Richard Graff 's Hidden Intellectualism, By Gerald Graff

  Albert Einstein once said "everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole existence thinking it is stupid". There are many students who relate to that fish believing they are unintelligent and useless. Believing that they cannot possibly succeed in the education system. The education system is failing to teach students and bring out their maximum potential. Everyday thousands of students drop out of school because they are failing to succeed. Gerald Graff argues in his article “Hidden Intellectualism” that the educational institution are failing to nurture students. He believes that some students would be more willing to learn and have better

Throughout the introduction of Clueless in Academe by Gerald Graff, Graff explores the idea that schools are obscuring students from their lively minds. Education has always had a purpose to serve their students, however, since there is an obvious miscommunication taking place in our schools the purpose needs to be advanced upon. Furthermore, when intellectuals such as teachers have an argumentative discussion, the words they use make their discussion unavailable to those that are listening, specifically students, which again, disrupt students from their minds. These ideas not only relate within all institutions, but also play a large role in research and how repetition, as well as not understanding

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.

This meaning that schools are still missing the chance to tap into the intellectual skills that students possess. An even deeper meaning to this would be the overall fact that students come already equipped with these argumentative intellectual skills. Graff even shows that he agrees with another author named Meier, who believes students should “fight with ideas” instead of “fighting with fists”. This being another point that Graff makes that I would agree with. This being because I use argumentative skills constantly within my own life. Within my family, we often discuss various topics which causes arguments very easily. An example that comes to mind when using these skills would be discussing political viewpoints with my grandma. Both of us would on occasion, sit down and argue about our own points bases off the knowledge that we possess on the specific topic. Usually most arguments resulted in one of us with the beginning argument and the other presenting a counterargument. Within my personal beliefs, I feel as if students often use these skills which is why I agree with Graff.

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

I agree with the idea that street smarts are more intellectual than book smarts, and that students individual interests can be more effective than typical learning material. In the text, Graff uses the

From this week’s reading an interesting essay by Gerald Graff “Hidden Intellectualism” resembled a story from a family member. This essay spoke about people who are “street smart,” people that are extremely smart in many things but cannot apply towards school. Graff says that schools are not considering the intellectual potential of street smart people because they only weight academic knowledge as smart. This reminded me of my family, my cousin comes from a low income family in El Salvador; when he arrived he was not doing well in school because of the language barrier. Even though his academics did not show his intelligence he was extremely “street smart.” He was really good in sports especially soccer, but he was

Education. I believe it to be one of the greatest gifts this world could give us. My mother always told me that knowledge is power and that I could never learn enough. She taught me to love being the best I could be and to always want to know more, to question everything. There have been countless times that life has tried to take away my mom’s faith and strength, but she always felt the need to keep herself educated. When she needed to get somewhere, she walked. She had to. This improved her sense of direction and helped her in receiving a job as a postal carrier. From there, she became a federal police officer for the U.S. Postal Service. Working her way up, she was able to become a successful manager at a postal plant. But to get

In many college courses today, we are asked to think and analyze critically. We are usually asked to examine a subject, write about it, and then explain its significance. In a way, the plan was usually to do X, then Y, and then you have a result of Z. However, English 1C took that plan of XYZ and added a dose of steroids to it. This course challenges writers to think outside the box and apply it to what we normally don’t think or associate with. It is because of this, that makes the course challenging. Gerald Graff, author of Hidden Intellectualism, describes the challenge that English 1C imposes. Graff explains the problem foundation that many college course objectives rely on:

In the time surrounding the 1950s, intellectualism was hostilely viewed by most, and was a subject towards which division and ambivalence were pointed. Book-smarts and intellectualism were contrasts to regular life. The article “Hidden Intellectualism” is written by a man named Gerald Graff, an English and Education professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. In his article, Graff argues with a compelling case, that not only is intellectualism found in the academic world, but can also be discovered in wider cultures not necessarily associated with the intellectual crowd. He strongly believes that the scope in which society considers material intellectually enhancing, is unreasonably narrow. Based on the historical facts of division between so called book-smarts and street-smarts, Graff illuminates the impairment caused by complete separation, as well as the possibility of greater success by integrating societal interests with academic study. He argues that worlds of a wider cultural domain and acclaimed non-intellectual interest such as sports, rather than competing with scholastic development, could possibly be the route to it. Graff is convinced that the amount of educational depth of a text or subject is in no way connected to the text or subject itself. For the longest time Graff was bought into the idea of the immutable separation between intellectualism and recreational interests, but he later discovered the reality of

Education. I believe it to be one of the greatest gifts this world could give us. My mother always told me that knowledge is power and that I could never learn enough. She taught me to love being the best I could be and to always want to know more, to question everything. There have been countless times that life has tried to take away my mom’s faith and strength, but she always felt the need to keep herself educated. When she needed to get somewhere, she walked. She had to. This improved her sense of direction and helped her in receiving a job as a postal carrier. From there, she became a federal police officer for the U.S. Postal Service. Working her way up, she was able to become a successful manager at a postal plant. But to get

Star Athletica’s assertion is based in the belief that a cheerleader’s uniform inherently consists of utilitarian functions. Part of the alleged function of uniforms is to identify cheerleaders as members of a specific team. “Thus, a cheerleader uniform fails the “identified-separately” requirement because the uniform’s stripes, chevrons, zigzags, and color blocks cannot be recognized apart from a cheerleader uniform’s utilitarian aspects but are essential to the uniform’s use or purpose” (Fang). Star Athletica also argues that most designs are inseparable from function because designs can change the way the wearer is perceived. For example, stripes are considered a design element, but the way stripes are applied to the body can serve different functions. Horizontal

One of the most important factors taken into consideration during the redesign of a team’s uniforms is whether or not the new replica jerseys will

The evolution of sports media and the technology used to promote sports products over the past two decades has changed the way the public views sport products. With the increased popularity of social media anyone can have access to their favorite sport. The public is using more on-line tools to receive their information instead of the traditional ways two decades ago. This gives the audience a new platform, which will increase viewers and perhaps product revenues. In today’s society everything is digital, and the equipment the athletes use and wear are more advance than ever. Each item that is manufactured is designed with the player’s safety and increased performance in mind. This was not a concern two decades ago, it was more about developing

The second point that the college can contribute in nurture intellectuals is to construct a communicating platform. Professors, tutors and students in the college jointly weave an academic network, which can effectively provide ideas, knowledges, and any other academic information to any person staying in the network. As we all known, it’s difficult to do any research, even do any things without external helps. In Hidden Intellectualism, one of the reason for Graff claims that the street smarts for the pop culture beat out the book smarts is because the streets smarts can be widely discuss with any targets, which book smarts can’t. (Graff, 384). The strength of “street smart” that Graff claims is completely contained in the academic network of colleges. More accurately, the appearance of college in the ancient Athens exactly was the need for the intellectuals to have a place to communicate their knowledge and ideas. Today, more and more colleges are