Richard Graff 's Hidden Intellectualism, By Gerald Graff

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:

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

Gerald Graff’s article “Hidden Intellectualism” asserts that academic settings, such as public schools, need to incorporate students’ personal interests into the school policy so that students are more inclined to engage in an academic mindset. The problem, however, is that the school systems do not attempt to tie non-academic material with academic assignments, therefore neglecting students the opportunity to engage in intriguing, intellectual conversation (Graff 245). Targeting students, educators, and administrators, Graff makes an effective explicit, qualified claim of policy as he utilizes the rhetorical strategies of ethos, logos, and pathos.

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

Co-author of “They Say/I Say” handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” that “street smarts” can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to “get hooked on reading and writing” (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than “academic work” is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, “Give me the student anytime

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.

  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

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

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

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

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

“Hidden Intellectualism,” an excerpt from They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing by Gerald Graff, explains the importance of having diverse intellectualism and helping the kids with street smart intellectualism turn it into academic growth. The author’s claim in this excerpt is that school and colleges are missing out on an opportunity of helping the street smart kids grow their intelligence into good academic work. The significance in the author’s claim is that the students who believe they don’t have much of an opportunity in school or other things related to academics, realize they do.

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