Grant Penrod's Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate Smart Kids

In the article, it says on paragraph 8 sentence 1, “Perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that popular kids get targeted.”. The

The President of Bard College, Leon Botstein, wrote the opinion piece Let Teenagers Try Adulthood (1999), argues that American high schools should be abolished. Botstein uses school cliques and brain development to develop the argument. The author's purpose was to argue that high school are dangerous to kids mental health and the school system should be modified in order to keep children safe from wrong ideas that are often present in high schools. The audience of the opinion article are school officials and people who have the power to change the educational system.

People with street smarts can just be as intellectual as a person who is book smart if you can get them to open up and willing to talk about their personal interests. Schools will be more successful in taping in the minds of a street smart kid by having them introduce personal interests in their academic work. These street smart kids are more willing to be academically intelligent if they introduce personal interests into their own school work. It allows the kid to be free and talk about a subject that they have more knowledge on than a subject they barely touched base on a couple weeks ago. By having students introducing personal interests in their academic work they are more willing to succeed in their work because they have plenty of support. Graff says in the last paragraph of his essay, “Give me a student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue of Source over the student who writes a lifeless explication of Hamlet or Socrate’s Apology.” (Graff 270) Schools need to identify both sides of the human being and notice that one is just not alike as the

In today’s society, constant judgement as to how well you fit in achieves nothing, rather distinguishes hope for improvement. Ideas including being looked down upon for an individual’s intelligence or being pushed aside from groups due to one’s academic ability are becoming an epidemic as those who seek to better themselves are seen as inferiors. The United States today is accustomed to issues as far as the negative deterioration towards those who possess higher mental values. In America Needs Its Nerds by Leonid Fridman, a look into how geeks and nerds are identified, the reality of childhood dilemmas, and the problem in the broad spectrum of the globe are all noted and questioned as to why America as a society expresses such a negative position

In the story “I Just Wanna Be Average” the author Mike Rose argues that society very often neglects and doesn’t see the full value and potential of students.

Rosie “quit school in the seventh grade” and Joe “left school in the ninth grade.” (Rose 395) Mike believes that it is more assumption than fact that, “Intelligence in closely associated with formal education.” (Rose 395) He says that, “We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and numbers on an IQ tests.” (Rose 397) He also says that, “Scholars have often looked at the working class [and] have generally focused on the values such workers exhibit rather than on thought their work requires.” (Rose 395) Mike clearly believes that those of a higher class do not see that those of a lower class do have a sense of intelligence compared to those who only have one sense of intelligence. Instead of having either book or street smarts, in a sense, those who are “blue-collar” workers, have both.

Being a smart kid is an honor to most, but as a child, Mark Bowden believed otherwise. In “The Dumb Kids’ Class” he tells his unique experience in Catholic school, where he was in the dumb kids’ class and then switched into the smart class, and discovers the true differences between them.

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,

Botstein starts his argument by stating the various parts of the high school experience that are harmful and pointless to students. The first is the “untouchable” category which consists of coaches and high school athletes whose exclusive ranking is based off of the team’s success rather than their own educational achievements. Secondly, Botstein addresses teachers and curriculum that “hold so little sway” over the minds and attitudes of students, since the average student is constantly worried about growing up, popularity, and their friend groups. Next, Botstein claims that the “primary reason” high schools are flawed and broken is that the teens in the twentieth century era are maturing “substantially earlier” than in the past decades. Lastly, Botstein develops a new method for teenager’s education experience by eliminating the 10th through 12th grades, permanently making high school obsolete. If Botstein’s plan is achieved, teenagers will have many different options to choose after their secondary schooling. Students would be able

In his article, Penrod first starts out talking about how a football team won an Arizona state championship the previous year. Penrod then goes on to talk about how no one paid any attention to the Science bowl team since everyone was focused on the athletes. Furthermore, Penrod points out how there is “disdain for the educated harbored in much of society,” and also speaks about stereotypes associated with intelligent kids and how uneducated celebrities are not setting a good example for future kids to get an education.

What is the first thing people think of when they hear the “smart” kid talks about his accomplishments? Those smart kids get called a nerd and automatically have to deal negative things all because society itself thinks it is okay to do so. In “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate Smart Kids”, Grant Penrod explains why anti-intellectualism exist. People will remember what the anti-intellectuals do but not so much the intellectuals. Society envy those who are smarter than them and only look at any other accomplishment besides education accomplishments. Anti- Intellectuals tend to bash others around them for their success academically. That is how society works in every generation. Penrod informs everyone of an example of how nerds can be treated differently especially in the school system. More recognition goes to sports teams instead of debates teams, which is factual. Penrod’s lack of credible information and the tone that has been presented has brought a lot of thoughts that need to be analyzed more closely on why he presented this article this way.

Botstein starts his argument by stating the various parts of the high school experience that are harmful and pointless to students. The first that Botstein addresses is the “untouchable” category which is made up of coaches and high school athletes whose exclusive ranking is based off of the team’s success rather than the educational achievements of the players. Secondly, Botstein addresses teachers and curriculum that “hold so little sway” over the minds and attitudes of students because the average student is constantly worried about growing up, popularity, and their friend groups. Next, Botstein claims that the “primary reason” high schools are flawed and broken is that the teens in the twentieth century era are maturing “substantially earlier” than in the past decades. Lastly, Botstein develops a new method for teenager’s education experience by eliminating the 10th through 12th grades, permanently making high school obsolete. If Botstein’s plan is achieved, teenagers will have many different options to choose

In addition to Graff’s argument, he also states that he believes that the knowledge a child gets from non-academic activities overrule academic skill any day. Graff’s theory of “street smarts” is extremely beneficial due to the fact that it gives the reader a preview on the issue of keeping social life separate from the academic environment. This is not always a sign that academic smarts are less important than street smarts. I agree with Graff on the need to integrate non-academic skills in traditional academic settings. It is obvious that by tying in both academic and social significance, students will want to learn what they need to in the classroom in order to get the knowledge they need for things that interest them more. In class when

Anti-intellectualism is not the first thing that comes to mind when watching American high school movies. However, early tension between intellectuals and non-intellectuals (although humorously simplified) can be seen with the classic jock and cheerleader versus nerd conflicts present in films like High School Musical and Mean Girls. In these movies, questions on whether physical or academic talent is more valuable are explored, stemming from a much larger debate on American intellectual and anti-intellectual ideals. This essay will compare and contrast American anti-intellectualism with the thread of that concept woven throughout Western history with the focus on the influence of Montaigne’s core idea that excessive pursuit of philosophy and intellectual pride are the downfalls of

“anti-intellectual” is a loose label. Kids who are considered “street smart” fit the label, and so do students who are more interested in non-academic studies. It is unfair for students to be knocked down into believing that they're not smart, or anti-intellectuals, simply because they enjoy reading about sports rather than literature, or know how to survive in the outside world instead of how to pass a math test. Why do these attributes deem students as a “waste” to the world just because they don’t show the same motivation towards school as they do towards their hobbies or their outdoor survival? Schools and colleges need to start working with different types of interests