Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Summary

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.

Mr. Graff believed it was extremely necessary and important for classrooms and schools to also think about the different interests all their students have because they do not all like the same things, which would make it more difficult for some to pass. Graff wanted them to include and think about the street smart people while making their lessons.

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 essay ‘Against the school’ by John Taylor Gatto draws our attention on to all the cons of attending twelve years of high-school. Gatto has experience in teaching profession for twenty-six years in schools of Manhattan, he shares from his experience that he majored in boredom and could see that everywhere around him. He also points out the initial reason why schools came into existence and what the purpose it fulfils now. He also educates us on the fact that all the great discoverers never attended school and were self-educated.The main idea Gatto addresses in his article are that public schooling is doing the youth an injustice.He implies that the purpose of schooling, now is to turn children into good employes and someone who follows orders.

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

    School teachings are full of artificial context to brainwash students into thinking that school is the only place you can learn. Education can be taught by exploring your passion and interests even if it’s not seen as academically correct. In the article, “Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff, he suggests that students should be able to “exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.”(Gerald Graff, page 400). In contrast, Malcolm X in “A Homemade Education,” wants to spread awareness about black history through actual academic readings. Both Graff and Malcolm believe that passion plays a role in learning, however,  for Graff it's the teacher's job to use the students interests first, whereas Malcolm wants students to find their passion and be self educated just like himself.

In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff believes that individuals, who are ot interested in school, have a chance to be intellectual by inspiring them on subjects they themselves are interested in instead of forcing them to correspond with cliché historic figures. Graff begins his essay acknowledging the perception communities have on behavior of streetwise people who are looked at as “anti-intellects.” (264) Furthermore, he explains how society connects intelligence with historic heroes instead of modern subjects like sports or fashion; which Graff emphasizes is the issue. Graff supports his claim by providing a personal experience of growing up; he was that “anti-intellectual” (265) who preferred sports magazines and biographies rather

Many colleges look into “school smarts” closely rather than relating to students and what they enjoy. Graff states, “The trouble with this assumption is that no necessary connection has ever been established between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate” (245). The amount of intellectualism someone has comes from what interests them rather than what they are learning in the classroom. There are

In his essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff makes a controversial claim regarding intellectualism itself. While we tend to think about intellectualism as being present in historically academic subjects, such as philosophy, the sciences, or poetry, Graff argues that everyday topics such as cars, sports, and fashion have the potential to be just as intellectual. He asserts that many schools have neglected to unlock this potential, and that they should harness it by incorporating seemingly unintellectual topics into school subjects. Graff advocates for the strategic use of traditionally street-smart topics into schools and colleges to encourage reflection and analysis in a similar way to academic topics.

In the article, “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff examines the differences between “book smarts” and “street smarts.” Graff argues that many schools and college miss the opportunity of incorporating students’ street smarts within the classroom environment. He addresses his audience of fellow educators. Graff’s main point is that a student can connect with their learning if they practice with a subject they’re interested in. The author supports the main idea by using his personal experience of learning about creating arguments and using evidence from reading sports magazines (63). Graff’s experience of learning educational material from sports helps further develop his argument. If kids can talk about sports, video games, movies,

In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff he explains that being intellect does not necessarily mean being academically smart, it can also mean being “street smart”. He says that many times people over look someone’s “intellectual potential” of those they consider street smart, because most people believe that “street smart” people are anti-intellectual. Graff suggests that teachers should start teaching subjects that students would actually enjoy learning, giving them a topic they can enjoy and making them look at it through ”intellectual eyes” When explaining Graff talks about his personal experiences, and uses examples. In the article Graff uses Rhetorical devices to support his claims. Gerald Graff supports most of his argument with Pathos, by using his personal experiences.

In Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff seeks to expose what he believes to be a fundamental issue in today’s schools and colleges. He brings attention to “street smarts”, students who are intelligent about so many things in life, yet their potential is overlooked because the things they are knowledgeable about are not things we associate with educated life such as cars, sports and video games. He claims that students are more likely to enter the world of academics if they were encouraged to view their interests from an academic perspective rather than to be forced into subjects that are considered “more academic” by the rest of society. Gerald Graff’s main point is that teachers should take advantage of the interests that students already have and convince them to pursue those interests with “academic eyes”, rather than forcing content on them that they are uninterested in. Although I agree with the first part of Graff’s statement, I think a crucial skill to acquire is the ability to find interests in something outside of subjects we initially find our interests in so that we may develop more as a whole person.

In “Hidden Intellectualism” , Gerald Graff explains his views on the topic of being smart. His explanation was you are either smart in the streets or in the educational system . During Graffs younger days how he hid his intellect during his days so he wouldn't have to deal with any bullying or being labeled as a weird person. He also was scared of a beating if he proved he was smart . Instead of showing he was smart in the educational system, he showed his intellect by arguing about the cool stuff that people conversed about growing up in his rough neighborhood. Graff refers to the cool stuff as in sports. Graff mentions another person who noticed his hidden intellect, Michael Warner. Warner comes from the background of a christian pentecostal

Graff finally ends his essay by stating that if his statement is correct then the academic system failed to address the students to bring interests that were not related to academics to better their overall school

Hofstra encourages the intellectual curiosity that Curious George has in every book. In every book, George’s inquisitiveness allows him to try something, new further learning an important lesson. The curiosity George sees in each book is the same curiosity Hofstra emphasizes in education. Curiosity is the driving force