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Arguments Against Bullshit

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The article Bullshit as resistance: justifying unearned privilege among students at an elite boarding school argues that that elite students are using “bullshit” as a tool, which gains them acceptance into the elite world and helps them keep a higher status. “Bullshit” is a tool which allows students to make the impression that they have knowledge about something when they are really just using others knowledge to build off of. They use educated guesses and a series of statements that can pass for the real facts. For example, if one student in the class has read a material that is now the subject of discussion, other students can get away with not reading it and simply basing their opinions and facts off of the student who holds the real knowledge about the material. This method of “bullshit” allows students to do minimal work, while still showing the teacher that they know what they are talking about as well as being able to get the result they want, in this case good grades. …show more content…

The author is claiming that bullshit has become something that is needed for elite students in order to maintain their elite status, in replacement of hard work and strong morals. Students believe that bullshit is needed in order to be successful. The author Rubén Gaztambide-Fernández sees this method of learning as a way for students to refuse to comply with social rules set in place by the elite education system. Instead they go against it while still benefitting. The main question students’ pose is, why do it the hard way when there is an easier way that is being equally

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447 Words | 2 Pages

“Everyone knows some young person who is impressively "street smart" but does poorly in school” (Graff). In Hidden Intellectualism written by Gerald Graff he started his writing off by talking about his main argument which was that the school systems had some major flaws that needed to be addressed. Graff argued that the schools should not only focus on the academic parts but also the nonacademic parts that could be used in real life situations. He ensured that he would get his message across by using Pathos (emotions), Ethos (credibility), and Logos (logic). He made sure to use Pathos, Ethos, and Logos by including personal stories, a strong tone His intended audience were teachers, students, and school boards.

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1126 Words | 5 Pages

Gerald Graff explains, “the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns. We associate educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic. We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, The French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or video games” (#). What he is explaining is that to many times school systems force feed student’s material that they have little or no interested in and think they will read the item and not google it and take the easy road. Now Graff doesn’t say that students should not learn about the important figures that shaped the world as it is, but instead ween them in by getting them interested in something they enjoy first.

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461 Words | 2 Pages

In his essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff criticizes schools “for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work” (244). Graff argues that intellectualism does not only have to be something that is achieved through this idea of “proper” education which is obtained through school work, but it can also come from the form of “street smarts” which is referred to those who learn things outside of an academic environment, for example their neighborhood. He makes a good point here because if a student is more interested in what is being taught, they will be more likely to engage in the lesson and obtain the information. Schools should give students the opportunity whether they are interested

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401 Words | 2 Pages

Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451, illustrates that conforming to society takes away your individuality and makes your identity a false one, which is inspired by the people around you. To start with, if you were the same as everyone else, there would be no new ideas or anything meaningful in your life. In the society of Fahrenheit 451 they were, “...turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word 'intellectual,' of course, became the swear word it deserved to be” (Bradbury 55). This quote allows us to see how the school system creates students in the same way, by not allowing them to think for themselves. From the beginning,

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834 Words | 4 Pages

This idea coming from the idea that students are but mere receptacles that oppressors can fill with their ideas. The students are taught to not challenge the idea

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1022 Words | 5 Pages

For that reason, Graff anticipates his readers and responds accordingly with strong evidence. Furthermore, Graff expects his audience to approve of his values and support his evidence by including an outside reference: “A rhetoric scholar, Gregory Colomb, has studied the disorientation experienced by a bright high school graduate who, after doing well in a humanities course, as a freshman at the University of Chicago, tries to apply her mastery to a social science course, only to come up with a grade of C” (Graff 342). In essence, both Graff and Colomb agree that students are smart, but there is too much of a disjunction between classes that causes students to underperform, therefore, smart students may fail due to the differences in our

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762 Words | 4 Pages

Levine claims that these children are looking up to gang members and drug dealers as a way of life, knowing that their are no educational requirements to fulfill these positions (20). These poor students are simply seeing school as a must do for the time being, and not seeing the the value of the education they could be receiving if they had a better role model to look up to. Similarly, Graff asserts that students are not connecting with Shakespeare or the French Revolution, these students do not value the information because it does not pertain to them; However, sports, fashion or dating interests these students and have values to them (245). Schools and colleges are not connecting the dots.

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444 Words | 2 Pages

What this essay is saying about students and education is there is no student who doesn’t want to learn or what’s to get an education. Everybody is capable of learning, but the problem is sometimes the education are given by people who don’t care if you are learning or not. In this essay, we learned that the author was put in classes where the teachers didn’t care too much about their students and because of this he become a mediocre student. Not because he didn’t like school or he was lazy, but because there was no inspiration in learning. Luckily, Mike Rose the author of I Just Wanna Be Average found someone that wants him to start learning someone that make him change his mind.

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1001 Words | 5 Pages

Hamlet/Hamnet Multimodal Presentation William Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1601) sits at the core of our language and culture, displaying the complexities of grief in a way that transcends its time period and resonates with people of every age. Maggie O'Farrell interprets and re-interprets Shakespeare's work, integrating his use of universal themes into her contemporary novel Hamnet (2020). Both individually and through their complex intertextual relationship, Hamlet and Hamnet explore the all-consuming complexity of grief, highlighting the very human responses to grief and loss, the interconnectedness of life and death, and the identity struggle that is inevitable after death. Arg 1 (slide)

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1664 Words | 7 Pages

Sanders supports his argument with the appeal of ethos by validating the fact that he is a college professor and sees students versus learners all the time. For instance, Sanders says “I see this [students being afraid of being wrong] most often when students turn in written papers (Sanders 4). By mentioning his first-hand account he is building is authority and trustworthiness on the subject at hand. Finally, Sanders appeals to pathos when he involves emotions and presents his invitation to students to become a learner. He addresses the reader as “you” to form the basic relationship.

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745 Words | 3 Pages

The main argument is that perceived throughout the reading is that the schools itself is failing students. They see a student who may not have the greatest test scores or the best grades, and degrade them from the idea of being intellectual. 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 and academic” (Graff 244). Schools need to channel the minds of street smart students and turn their work into something academic.

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533 Words | 3 Pages

While transitioning between his two tones in his reading, the author steps out of the main story to address the reader more directly in order to appeal to authority. He explains in a more detailed fashion why the students end up behaving so uninterestingly towards anything academic. This appeal is also logical in the sense of following the mind process of a student in a remedial class; from wanting to learn something new, to telling him or herself “Why bother?” and giving up on school. Rose presents his argument using all of the three classical appeals.

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463 Words | 2 Pages

In “I just wanna be average” Mike Rose recounts his years in vocational school, known as low level classes. Rose was placed in vocational school by accident, rose decided on staying enrolled with low level students. Rose observed his teacher and classmates and talks about them throughout his essay. Rose explains to the reader why many students don’t learn or don’t take school/education serious. Teachers show they don’t care about their students by giving lack of education and by using physical violence and all just to control them.

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503 Words | 3 Pages

The Positives Aspects of Multitasking Multitasking can be good for you. “This generation needs to multitask and do it right. It’s a good trait for anyone”, according to Aratani (2007). Multitasking is important when we grow up and we need a job, we can carry a job that requires multitasking.

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994 Words | 4 Pages

Fake news - a phrase that is frequently emblazoned in the headlines. Scandals, false alarms, and of course, Donald Trump’s “fake news awards”. Clearly, fake news plays a huge part in American politics. But what many Singaporeans fail to realise is that fake news is also a pertinent, pervasive, pernicious and perennial problem in Singapore, and it is a problem that needs a solution. We define fake news as false stories that appear to be legitimate and are usually fabricated for political or financial gain.

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