In Gerald Graff’s article “Hidden Intellectualism” the author responds to a popular belief that students who do poorly in school are inherently un-intellectual. Graff suggests that this view fails to take note of the “street smarts” many student poses outside of school. He presents the idea that “street smarts” are no less intellectual than academic pursuits done in school but are rarely considered intellectual. Graff summarizes his belief that we have a cultural respect to institutionalized education…
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Gerald Graff Essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, in the book, “They Say I Say” argues that intellect should not be based purely on scholarly analysis of what is considered as academic topics such as literature, physics, history but should be inclusive of knowledge acquired on the street (Street Smart) and topics of interest to students; topics that students are more enthusiastic about. Gerald beings his essay with an introduction of how the Educational System views the Knowledge Street Smart Individuals…
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In Gerald Graff’s Hidden Intellectualism, Graff states that intellectualism does not only exist in the academic world, it also exists in “street smarts”(244). Looking back on his childhood he points out how he did not like academic subjects. He loved sports; reading sports magazines and books written by athletes like Joe Dimaggio. The Chicago neighbourhood he grew up in, anti-intellectualism ruled, and it still does.He was torn “between the need to prove I was smart and the fear of a beating if I…
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“Hidden Intellectualism,” written by Gerald Graff, compares the concepts of street smarts and book smarts, and argues that the educational system might be at fault for not encouraging everyone's “intellectualism.” “Intellectualism” is defined as “devotion to the exercise of intellect or to intellectual pursuits.” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary). The word intellectualism is often thought to refer to academics and can only be achieve through education, colleges, and a reading list of approved books…
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Hidden Intellectualism In the article “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff explains that many people know someone who is “incredibly street smart” but that person does not do well in school, but Graff argues that street smarts are just as important as school smarts. (Page 380) To many people this is seen as a waste, and that this person should spend more time on their school studies than things in sports or popular culture. But Graff argues that schools should take these street smarts and transmit…
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The 21st Century Model of Intellectualism Imagine you are driving along the highway when one of your tires go out. As you drive to the side of the road, you have a paining realization that of all the thousands of hours you spent memorizing presidents, finding adjacent angles, and writing theses in school, nothing prepared you for a situation like this. Perhaps changing a tire isn’t the only pitfall of your knowledge; never were you taught how to pay taxes, paint a room, or cook a decent meal. The…
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Andrea, Your brief, descriptive judgement of “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff is both considerable and persuasive. First, I agree that his tone is both desirable and understanding in the topic of his chronicle. On the other hand, I would have preferred a clearer introduction to determine exactly where the story was going as he shifted in numerous intervals. Second, he demonstrates the importance of exploring intellectually at one’s personal interest to have some expertise in their area of…
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McKylie Hoff Professor Vieregge English 101 21 October 2014 Hidden Intellectualism Essay In Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism,” he believes that there is a mistake being made by educators because they are not manipulating the criteria to fit the student’s main focus. He comes across this by using an example of a ”young person who is impressively ‘street smart’ but does poorly in school,” (Graff p. 198) and goes on to say that “schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the…
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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. Schools often focus on test grades, textbook memorization, and interpretation of academic papers to judge intelligence; rather than allow discussion and…
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expectations scholastically, but rather how well you correspond with individuals and how well you focus. Gerald Graff takes the exemplary school smarts versus road smarts contention and presents it in a way that might not have occurred to us before now. Being the artistic expert that he is, Graff utilizes run of the mill composing procedures, maybe for instructional use, however by the by it stays persuasive. Graff utilizes this chance to…
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