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Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism Analysis

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In the short story "Hidden Intellectualism" by Gerald Graff, the main idea is to bring acknowledgment to the idea that educators of schools and colleges should incorporate students interest into their teaching. In other words, Graff believes schools and colleges are at fault for not taking the opportunity to use "street smarts" for good academic work (Graff,2010). If Gerald Graff is right about educators needing to incorporate "street smarts" into scholarly works, as I agree, then educators should reevaluate their teaching methods. Students are becoming negligent of gaining knowledge of social interest because it is not encouraged by instructors. Therefore, the only topics students can converse with are related to school work (Graff,2010). Graff consistently targets teachers in this story, mainly because he knows that educators are capable of changing the never-ending pattern in the school system but educators are not attempting to use the many opportunities available (Graff, 2010). The author, target teachers not in a negative aspect but in a positive aspect to invite change. Graff is approaching the situation in an …show more content…

Graff has an understanding of how teachers think and can speak about it, which in turn makes him credible because he is an educator. Also, with him being credible he makes himself very persuasive. While he is criticizing himself and his colleagues, he states facts that are merely opinions from his field of knowledge. He is criticizing himself to show he is not biased, coupled with he wants the audience to engage in his story with an open-mind. With doing that, he is trying to gain the publics’ trust in order for them to later understand his position better. His choice of words and arguments are chosen wisely to engage the

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Gerald Graff’s argument on how educational systems are missing a great opportunity to tap into “street smarts” and focus them into a path of academic work is indeed convincing (Graff, 198). After all, anyone who’s been through the American educational system knows odds are often stacked against the “street smarts.” This is especially true in english classes, where one is often required to read boring and somewhat heartless books like, 1984, Beowulf, and the majority of Shakespeare’s classics. This is not to say these books are bad or shouldn’t be read during one’s schooling years, instead, the problem is one of apathy. For instance, in my high school years I never even remotely liked to read books Othello, but I loved to read magazines and

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In Gerald Graff 's essay “Hidden Intellectualism” starts of by talking about the stereotype of being so called “street smart” and and being “book smart” and how in school when you see someone who is street smart but doesn’t do go in school get a bad wrap. People look at them as a waste because they can’t apply there intelligences that they have and use it towards school, so people view them as not the right kind of smart because they are not a A student in school. Graff then goes on to say that maybe it is not the students that are the problem with how they do in school but maybe it is the school that have missed or overlooked the intellectual potential that kids with street smarts have. Graff also says that we only view the educated minds through schooling as the right way and schools and colleges look at kids who do not like school and don’t do well as anti-intellectual people.

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Having never taken a college writing course before, I did not know what to expect and therefore assumed that I would choose my own topic to write about; of course, this isn’t the case. However, if I had the choice, I would not have chosen to write a response to Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism”. After going through his essay with a fine-tooth comb, I have found a few flaws in his reasoning. Gerald Graff believes that schools and colleges are not taking advantage of “street smarts” by not using them in an intellectual setting when in fact, schools are providing students with a large assortment of other knowledge and skills. In Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism”, he argues for the importance of changing school curriculums in order to better reflect the interests

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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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