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Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff touches on the struggle of integrating street smarts into the academic world. Book smarts were usually associated with middle and upper class, whereas street smarts were usually associated with working and lower class, and Graff felt that he didn’t belong to either. Graff later explains how there should be a way to build a bridge between a student’s outside interests to the academic world, and he believes that can be done through reading, analyzing and debating on those topics (sports, fashion, cars. etc). Not only would it combat issues like boredom and isolation, but it would also help students develop better literacy and analytical skills, as well as create a sense of community in schools. Graff knows …show more content…
Blue collar jobs are typically manual labor jobs that do not require “formal education” like white-collar jobs. Rose fascinates over how underrated the blue collar worker’s intelligence is by society. Rose recalls his observations of his mother when she was working at a local diner, and how much intellectual work goes into waitressing. Rose’s mother was able to multitask; remembering tables and orders, knowing how to satisfy a customer’s or fellow worker’s needs, and how to navigate around the diner in an efficient way. Rose further explain how any blue-collar worker can learn how to solve problems through cognitive skills (reading, writing, remembering, paying attention, trial and error, etc). I think Rose’s idea should be heavily stressed to everyone, especially people who work or are interested in working. It’s unfair to blue-collar workers to assume that because they have not received formal education like college/university or vocational schools, that they don’t use or develop intellect in their work areas. The physical work that is performed on the job should not take away from the fact that blue-collar workers use cognitive skills to ultimately solve problems on that job. Rose concludes with the points that society should not think that people who have blue-collar jobs are not intellectual and that it should be acknowledge that there are many variations of intellect across the blue-collar
Does the amount of schooling measure a person’s intelligence level? The essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, argue that the intelligent a person has should not be measure under the amount of schooling, using the example of his uncle, who did not get a formal education, become the head of general motor. As for this, Rose suggest that education should be taken as priority. I agree with Rose point of view because the one who get formal education do not symbolize success. In older generation, many people could not afford the tuition, however they can also succeed. In the other word, having formal education does not grantee us a successful future.
A college Degree used to be an extraordinary accolade but now its just another thing that we need in order to be successful, at this points its nothing more than a paperweight to some. Mike Rose states, “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” (Mike Rose 276). In other words the author of Blue-Collar Brilliance, Mike Rose, believes that blue-collar jobs require intelligence as well. I agree that those who work blue-collar jobs need to be intelligent, a point that needs emphasizing since so many people believe that those who work blue-collar jobs aren't intelligent and that why they have them. Although I also believe that
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
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 the essay “Hidden Intellectualism” Gerald Graff expressed his views on education. He feels that teachers or professors only see traditional subjects or text as intellectually valuable even though, although as a professor himself, he disagrees with it. He feels that the spectrum should be broadened to be able to interact with the kids more and get them more interested in the reading that are taught in schools. He is speaking to teachers in an effort to get them to change from the mindset of teaching traditionally and get reading that students to relate to. He is also speaking to students to get them to feel better about not being able to relate certain readings, and to also see that not being able to relate to the readings is not a bad thing. Although Pop Culture reading is not considered as intellectual reading it should be.
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.
This issue of having real world smarts as well as book smarts is especially relevant to the modern day higher education student. With all the pressure surrounding schoolwork, it is easy to get caught up in academics and lose sight of the world around you. Achieving a balance between school work and real world education is key to success in this world. College students these days must try to find their own personal "Manley Pointer", in order to remind themselves of the balance necessary in life.
In the article “ Blue-Collar Brilliance” the author Mike Rose, was obviously arguing that just because some jobs requires less schooling than others, it doesn’t mean that their jobs use less brain, intelligent and less thought process in their profession. To argue his theory Rose told us about his mother, about how when he was younger, he observe his mother as a waitress at a coffee shop and family restaurant. Rose told us how his mother loves her being a waitress and how her job required her to use her memory and knowledge. As rose stated “my mother kind of work demand of both body and brain” (245) His mother also learned how long each dish is suppose to take before its ready to be serve, and his mother also learned human skills. For example, if there was a problem at work she would knew how to solve them, while she’s still doing her job as an employer. To furthermore his explain his theory; Rose tells reader about
In “ Blue Collar Brilliance” Mike Rose argues that intelligences can’t be measured by the education we received in school but how we learn them in our everyday lives. He talks about his life growing up and watching his mother waitressing at a restaurant. He described her orders perfectly by who got what, how long each dish takes to make, and how she could read her customers. He also talks about his uncles working at the General Motors factory and showed the amount of intelligence that was need to work at the factory. Rose goes on talking about the different types of blue-collar and how he came up with the idea that a person has skills that takes a lot of mind power to achieve.
We, as a society, feel the need to draw imaginary lines to separate ourselves whether it’s the line between color of our skin, our religion differences, our political beliefs, or the status of our class. As much as I wish there wasn’t a defining line between high class and the educated vs. low class and uneducated, there is. In Mike Rose’s narrative essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” he describes his mother’s lack of education and her hard labor work which is the quote on quote the blue collar working class.
Blue Collar workers today are looked down upon by most of society. People think that if you have a blue collar job you aren’t smart and not successful. But in my opinion, blue collar workers are the backbone of our society, and deserve the same amount of respect as white collar workers. “Blue Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose” explains how blue collar workers are very smart and use a lot of brainpower to get their jobs done. Both his Uncle and mother were blue collar workers and that’s where he got his inspiration to stand up for blue collar workers around the world. He gives us examples of how his own family members were blue collar workers and how they were smart and how they excelled at their jobs. He uses his own experiences to show us that blue collar workers are in fact smart, able to adapt to many different situations, and deserve respect.
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 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”.
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.
Rose explains an important revelation, blue-collar workers have worked hard to gain the intelligence it takes to efficiently do their jobs. A significant problem pointed out by Rose is that society has shaped people to believe that intelligence is solely based on the level of schooling someone receives. Also, it details where they fall on the intelligence scale as expressed in their occupation. Rose discovered that many times blue-collar workers have to think on the spot on how to solve problems, and most times they are able to do so effectively. Not only this, but the workers are able to adapt to their work environments and efficiently get the job done. Many of the workers were able to quickly come up with plans to solve a typical work problem by coming together with co-workers and pulling on a combined intelligence. Communication is key in many blue-collar jobs, Rose noticed this because without it training and advice would not be around to better others work technique. Not only this, but it also benefits those with jobs involving vague descriptions from customers, and being able to understand what is needed. As Rose mentioned, intelligence can be determined in more ways than people know and because of it people overlook jobs that are assumed to be