Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism Analysis

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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 and a failure to respect outside forms of intellectualism. He believes, “we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns. We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts