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America Needs Its Nerds And Geeks

294 Words2 Pages
Leonid Fridman’s passage “America Needs Its Nerds” examines how intelligent people are disgraced for being interested in academics. Fridman argues that “nerds and geeks must stop being ashamed of who they are” through effective comparisons and a repetition of ideas to inform the citizens of America about the importance of smart minds. Furthermore, Fridman reiterates the concept of nerds being viewed differently compared to others in the first half of the passage. The author implied that society favored people who focused less on academic activities and more on being social or active. This led to intelligent people in varying age groups becoming outcasts, and they began to hide or even lose their interest in academics. After the author’s analysis
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A respected author John Green questions, "Why is being a nerd bad? Saying I notice you 're a nerd is like saying, ‘Hey I knows that you 'd rather be intelligent than be stupid, that you 'd rather be thoughtful of them be vapid, that you believe that there things that matter more than the arrest record of Lindsay Lohan and why is that?” Many people who are passionate about their studies question the same thing. Leonid Fridman wrote a passage “America Needs its Nerds” in order to raise concern that our society does not value intelligence. Fridman uses compare and contrast to get his point across to the readers.

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Graff says street smarts offer more life skills than the education provided in school. In other words, you can be smart without being highly educated because knowledge goes beyond academics. He grew up thinking he was anti-intellectual because his writing skills were not great about the topics he’s expected to write in school. Graff describes how sports helped him excel in academics and discover his hidden intellectualism. He believes ‘’Making students’ nonacademic interests of an object study is useful, the, for getting students’ attention and overcoming their boredom and alienation, but this tactic won’t in itself necessarily move them close to an rigorous treatment of those interests.’’

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