It appears that in today’s society, intellectual beings, or “geeks” and “nerds” as they’re often referred to, are being pressured in everyday life events because they don’t quite seem to “fit in” even though they are the backbone of America’s economical and technological advances. Although these “nerds” play an important role in keeping America ahead in the scholarly and technological world, they’re rarely ever praised, for instead, they are bashed and labeled with derogatory terms for being too much of a “geek.” As for Leonid Fridman, he addresses America’s behavior towards “nerds” in his essay, “American Needs Its Nerds,” by using irony and antitheses to draw attention to anti-intellectualism values in America and uncover how society is stepping down on its “geeks” and “nerds.” Throughout the essay, Leonid Fridman establishes a sense of irony towards anti-intellectualism in an …show more content…
Towards the end of his third paragraph, Fridman delivers a short statement, “Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized,” that strongly projects America’s anti-intellectual values. While “nerds” and “athletes” are two obvious, contrasting beings, the antitheses reflected with the isolation of “nerds” and the praising of athletes heavily pushes the notion that “nerds” are being thrown out of a society that only appears to incorporate anti-intellectual values and undervalues scholars. In Fridman’s eighth paragraph, he illustrates how ballplayers, or athletes, are “much more respected and better paid” than the professors of the most reputable universities. Like before, he displays the divergent individuals with conflicting facts, income and respect in this case, that oppose intellectualism and promote anything but intelligence. Fridman’s use of antithesis deepens the questioning and challenge to overcome anti-intellectualism standards in American
When you see a solider in his or her uniform, you are proud that they are serving this country to protect our freedom, securing our country, and defending democracy worldwide. The solider can come from different branches of the Military. The one you might be familiar with is the U.S. Army. These soldiers are well respected and prepared to serve our country whenever and wherever needed, combat-ready at all times, and trained to counter any threat, anywhere. In 2007, the United States Army department published a recruitment ad for U.S.
In May of 1998, Kipland Kinkel brought a gun to his school. Over the course of two days this escalated from: being sent home, to murdering his father and mother, to murdering 2 students and wounding 26, earning a lifetime sentence of 111 years and 8 months in prison. In the court case being examined, the presiding judge addresses the original case, defendants ground for appeal, and the justification for the State’s decision to deny the appeal. Judge Haselton effectively uses ethos, logos, and pathos to support the Higher Court’s decision to deny the appeal because the original sentence was constitutional and just.
Amanda Ripley, in an article for The Atlantic, “The Case Against High-School Sports” (2013 by The Atlantic Monthly Group), claims that high-school athletics are encroaching upon students’ education, questions the effect that the sports have on academic progress in the United States, and “wonder[s] about the trade-offs we make.” Ripley supports her thesis with multiple points of argument, including international academic ranking statistics that reveal the United States’ inadequacies, relevant stories and history illustrating athletics’ effect on students, and a paragraph in which she implores the reader to “[i]magine, for a moment, if Americans transferred our obsessive intensity about high-school sports...to high school academics.” The author’s
Leonid Fridman, in his work “America Needs Its Nerds”, argues that American society has a misaligned view on the value of education and intellectuals in comparison to social skills and physical abilities. Fridman juxtaposes the literal definition of a “geek” with the current American societal use of the term to emphasize America’s misconstrued comparison of an intellectual with a strong interest in education and knowledge to “a freak biting the head off a live chicken.” He continues on to contrast the unpretentious fame and respect that university faculty receive when compared to professional athletes in America to the overwhelming fame and respect that university faculty receive in “very few” countries. He continually focuses on the ostracization
In the article “Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, Graff target college students to inform them about a hidden intellectualism that can be found in our everyday society. In the article Graff draws attention to the many types and ways different people can identify with intellectualism. He argues that people are intelligent in several ways and just need to learn how to plug the intellectualism they enjoy into a school-like setting during classes. He exemplifies this by using his own intellect within sports and such as an adolescent. While being very analytical of sports team movies, and the toughness he and his friends engaged in, he was unknowingly before now trained to be intellect in a class room and other school subjects.
Leonid Fridman, author of "America Needs Its Nerds" wrote about how people who want to pursue their knowledge should be not be ashamed of that. Fridman develops his argument by talking about how other countries go about learning compared to the U.S, asking rhetorical questions, finding similarities between the different school/ education levels when it comes to the terms "nerd" and "geek".
First, Fridman demonstrates his assertion of the disfavor towards people with a fascination for learning and academics with the use of description and examples. Fridman introduces his passage by defining the word geek from Webster’s New World Dictionary, a source in which the reader can trust. According to the dictionary, a geek is “a street performer who shocks the public
Within “America Needs Its Nerds” by Leonid Fridman, the author discusses the treatment of intellectuals in our society who are also referred to as “Nerds”. The author talks about the treatment of nerds within early education through college. In addition, the author mentions how America is behind within the society of the world when treating intellectuals in the 21st century compared to other countries. The author is exact when talking through this article by discussing kids in elementary, Harvard students, and the economy. They give good points that will make anyone agree with at least one of their points throughout the article.
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 today’s society, constant judgement as to how well you fit in achieves nothing, rather distinguishes hope for improvement. Ideas including being looked down upon for an individual’s intelligence or being pushed aside from groups due to one’s academic ability are becoming an epidemic as those who seek to better themselves are seen as inferiors. The United States today is accustomed to issues as far as the negative deterioration towards those who possess higher mental values. In America Needs Its Nerds by Leonid Fridman, a look into how geeks and nerds are identified, the reality of childhood dilemmas, and the problem in the broad spectrum of the globe are all noted and questioned as to why America as a society expresses such a negative position
In “Bring Back Flogging”, Jeff Jacoby addresses the problems within America 's criminal justice system. He gives many reasons why imprisonment simply does not work, and suggests that corporal punishment should be used as an alternative. Published in the Boston Globe, a newspaper well known for being liberal, Jacoby provides a conservative view and directs his argument towards those who strongly support imprisonment and view corporal punishment to be highly barbaric and inhumane. However, in order to shed light on our current situation, Jacoby discusses the dangers that we face though our criminal justice system a nd shows concern that imprisonment is doing more harm than good. In effect, Jacoby looks to the past for solutions, and
Leonid Fridman, the author of the article,”America Need Its Nerds” in the New York Times, addresses how geeks and nerd are portrayed negatively in American society. He asserts the faults in American society’s values in order to convince the readers of the New York Times to appreciate the intellectually curious instead of degrading them. Fridman integrates logos,ethos, and pathos to support his objective of persuading the readers of the New York Times to acknowledge the intellectuals rather than patronizing them.
What is the first thing people think of when they hear the “smart” kid talks about his accomplishments? Those smart kids get called a nerd and automatically have to deal negative things all because society itself thinks it is okay to do so. In “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate Smart Kids”, Grant Penrod explains why anti-intellectualism exist. People will remember what the anti-intellectuals do but not so much the intellectuals. Society envy those who are smarter than them and only look at any other accomplishment besides education accomplishments. Anti- Intellectuals tend to bash others around them for their success academically. That is how society works in every generation. Penrod informs everyone of an example of how nerds can be treated differently especially in the school system. More recognition goes to sports teams instead of debates teams, which is factual. Penrod’s lack of credible information and the tone that has been presented has brought a lot of thoughts that need to be analyzed more closely on why he presented this article this way.
In the passage, "America Needs Its Nerds", the author Leonid Fridman uses diction, comparison and contrast, and exemplification to express how he feels on the subject of nerds being neglected and misunderstood in America.
If it wasn’t for people acting against conformity and developing their interests in academics America wouldn’t be where it is in technical advancements. Fridman argues that for America’s success it’s necessary that, “the anti-intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought” to raise more citizens to be intellectual (Fridman 20-21). He urges for society’s values to be challenged in order for individuals to get more involved with educating themselves. Fridman points out, “There are very few countries in the world where anti-intellectualism runs as high in popular culture as it does in the U.S.”