Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Summary

Words: 502
Pages: 3

In his article "Hidden Intellectualism", Gerald Graff (2003)argues that schools and colleges might be at fault for not giving credit to street smarts such as car repair, fashion, ect. He stresses that intellectualism is not based solely on book smarts such as history and arithmetic. Graff shares his story of not understanding the true meaning of intellectualism. He proceeds to describe his acceptance of himself as an intellect. As Graff comes to understand his role as an intellect in sports debate, he uses this understanding to demonstrate that children should be taught based on their strengths and interests. Graff comes to a conclusion that intellectualism can come in various forms and is often hidden, as seen in his article "Hidden Intellectualism". He also believes that students would be more prone to learn the foundations of intellectualism if they were to learn about subjects that they were interested in and that they better understood. Graff mentions that he didn't necessarily like the typical type of intellectualism thought by common people, where the knowledge of life situations were thought to be unintelligent. Graff states that there is no evidence to support the common belief that life situations, such as dating and car repair are less …show more content…
Graff argues his ideals after he came to shocking realization that he was using intellectualism when arguing about sport topics with his friends. He declares that the common idea of intellectualism should be disregarded. Realizing that arguing any topic can teach the foundations of intellectualism, he argues that students could learn the foundations of intellectualism by arguing any topic. He also states his belief that students would be more ready to learn about topics that they are interested in. Students would be more prone to intellectual learning if they were allowed to learn about subjects that interested