Jeff Syme: Case Study

In conclusion, I agree with Mike Roses' Essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” because in my own personal life experiences I have seen first hand that you do not have to be well educated to be intelligent. My spouse works as a garbage man and at first glance you would never know how intelligent he is just by his profession, but he is very skilled from everything to troubleshooting mechanical equipment to carrying on philosophical conversations and religious

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,

I agree with Graff because people and employers look at academic smart accomplishments more and look less upon people who are street smart. I believe street smart people are equally as smart as those who have an academic education. Being smart is not only because a person has an academic education, even if a person has learned something from their parents I still consider them smart, Whether he or she had an education or not. I think the only reason an employer or manager hires an academic smart person is because employers see them as a hard worker, who worked for his education and wants a job or career. As of street smart, employers do not see them as a hard worker.

The issue being debated in the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff is street smarts versus book smarts. Gerald Graff is an English professor at the University of Illinois and has written many books. The author claims that people are better off if they are more street smart than book smart. The authors is very persuasive using real life examples. I although disagree with this claim. I think that you need an equal mix of both street and book smarts.

Have you gone to college? Does going to college really mean that you are more intelligent than someone who didn’t go to college? Well, in “Blue Collar Brilliance”, the author Mike Rose believes that the amount of schooling a person completes does not necessarily measure their intelligence level. Many people believe that those who have completed and earned a college degree are more intelligent than those who haven’t. I agree with Rose that this isn’t always the case. Education is not only something that we can gain in school, but in our everyday lives.

Knowledgeable, educated, and wise have become descriptive characteristics that have become seemingly interchangeable in today’s society. However, what does it mean to be educated, wise or knowledgeable? In the article “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer” by Benjamin Barber, he says “…young people were exposed more and more to tutors other than teachers in their classrooms or even those who were in their churches, their synagogues-and today their mosques as well.” (417). It is suggested that the places where these characteristics are obtained have changed with industrialization and capitalism. “The Student and the University (from the Closing of the American Mind)” by Allen Bloom directly postulates from the vantage

Nearly everybody has thought about writing as a career or a hobby, and it’s simple when you really put the time into it because these skills, like creativity are easy improving skills. Most successful journalists have great creativity and writing skills, especially in the current age when journalists are actually writing award-winning novels, like John Sandford, my father’s favorite author and more famously Mark Twain.

What does it mean to be well-educated? Is a well-educated person someone who went to a good school? Does it apply to someone who got straight A’s is school and did well on standardized tests? Does it mean that they are smart or just good at memorizing their material and requirements for tests? If they are good at passing test by memorizing all the material but then forget it as soon as the test is done then what good was taking a test in the first place? Is a well-educated person the same thing as a smart person? If a person went to an adequate school and receives a good education then it would be concluded that they are well-educated but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are smart. It might just mean

This then led him to develop a performance goals of entering college for his journalism degree (Lent, 2013). His performance in college further solidified his self-efficacy. Despite his disconnection from campus life and difficulty with his peers his outcome expectations related to his writing were met. His new performance goals are to graduate and become a freelance journalist, which continuing the Performance Model loop will hopefully lead to Frank attaining his desired performance level in his career (Lent, 2013).

What does it mean to be well educated? To be well educated it is a balance between academics and practical knowledge. Throughout this paper I will show that one does not necessarily need a college degree to be deemed as well educated. I will explore both aspects of academics and practical knowledge and how it affects individuals.

I also believe that an education is very good to have but not all that society makes it out to be. I feel that a person should have a good education so that can open up his mind and give him something to persuade in his future. If a person is educated that can really have an advantage in the “real world” today. Society looks very highly on a person with a good education, but this is where I disagree with society. Since society looks so highly on education, the people that may have a natural talent or trait may never get a chance to peruse a good career. The job market will always look at the person that has a schooling background and never at that other person that does not have a good education. Even if that person with the education may not be the best person to hire for the benefit of the company but the company will still hire him because of his education background.

A lot of people don’t realize that there are intelligent people out there waiting to be found, waiting for their time to shine. Because everyone is intellectual in their own way whether or not they attend college. You would think that with the title of a degree would come with massive amounts of knowledge in a certain subject. But in reality college isn’t always the best way to show your strengths. Some of the most intellectual people you will meet will neither be a college graduate with a fancy job and lots of money, or a person who works at the local grocery store who has the memory of your home computer someone who can remember anything you tell them. People like that are just waiting for their time to show

When looking at the bigger aspect having an education is different from a degree. An education can be formal, informal, self-directed, on the job training, professional licenses and certifications, or any other form of education. It’s easy to discount icons such as Michael Jackson, George Washington, Gandhi, Bill Gates, Lebron James and many others who did not go through a traditional four year degree program (College Dropouts). I can imagine the amount of hard work, training, practice, and study they had to go through to achieve their success and often equal or far exceed the amount of effort an average person puts into an average 4 year degree. Even

Everyone has an opinion concerning what type of education is most useful. We all know that a college education is important in the competitive world we live in today. For instance, if you want a career in engineering, medicine, chemistry or law, a bachelor's degree or higher is mandatory. We often see people who have made it really big, and yet have little or no formal education. My opinion is, in order to get and keep a good paying job, you need both “street smarts” and “book smarts.” The combination of practical knowledge and explicit knowledge is the key to a successful career. Both types of knowledge have distinct advantages.

In ancient Greek,"education"was associated with the term"churchman", a term used to refer to slaves who specialize in taking care of children. In other words, education is the activity of nurturing the next generation.