School is a frightening place. It is broken down into multiple social ranks, and many children find themselves at the bottom. With children trying to work their way to the top of the food chain, the actual learning portion is either set aside or forgotten altogether. In Grant Penrod’s essay, Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, he explains how modern children are growing to dislike intellectual children. The varying social ranks teach children to ignore low grades and try to be popular in school. Anti-Intellectualism is a trend which is becoming increasingly popular throughout the world. People who only strive to be popular tend to tease intellectuals, but this is not half of the story. If the only goal children have in school …show more content…
For a majority of children, their role model is their favorite celebrity. These celebrities tend to be athletes, or musicians. Several gifted children admire people who are not as famous, such as famous scientists, authors, or artists. While an intellectual child may be a fan of a celebrity, they may not look up to them in the same way other students would. “Certainly the image presented by modern celebrities suggests that intellectualism has no ties to success and social legitimacy,” which explains how celebrities are practically promoting anti-intellectualism (Penrod, 755). Other students will likely find intellectuals’ role models strange and will tease both the role models and the intellectual children, which decreases their reputation with the intellectuals. Nobody wants to be friends with someone who mocks their role model. When everybody is making fun of an intellectual’s role model, the chances of an intellectual socializing are slim for his ir her feelings are hurt. If the people setting examples were intellectuals, the anti-intellectual movement would probably be different, but as of now, the only way for gifted people to be popular is to change the world with whatever they do best. Changing the world sounds much harder when an intellectual student does not have
Author and Harvard graduate, Leonid Fridman, in an excerpt of his article, America Needs Its Nerds, points out America’s anti-intellectualism. Fridman’s purpose is to inform the reader of the contempt held for the intellectually curious and call for a change in the country’s attitude. He adopts a condemning tone to make the reader aware of the issue and encourage them to change their mindset.
They also relatably talk of the way that they affect students in their higher education. In Gerald Graff’s essay about hidden intellectualism it is implied that we all have intellect within us. It just may be show in different ways among different people. He offers the example that a love for learning about anything can later be converted into a love for learning about academic subjects. Where in the second essay we talk more about people who have feelings of anti-intellectualism which we learn is a negative feeling towards intellect or learning itself. You could say that those who feel anti-intellectualism tend to have dwindling desires to continue in school and gaining this so called intellect, leading them to complacency in their education. Whereas those who have increased desire to further their intellects will tend to stay on a path of fulfillment and
The journey begins at the heart of the matter, with a street smart kid failing in school. This is done to establish some common ground with his intended audience, educators. Since Graff is an educator himself, an English professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, he understands the frustrations of having a student “who is so intelligent about so many things in life [and yet] seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work” (380). Furthermore, Graff blames schools for not utilizing street smarts as a tool to help improve academics; mainly due to an assumption that some subjects are more inherently intellectual than others. Graff then logically points out a lack of connection “between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate” (381). He exemplifies this point by suggesting that any real intellectual could provoke thoughtful questions from any subject, while a buffoon can render the most robust subjects bland. Thus, he is effectively using logic and emotion to imply that educators should be able to approach any subject critically, even non-traditional subjects, lest they risk being labeled a buffoon.
Why does our society praise braun over brain? When did athletic talent and beauty begin to reign over intellect? In past cultures intellect was cherished, praised and honored. However, in present time our most honored members of society are our athletes and entertainers. Why do we no longer honor our philosophers, scientists, and innovators? Intellects keep the world turning. Due to this lack of admiration for intelligence, our children are no longer inspired to learn. Their dreams co...
Leonid Fridman’s article,”America Need Its Nerds”, published in the New York Times, conveys American society’s unpleasant perception towards intellectuals. Fridman asserts the issues of American society's evaluation of people in order to convince readers of the New York Times to acknowledge educated individuals. He employs logos, ethos, and pathos to contribute to his goal if the readers of the New York Times recognizing the value of intellectuals.
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,
In American society, a person's ability to make a touchdown or dunk a basketball is valued at a higher standard than one’s ability to succeed academically. In “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, Fridman criticizes society for demeaning the people who seek knowledge by using derogatory words. Through his critical tone, descriptive examples, and rhetorical questions, Fridman argues over the condescending views that society has over the academically advanced.
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
There is no doubt that conformity is essential to the harmony of society. It allows for individuals to work together under a uniform set of rules and norms. In childhood and adolescence, the time during which students go to school, children begin to learn these basic rules of civilization. They socialize with others, learn respect and become well-rounded individuals. This requires students to not only develop their talents but also their weaknesses. This Achilles' heel may be academic, such as math and science or more artistic, like vocal music (Source F). Although students may not be pursuing a future in these areas, learning them is part of becoming a balanced person academically. Only strengthening and focusing on a student’s specific talent could create an image...
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.
What makes a person gifted has been debated historically and continues on today. The debate has been influenced by politics and culture, which impact how gifted children are educated. The three articles discussed in this paper explore the origins, development, social-emotional impact, and politics of giftedness.
In Anti-Intellectusim: Why We Hate the Smart Kids by Grant Penrod he argues that intellectual kids are looked down on in today’s society and not respected. He makes a valid argument with good points, but he bases his opinions off of his high school experiences and the world is much different after high school. His idea of intellectual kids not being praised in society is false. This can be compared to the idea of social classes in society. The intellectual kids would be at the top of the social class ladder with the access to all the privileges.
“Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, is a compelling essay that presents the contradicting sides of “book smarts” and “street smarts” and how these terms tied in to Graff’s life growing up. Graff felt like the school was at fault that the children with more “street smarts” were marked with the reputation of being inadequate in the classroom. Instead of promoting the knowledge of dating, cars, or social cues, the educational system deemed them unnecessary. Gerald Graff thought that “street smarts” could help people with academics. In his essay, Graff confessed that despite his success as an “intellect” now, he was the exact opposite until college. Where he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, intelligence was looked down upon around peers
Why street smart students are considered anti intellectual in academic area? In the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he accounts the idea that street smart students are way more smarted than book smarts. He explains that street smart student will be able to solve an issue much faster than book smart because of his/her previous experience. According to author, the problems with considering street smarts as anti intellectual are they are actually much smarter that book smart students, they don’t equal opportunity , and schools along with colleges never challenge their mind get them to succeed in academic work.
Lovecky, D. V. (1995). Highly Gifted Children and Peer Relationships. Counseling and Guidance Newsletter. Retrieved March 10, 2003, from http://print.ditd.org/floater=74.html.