An Analysis Of Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff

In the world of academia, from Graff’s perspective, street smarts are associated with anti-intellectualism. Graff states “we associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty an academic.” He argues that educators should broaden their aspect of material they once preserved as inefficient. Graff implies that a person who is studious enough can find substance in any content. He reasons that intellect can be uncovered and observed in various forms, hence the name “hidden intellectualism.” He suggests that the Education system overlooks the interest of the students because they consider their interest irrelevant.

Society’s view on intelligence is becoming watered down from the truth. In Rose’s article, “Blue Collar Brilliance” Rose discusses societies outlook on intelligence. Rose explains how society thinks blue collared jobs don’t involve any intelligence, and anyone can do a blue collared job. He explains how society thinks that since you don’t have to have a high education to perform well in blue collared jobs, it takes little to no intelligence. Rose says, “We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and numbers on IQ test” (Rose 279). Rose explains that even though most blue collared jobs don’t require a college degree, they still demand many forms of intelligence. Rose also explains how his brother dropped out of school in the ninth grade but eventually became a successful employee of the company General Motors. In Graff’s article, “Hidden Intellectualism” he explains how there are many students in today’s world who have an outstanding amount of “street smarts” but are failing school. He explains

Looking at the actual amount of conformity present in schools, as opposed to the ideal amount, it seems that schools have moved past a healthy level to a point where students don’t often have to genuinely think for themselves. On a basic level, students don’t have to plan or use their judgment to ensure that they arrive to class on time. They become dependent on bells to tell them when they need to be in class and when they are late (Source B). On a more complex level, students rarely have to use their problem solving skills to come to their own conclusions. Learning in the classroom is typically centered around the memorization of facts and methods as opposed to critical thinking. Students are requested to learn the details and regurgitate them on test day, despite the fact that very little of it will be remembered later on. On the rare occasions when students are confronted by a critical thinking question, they often struggle as they have little practice in this area. If schools were to put more emphasis on individuality, where students could think freely and responsibly and contribute their own ideas, students would better themselves and society

“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.

Everyone knows some young person who is impressively street smart but does poorly in school. What a waste, we think, that one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work. This is how Gerald Graff’s essay titled “Hidden Intellectualism" begins. Although this is not Graff's personal belief, he is approaching us with a common stereotype. After reading Graff's article I would say that I agree with him from beginning to end. Gerald Graff begins with differentiating between “book smarts” and “street smarts". Book smart is defined as a person who is intelligent and very well educated academically. People that are book smart can write and discuss subjects taught in school. On the

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

“Street smarts” can be a useful tool for educators to relate topics to their students and garner a student's attention. It can be a good alternative to teach certain ideas to students as Graff explains in his essay when he talks about how arguing sports educated him on the finer points of argumentation, “I began to learn the rudiments of intellectual life: how to make an argument, weigh different kinds of evidence, move between particulars and generalizations, summarize the ideas of others and enter a conversation about ideas”. But not all topics and

Additionally, Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” There are different forms of intelligence that go beyond what our school system measures. Students are not a unit to be measured, and students cannot be assigned a numerical value to identify their intelligence. Students are diverse—they learn at different speeds, and they learn in different ways. Focusing solely on test scores is hurting our students and deviating away from building our society on success and excellence. Critics are slowly realizing the problems associated with standardized tests—they create anxiety, they are extremely biased, and they do not measure the ability to think deeply.

In today’s society students aren’t pushed in high school to pursue their full potential, which makes students think they don’t need to put hard work into school making them lazy. The outcome of this is bad grades and upset parents making them believe they aren’t smart and that is why they are getting the grades they are receiving. In actuality these students aren’t being pushed and the teachers aren’t tapping into their talents to show them the full academic potential they have.

“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.

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

He lays awake at night clutching his bedsheets in guilt, because of his want, and to want anything at all is blasphemy. Because of his intellect, his teachers ridicule him constantly. He tries to dumb himself down and squash down his natural curiosity to fit in, but he is lashed nevertheless. “It is not good to be different from our brothers, but it is evil to be superior to them.” (Rand 21) This quote reflects on the fact that is any man exhibits superior traits to that of their colleagues, they will experience a harsh degree of backlash. Because of the push for sameness, if one man is unintelligent, all others must be the

In reading Gerald Graff’s short essay Hidden Intellectualism, I agree and disagree with some of what Graff argues. He emphasizes that by having students write about something they are passionate about, it will inspire them to write more academically and be willing to focus on their studies and academics. He informs the reader that “It was in these discussions with friends about toughness and sports, I think, and in my reading of sports books and magazines, that I began to learn the rudiments of the intellectual life” (Graff, pg. ) In this quote, he argues that by having discussions about his passion with sports helped him as he grew up to be able to sustain a conversation with his peers and enforce his ideas across. I believe discussing passionate subjects an individual has is a great way to expand them academically.

It makes children feel as powerless to change their circumstances and books are simply a barren string of words on the page. He's joking said Gladwell” ( 3 ). Being smart involves both types of thinking. Johnson discussed that we shouldn’t think the only important learning style is explicit learning. No study shows that spending more time on homework makes you a better student in high school. For example, my cousin angela never does her math homework but she alway gets A’s on her exams. Some parents think studying makes their kids smarter in life and does not waste their time. However, In real life study is not the only method of getting

Kids are meant to be clever and successful while the rest is made to endeavor and give up in life. Some kids get school with an ease, while others are dragging their feet to stay afloat. The truth is, it’s just a mindset: growth or mastery-oriented, and helplessness mindset. In the report “Reading to Smart Kids” by Dweck, Carlos S. describes and explains these mindsets. Children who were accelerated in the early years of school are stumbling later on in their education due to how they never had the need to study or had the struggling experience of not being able to comprehend a subject. “Kids that don’t need to put in the effort to hold an implicit belief that intelligence is annotated and fixed”. Through high school, those students begin to fall behind and get to the conclusion that school just isn’t meant for them and focus on receiving a high grade rather than learning new material. These kids fall under the category of helplessness. While “mastery-oriented children believe intelligence is malleable and can be developed through education and hard work”. Those students that refuse to