Inequality Between The Authoritarian Teacher And Students

In his essay titled “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff questions the traditional academic approach that correlates the school curriculum of colleges and high schools with intelligence. He believes that schools may not be promoting the full potential of students because they rely too much on the academic skills rather than the topics themselves. This means that schools often focus on the analysis and interpretation of academic papers rather than considering expanding the curriculum to have more topics that interest students. As a result, many students cannot express their true potential because they cannot get engaged in these school enforced topics. Schools underestimate their “hidden intelligence” because they do not try to promote their

“School trains children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventurers.  School trains children to obey reflexively; teach your own to think critically and independently” (Gatto 670).  In the present day school system, students are becoming more of products of an institutionalized school system

Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence’s (MI theory) is a valuable resource for teachers, if they understood how they could apply this in the classroom (Snowman & McCown, 2012). In this class, there are multiple intelligences observed amongst the students; however, there is minimal differentiated instruction to allow the students the best opportunities for success. It is critical that teachers understand that their teaching methods may not be wrong, but they

Knowledge is a powerful thing. In totalitarian societies children are taken away from their parents at very young ages, so they learn all the same things. All of the student’s knowledge is kept at the same level. All the children know is only what the government teaches them. “It was not that the learning was too hard for us. It was that the learning was too easy. It is not good to be different from our brothers, but is evil to be superior to them.” This evidence from the book Anthem shows us that it is not a good thing to be smarter than the other student’s. It is a sin. Dictators who want to restrain

Gerald Graff is a professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Graff, in his essay, emphasizes the importance for instructors to teach and increase enjoyable courses that students shall truly understand. Graff assures that all kids have hidden intellectualism trying to emerge from within, and as a teacher he feels partly accountable to help those kids develop their competencies in educational work. The essence of Graff’s argument is for students to know that intellectualism lurks within them all, and they need to implement their potential at school. Furthermore, he enriches the essay based totally on his own life experiences, along with his hidden intellectualism, while he attended school during the anti-intellectualism

“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.

In an oppressive society, a group of individuals are expected to adapt and be controlled by a more powerful group without question. Similar to a “banking concept” of education, at times it seems the student is not expected to think for themselves. They listen to what the teacher “deposits” into their mind, and they adapt. I strongly agree that this limits comprehension and creativity and forces you to adapt to thinking like a robot. He makes a strong case with his analogy, “Four times four is sixteen……The student records, memorizes, and repeats these phrases without perceiving what four times four really means.” It’s easy to get discouraged in school when it feels like information is being thrown at you without much encouragement to fully grasp it. It’s nearly impossible to truly understand a concept when you’re forced to memorize it immediately for a test. In conclusion, teachers with this mindset should understand that to be a true educator is to encourage the student to take the time to comprehend the material

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 his essay Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff emphasizes the idea that to be an intellectual one does not have to excel in school. Graff argues that a person’s intelligence should not be measured by solely what they learned and how they progressed through school, rather, intelligence should be measured by more secular standards. Throughout the essay, Graff provides many examples on how this biased view of intellectualism affected him and others in his childhood and how he suggests that school curriculum be changed to better reflect the different types of intellectualism.

The idea that information is “deposited” from a teacher into a student fits the majority of Rodriguez’s educational experiences. As a young child, Rodriguez feels that “books were going to make [him] educated” (Rodriguez 578). He never questioned what he was told by his teachers or what he read in any book. He didn’t develop ideas of his own or any critical thinking skills. Rodriguez says that he was “a great mimic; a collector of thoughts, not a thinker; the very last person in class who ever feels obliged to have an opinion of his own” (Rodriguez 581). This type of education helps us to understand the relationships Rodriguez had with his “mentor” Richard Hoggart, as well as his school teachers and parents.

The illusion of education is we have an intelligent method of teaching our children but in reality we are just “teaching to the test”(Palmer 2). This means we are not learning but memorizing just enough so we can pass a standardized exam. Palmer is inferring that the problem is we are not gaining knowledge, but we are buying into the fake reality that being able to pass a test is the true measure of intelligence. Parker Palmer argument solidifies his theory we use illusions to distract ourselves from the harsh reality of fact or truth.

On the contrary, the educated person only has the knowledge of what the teachers chose to tell them instead of coexisting with their teachers. In this case, the modern education system treats students only as containers, which leaves them dehumanized for the reality of the world. The whole idea of the banking concept of education transforms students into objects while attempting “to control (their) thinking and action, leading women and men to adjust to the world, and inhibits their creative power” (Freire 5). The idea is that men and women cannot think for themselves, but are rather told what to

Graff says that putting students in classes in the contemporary system is wasting and limiting students’ potential and creativity (198). Complaining that intellects do not meet the success standard set by schools, Graff proves that schools limit the intellect students can achieve in their academic career (198-199).

In the author's study, a person's scores on various tests reflect their social achievements in the future. If they scores higher, mostly they will have a higher social class inside the society. But if they scores lower, mostly they will have a lower social class. The author identified that intelligence is so important to a person's life, and the level of intelligence is based on the assumption that "IQ is affected by genetic inheritance", moreover the author believes that “IQ cannot be increased through external help, including education”, so the author argue that social inequality is destined. Since social inequality is destined to be natural and unavoidable, and a person’s social achievement is closely related to IQ, even if the government devotes a great deal of money to implement programs to educate the poor, it is futile because the low intelligences level makes them difficult to succeed, but at the same time drag those people who have higher

There are people who are wise in the eyes of others but have a limited understanding. Such people are only clever or smart, not absolutely intelligent, much less really wise. Many of those that have “great personalities” are guarded and not exceptionally bright. It is fascinating how sharp mediocrities compose their action to the top in many forms of life, particularly in education and their personal principles, values and beliefs. I would relate the present in the years of my education (this paragraph only). In some prestigious universities, educators were not as serious or challenging as my grade school or high school teachers’ had been. Indeed, they taught us about the topic of our lessons every day, they exert their effort in teaching us just to understand it but sometimes, it lacks substance; the application in the outside world, the reality, the rootedness of it and how we would engage the lessons we have encountered throughout the years of education. Some days, we went home learning absolutely nothing about anything. [Don’t get me wrong, these are only for the educators who doesn’t value their teaching and expect nothing from the students.]