Personal Statement : Being Smart As A Whip

I have always had Final Grades being above a B! In fifth grade, I was apart of a handful in having straight A+’s in my whole school! In sixth grade, I was apart of a test to participate in accelerated classes! Today, I am in Algebra I and in seventh grade; the lowest grade I had in this class was a B+, even above some eighth graders. During sixth and fifth grade, I got involved in Math club at Franklin Woods Intermediate, I competed against other kids in other schools, doing eighth and even high school math! I have participated in accelerated Language Arts and Math since fifth grade; I have continued to grow since then! I pride myself in being in advanced classes, many people ask how I got to be really “smart,” I say, “ I listen, speak at a low amount and come to school; I pay attention and ask questions.” Overall, I think that the choices I made, got me here; I really like a quote from Robert Kiyosaki, that was mentioned in one of the books he

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.

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

Grant Penrod, a young college student at Arizona State University, shows how rough the “smart kids” have it, in his essay “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids.” In Penrod’s essay, he shows the reader the cruel and unusual punishment that “smart kids” go through. Penrod uses a very calm tone of writing but ramps it up with occasional quotes of hate towards these certain students.

Most people, when asked, say that a person is intelligent if they have “book smarts.” People that are book smart can write and converse about subjects taught in school. On the other hand, people with “street smarts” aren’t seen as intellectuals because the subjects they are knowledgeable about are not traditional. In his essay called “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff insists that schools and colleges are missing an opportunity to translate street smarts into academic work.

To be book smart or street smart, or is it possible to be both? In the reading, “ Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, he touches on the subject of being “street smart” but not doing too hot in school. He argues that if students could be as interested in school, and as book smart as they were street smart, then they would have the opportunity to thrive and excel in school all while enjoying it, he even goes on to use himself as an example of taking an anti-intellectual and becoming a great intellectual.

One reading that stood out to me was the Superman & Me written by Sherman Alexie. After reading these few pages alone I learned a very important lesson, which is be yourself, better yourself, and stay true to yourself. Alexie doesn’t conform himself so he can fit in with the other classmates who don’t want to learn or even attempt to read in class. Even when it was known that “A smart Indian is a dangerous person, widely feared and ridiculed by Indians and non-Indians alike,” that didn’t stop him from voraciously reading every book he could get his hands on and answering questions when no one else would. It sort of reminds me of how my highschool works, similarly to how the kids in Alexie's class disliked how intelligent he became the kids

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.

The societies in “The Allegory of the Cave” and “The Giver,” maintain control in similar ways too. In “The Allegory of the Cave” and “The Giver,” the “controllers” both limit the range of experience of the members in the community. “Thus they stay in the same place so that there is only one thing for them to look at: whatever they encounter in front of

In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, he begins with the argument of “street-smarts” versus “school-smarts”. Graff explains that school-smarts can be hidden within street smarts and can be learnt through not just talking with friends, but also from the media and our surroundings, hence the “hidden” intellectualism. He goes onto explain that “schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street-smarts” (198) because these types of intellectualism are actually considered anti-intellectualism. Graff then begins to discuss that intellectualism is often looked down upon within schools, and people that are considered “school-smart” are seen as nerdy, or boring. We learn that as a child, Graff was afraid of bullying and

One of the most inspiring, amazing, and smart people that I know of is Liz Murray. Liz’s parents were desperate drug addicts. They were unemployed so any money that they did get, was mostly used for drugs. This caused more hardships in Liz’s and her sister, Lisa’s life. Since most of the money they had went to drugs, Liz and her family were practically very poor. Liz wasn’t motivated to go to school. She felt embarrassed and didn’t want to be seen, because of her dirty appearance. However, there was something special about Liz. She wouldn’t go to school for days on end, and then pass all her tests. Eventually, Liz decided that she wanted to become a real student. She went to high school and passed with flying

The outside of the cave, or the upper world is the intellectual world, the world of ideas. These people are critically appropriating and inquiring into the beliefs and opinions that they have. And they also think about all of the things and have critical assessment about

The author of Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff, told the readers how he believed just because you are not school smart, you can still be very smart. As a kid, he lived in the melting pot of a Chicago neighborhood with people ranging from Chinese immigrants to “hillbilly” whites from southern Appalachia. It was frowned upon by the other kids around to be school smart, so he learned about the world of sports and saw that being sportsmart was way better than being school smart. As he grew older he began to see how being intellectual about sports helped him so much more than school ever would.

After reading Seal’s article which stated that Americans often thought kids are born smart while Asians more often believed that studying makes a person smarter, I was reminded my own personal beliefs on intelligence and I realized that I have thought people could get smart by exerting effort since I was in the last year of elementary school in Vietnam. Therefore, I empathized with Seal’s attitude that success and achievement are a result of working hard. I could remember that I got this attitude when I was in an important final exam which decided where my middle school was in the next year that depended on my score. In this exam, the math test was an extremely difficult test for every student because it had a strange math problem which my classmates and I had never studied before. At first, I had spent for 2 hour to solve this problem, but I didn’t succeed. So, I wanted to give up. However, I was worry about my score and thought about my mom, who hoped that I could get the high score enough to enter a famous middle school. Since I didn’t want to disappoint my mom’s wish, I tried to solve this math problem again and again and again. Eventually, I was successful to solve

Do you think intelligence is a fixed trait? If you do, then you might be one of many people with a fixed mind-set. In Carol S. Dweck’s an essay, “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids”, she describes fixed and growth mind-sets. She describes how they affect school, and how they affect social relationships as well. The two central ideas of “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids” are that fixed mind-sets can make a person shy away from a challenge and that growth mind-sets can be put into place by parents.