road map they could follow along easily and lastly when you do go back through revising and reflecting does it makes your thesis clearer.
In his essay "Hidden Intellectualism," Gerald Graff argues that intellectualism is not something that can only be taught through proper education like school or college, but with subjects that people consider non academics as sports, cars, or popular culture. The writer considers "street smart" to those people who learn things outside of an academic environment, for example in the streets of their neighborhood or their parent’s professions like being a mechanic. The writer argues that educators should let students decide on the subject that they are more interested to learn, this would open up possibilities for the student to excel in his academic environment as well as his own interests. I personally agree with this 100 percent this would
In Grant Penrod’s “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids” he goes onto explain how as a society today we seem to have a built in hatred for those who are intellectuals. The main point I believe Penrod is trying to get across is that many people tend to overlook those who are intellectuals and tend single out and stop intellectuals. In Penrod’s essay he a great example of intellectuals being overshadowed by athletes by telling us how the Mountain View football team had won their state championship, it had been given the utmost attention by getting banners and assemblies, meanwhile the Science Bowl Team, the Debate Team, and the Academic Decathlon team had also won state but had only got a total for ten minutes of recognition. Penrod then goes onto show more successful examples of
Grant Penrod second place winner at Arizona State University's Printer's Devil Contest discusses reasons why society hates intellectual kids in his essay "Anti-intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids. One of the reasons being intellectual is so unpopular is because being "nerdy" has become associated with being anti-social. It's hard to break that association because you don't get included when you're labeled a "nerd" and therefore you continue to be labeled as a "nerd". Another reason being intellectual is uncool is because the media idolizes celebrities that dropped out. When we idolize people like this we don't associate success with intellectualism. Penrod adds "intellectuals constantly see their efforts trivialized in the rush to lavish
In the essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff points out that colleges do not acknowledge any of these skills to develop them into “academic work” (264). The essence of Graff’s argument is that many do not acknowledge the skills that people have as educational though it can help improve and person's work and mind. With certain skills put into work, it can lead them into obtaining a job and becoming a skilled worker. Although some might not need college because they are highly skilled, there are some who do not need college for other reasons.
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.” (Joseph Brodsky). Education is one of the most critical properties someone can posses. Information; education, is so complex yet so simple to obtain. Learning and gaining this power does not have to be performed in a classroom or by textbooks. To be informed and educated can mean multiple topics such as critical thinking, realizing what is happening in the world, or even learning for yourself. Being a true educated citizen is having the ability to ponder critically, and to experience the world’s teachings outside the classroom personally.
Is it better to be book smart or street smart? Is it better to be happy and stable or unhappy and ‘rich’? Blue-collar jobs require you to learn skills that college cannot teach you; Rose points this out in his essay, stating: “It was like schooling, where you’re constantly learning” (277). In the essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, he talks about how his mother worked as a waitress and how his uncle Joe dropped out of high school, eventually got a job working on the assembly line for General Motors and was then moved up to supervisor of the paint and body section. Rose suggests that intelligence is not represented by the amount of schooling someone has or the type of job they work. In this essay I will be explaining why Rose
Graff begins by talking about the educational system, and why it flawed in many ways, but in particular, one: Todays schools overlook the intellectual potential of street smart students, and how shaping lessons to work more readily with how people actually learn, we could develop into something capable of competing with the world. In schools, students are forced to recite and remember dull and subject heavy works in order to prepare them for the future, and for higher education. “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. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or video games.” (Graff, 198-199) In everyday life, students are able to learn and teach themselves something new everyday. It is those students, the “young person who is impressively “street smart” but does poorly in school” (Graff, 198), that we are sweeping away from education and forcing to seek life in places that are generally less successful than those who attend a college or university.
Graff takes a logical approach to defending his opinion on the age old battle of “street smarts versus book smarts” in the article “Hidden Intellectualism”. Through several historical and personal examples, he strongly delivers an argument that schools have been discounting students who may not think academically. In reality the students who can relate articles from sources like Vouge and Sports Illustrated to life may be the ones who will truly be successful. Throughout his writing, he uses many devices to sway the audience’s opinions in the direction of his. Through Graff’s rhetorical writing strategies, he opens reader’s eyes to the fact that any subject can be intellectual when observed “through academic eyes”.
School in America is a stuffed animal. Shot dead on arrival but preserved by elitist taxidermy, we cling to the fallacy that it is alive and well. If anyone who cared witnessed the totality of my high school (or middle or elementary, for that matter) career, they wouldn’t have let me graduate. Not only did I learn next to nothing, I barely did anything. Teachers were apparently satisfied with dull essays lacking insight, obviously BSed or copied homework, and intelligence-insulting lies I fed them to keep my 84% in their class. That was the game I played for all of middle and high school – see how long it takes them to notice that I’m a house of cards. Around the time I turned 17, however, I realized that no one was about to tell me to stop playing – that I could, in fact, play the same game the rest of my life without anyone noticing. Before I knew it I had college acceptance letters and a high school diploma, and an extensive contemplation set in. It culminated in the astonishing realization that my life, and consequently my education, is my own responsibility, and that I must stop waiting for anyone to help me advance either one. John Taylor Gatto, Michael Moore, and Jean Anyon all suggest exactly what my friends and I gradually became aware of in high school – that the public school system is rife with inequalities and deficiencies, only guaranteeing reproduction to replacement for the unskilled labor force, rather than encouraging innovation to change the world. Anyon and Gatto reveal the hidden pretext of the American public school, and Moore and Malcolm X explore the elitist avarice preventing things from improving.
This book, Dare The School Build a New Social Order by George Counts, is an examination of teachers, the Progressive Education Movement, democracy and his idea on how to reform the American economy. The book is divided into 5 different sections. The first section is all about the Progressive Education Movement. Through this, George Counts points out many downsides and weaknesses of this ideal. He also talks about how he wants teachers to lead society instead of following it. In the second section, he examines 10 widespread fallacies. These fallacies were that man is born free, that children are born free, they live in a separate world of their own, education remains unchanged, education should have no bias, the object of education is to produce professors, school is an all-powerful educational agency, ignorance rather than knowledge is the way of wisdom, and education is made to prepare an individual for social change.