Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism Summary

Gerald Graff’s article criticizes the way schools associate “book smarts” with intellectualism and “street smarts” with anti-intellectualism, offers his own life experiences to counteract this view, and argues how “street smarts” can coincide with intellectualism.

Gerald Graff’s article, “Hidden Intellectualism,” strongly asserts that people make false assumptions about what it means to be intelligent. He believes we claim intelligence with inherently dry or narrow topics such as Plato, and nuclear fission while subjects such as cars, sports, and fashion are put aside as simple-minded matters. He goes on to refute this argument by saying there has never been any direct connection between a certain topic and the corresponding discussion or insight it may bring. Therefore, if students are first given

Graff then continues to illustrate his neighborhood as a middle class, melting pot, entrenched within class boundaries. Describing his constant fight for acceptance from the “hoods” versus his need to prove his intellect, Graff’s emotional struggle provides insight into why he supported “anti-intellectualism.” He later learned that he took part in intellectualism unconsciously during his youth. For example, the sports, and movies Graff’s discussed and debated with his friends, seemingly unintelligent on the surface, unknowingly provided him with the roots to intellectual life and helped him become the writer he is today. Graff concluded that his preference for sports over other topics just provided him a different avenue that still led him to become an intellectual. Graff’s discovery of himself, led him to affirm that sports were actually more intellectual than