Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism

Society believes there are two types of people, when it comes to dexterity.There are those who have the knowledge and skills necessary for academics. And then there are those who seem to be full of information about life itself, but do not appear to have perception, when it comes to school. I define “Book smart” as someone who is intelligent and well educated academically. For example a straight A student, or a person who can in a heart beat, give you an answer about history, english, math, or science. On the other hand, a person who is considered “street smart” is one who is dull in school, but has a very bright mentality about life itself and common sense. In Hidden Intellectualism, from They Say I Say, Gerald Graff tells us about how he considered himself “street smart,” but unintentionally became quite an intellectual over time. Using a topic that interests a student is a better way of persuading them to learn, and help them discover they are intelligent in their own way. We should not classify things into different judgmental groups, there is hidden intellectualism amongst every person although we all experience it differently based on past exposures.

In an excerpt from his essay “they say I say” titled “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff gives a compelling argument on how schools should capitalize off student’s street smarts to engage them intellectually. He believes that students are being fed a narrative that is inefficient to its purpose. To counter this inefficiency there should be an integration of things that interest the students with their academics.

The Pathos appeal uses an individual’s story to paint a picture of what is happening in the readers head. Pathos supports the authors reading by the author showing his emotions and the emotions of the other people in his French class through the article. A quote from David Sedaris’s article shows how he feels in the classroom setting and how it affected his life outside of the classroom. “My fear and discomfort crept beyond the borders of the classroom and accompanied me out onto the wide boulevards.” This quote explains how drastically the class and the teacher and internal affected his own being. How he shows his emotion in the writing gets the readers to feel his experience throughout the article through their own in their life. He also shows the emotions of the other people in his class to give the reader a viewpoint other than his. It shows that Sedaris is not the only person in that class that gets emotion abused and feels like an outsider. This gives the reader a visual of exactly what it feels like to be sitting inside of that French

Gerald Graff’s article “Hidden Intellectualism” asserts that academic settings, such as public schools, need to incorporate students’ personal interests into the school policy so that students are more inclined to engage in an academic mindset. The problem, however, is that the school systems do not attempt to tie non-academic material with academic assignments, therefore neglecting students the opportunity to engage in intriguing, intellectual conversation (Graff 245). Targeting students, educators, and administrators, Graff makes an effective explicit, qualified claim of policy as he utilizes the rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos.

The issue being debated in the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff is street smarts versus book smarts. Gerald Graff is an English professor at the University of Illinois and has written many books. The author claims that people are better off if they are more street smart than book smart. The authors is very persuasive using real life examples. I although disagree with this claim. I think that you need an equal mix of both street and book smarts.

“Hidden Intellectualism,” an excerpt from They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff, explains the importance of having diverse intellectualism and helping the kids with street smart intellectualism turn it into academic growth. The author’s claim in this excerpt is that school and colleges are missing out on an opportunity of helping the street smart kids grow their intelligence into good academic work. The significance in the author’s claim is that the students who believe they don’t have much of an opportunity in school or other things related to academics, realize they do.

Graff shares with us his personal experiences on how reading intellectually converted him from being street smart to book smart. Graff now urges colleges and schools to teach students the importance of reading intellectually as well as writing. "If I am right, then schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study. It is self defeating to decline to introduce any text or subject that figures to engage students who will otherwise tune out academic work entirely" (Graff, 270). By this, Gerald Graff means schools should encourage students to take their areas of interest and apply them to their education. All in hopes that students will one day feel comfortable enough to step outside

Within our society, there is a growing anti-intellectual sentiment. Bradbury’s book explores the idea of anti-intellectualism through the values of the society of Fahrenheit 451. The society of Bradbury’s novel began to gravitate away from intellectual pursuits and became “runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word 'intellectual,' of course, became the swear word it deserved to be” (Bradbury 55). The desire to become educated and informed simply is outweighed by the struggle one must undergo to do so. For the average citizen of Fahrenheit 451, and indeed for that of our modern day and age, action is easier than thought. The attitude is reflected in student athletes or should I say, athlete students, specifically in America. High schools

In Francine Prose’ paper, “I know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”, Prose describes why many high school student dislike reading literature that the American education system has preached. The premise of her essay is that today’s high school English classes are largely flawed in both material and teaching method. Prose contends that these practices are damaging to the students’ understanding and appreciation of literature. She harshly critiques the quality of required reading in American high schools and suggests a reconsideration of the English curriculum. She challenges the audience to acknowledge the curriculum’s impact on high school students and urges the audience to consider how it may addressed. Prose crafts her argument by using an appeal to logos, asking rhetorical questions and employing negative connotation.

In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, he begins with the argument of “street-smarts” versus “school-smarts”. Graff explains that school-smarts can be hidden within street smarts and can be learnt through not just talking with friends, but also from the media and our surroundings, hence the “hidden” intellectualism. He goes onto explain that “schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street-smarts” (198) because these types of intellectualism are actually considered anti-intellectualism. Graff then begins to discuss that intellectualism is often looked down upon within schools, and people that are considered “school-smart” are seen as nerdy, or boring. We learn that as a child, Graff was afraid of bullying and

In Francine Prose’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read: How American High School Students Learn to Loathe Literature”, the author is trying to explain why high school students are not asked to read more quality pieces of literature now a days. In my opinion I agree with Prose because I think the texts we read in high school are not challenging and not a lot of students enjoy the readings because they cannot relate. Prose uses the rhetorical strategy of degrading the books high school students are reading and she uses her own personal experiences to support her argument.

“Hidden Intellectualism” an article written by Gerald Graff is a very interesting piece of writing intended for the audience of high school and college educators. Throughout the text Graff argues that high schools and colleges are failing to incorporate topics that interest street smart students into the school system, which is therefore resulting in street smart students failing to do well academically in high school and college. He uses his own personal anecdote to support this. Graff successfully persuades his audience that high school and colleges can develop a student’s intellectualism by using topics that already interests students. He successfully does this through the use of development, conventions, and evidence.

Academic work should not define intelligence nor should a job define ability; a person, regardless of grades, degrees, or job title, is an intellect. Together, Gerald Graff, a coauthor of They Say I say, professor, and former anti-intellect, author of "Hidden Intellectualism," and Mike Rose, professor, author, and in depth thinker, author of "Blue-Collar Brilliance," share two different perspectives on what an intellect truly is. Yet, both writings hold meaningful points and experiences to prove who qualifies to be an intellect. Society continuously focuses on what leads to a successful and rounded life: go to school, graduate, go back to school, get a degree, and then a job. It is believed that these high expectations of higher academics enables one to be more successful is correct; however, it is not. It is a person’s individual goals that give them the success they wish to have whether that be education, volunteering, or donating. Also, street smarts is not to be overlooked; a person with common sense can know more than a Doctor. Typically, a person can have either common sense or intelligence, not both. Street smarts is, without a doubt, a superior quality to possess as it encompasses more in life than just a degree does. For example, it is more appropriate to know how to cross a street properly in life than know how to perform a craniotomy. Furthermore, one does not gain knowledge and life lessons through school alone, but through experience,

In the argumentative article “Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff, the author suggests that schools are missing the true potential in its students by assigning them topics that they are not passionate about.  He argues 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.” I agree because there are students who don’t do well academically, but could answer anything you asked them about sports or any other outside activity. If Graff’s idea was applied to schools around the world there would be an increase in student success rate, an increase in students attendance, and an overall increase in student productivity.

In Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism” we get to hear a new perspective on the early academic world. He grew up as a kid that was not interested in pursuing anything relating to school as an academic focus. He was more interested in things like sports. As he went through his early academic career he was convinced that he was a typical “anti-intellectual” and because of this he often felt alienated by school and regularly found himself very bored. As he continued to dislike average academics and pursue his interest in sports, he realized that the two were not as far off intellectually as he had previously assumed.