preview

`` Hidden Intellectualism `` By Gerald Graff

Decent Essays

Gerald Graff argues in his paper “Hidden Intellectualism,” that all students possess intellectual abilities but are often over looked and academically discarded due to them being intellectual in an unapparent way. Graff opens his paper by recounting several stories, including his own, on discovering intellectual ability in youths. The first story tells of a child who began expressing intellectual tendencies when arguing about religious studies, sparking Graff’s’ interest in the idea of hidden intellectualism. He addresses throughout the paper how the culture of schools is not conducive to feeding intellectual growth; his main focus is that of his childhood, and his experience growing up in a school system that focused on memorization of seemingly unconnected facts and an environment that continuously put down intellectuals. Graf continues to argue that schools focus on suppressing conflict for a peaceful and quite façade, however he continues to write that argument is not the same as rebellion and that schools should support rather than restrict debate between peers, in doing this schools would provide a safe, constructive outlet for aggressive behaviors. In his essay, Graff acknowledges and responds to several conflicting theories concerning these particular subjects of argument and debate in schools. He concludes his paper with discussing a high school lesson plan he and a colleague put into effect, which focused on developing intellectual thought in his colleague’s

Get Access