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Gerald Graff Other Voices Other Room

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Educational Inconsistency I remember the first experience in a true science course, it was nerve racking and overflowed with mysteries; I loved it and that has not changed since. This current semester in college, I decided to enroll in both Biology 112 and Chemistry 111 expecting my prior biology knowledge to assist in making chemistry easier; however, I quickly learned that I was mistaken. After a few weeks, I learned that some information from biology differed from the information in chemistry; even the most simplistic topics were completely different along with their corresponding vocabulary and definitions! How can two relating science classes differ so much? Gerald Graff, an English and Education professor at the University of Illinois, …show more content…

His descriptive thesis begins the empowering narrative that describes the many sources of the discrepancies college students are experiencing. Graff describes the effects differing opinions between teachers and politics that affect the direction of education. Additionally, Graff’s use of metaphors provide a comprehensive view of the negative effects the current education system has upon its students. He also appeals towards his audience through rhetoric such as Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. Graff enumerates numerous educational issues that exposes the truth of our education system and musters the support of his …show more content…

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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1258 Words | 6 Pages

Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff, is an essay in which the former English professor discusses the misconceptions of the ideas of intellectualism amongst society. He primarily focuses on the way adolescents view intellectualism as a negative trait that only “nerds” strive for. He also elaborates on his experiences in revealing his own hidden intellectualism, while in college in a literature class, after growing up in the “anti-intellectual” 1950s. However, through a method that Graff and an eleventh grade high school teacher are developing, they hope to make students think and debate argumentatively as intellectuals would. They do this in an attempt to have the students see their true potentials as intellectuals themselves.

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165 Words | 1 Pages

Over the years, there has been an ongoing debate about “street smarts” and “book smarts” throughout the world. Many people side with either or for their own personal reasons. Although “street smarts” has developed a poor reputation which pushes people to neglect the positive aspects of this particular way of learning. In the article, “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff evaluates the structure schools use to teach literature. He explains that intellect is not only found in the academic form of thinking.

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150 Words | 1 Pages

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Ignorance Vs. Reason in the War on Education Kareem Abdul-Jabber writes an article explaining the attack on education and the serious problems in the classroom involving teachers and students. Abdul-Jabbar describes how students only hold on to one perspective; students should explore different perspectives on topics, and question education’s opinions on practical matters. Republicans, Democrats, and non-partisan discuss this controversy over education.

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321 Words | 2 Pages

The professor Louis Menand explains in his essay the different theories that exist in different college students and how society always tries to sort people based on their intelligence. Menand explains Theory 1 as students who only want to pursue the career paths that promise greatest personal or financial rewards. All they care about is ace their classes so they can warrantee to get their dreamed job. It doesn’t matter if they don’t understand the course or even if they to learn more. They completed all their classes and they learned what it supposed to learn and basically they don’t want to learn more.

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511 Words | 3 Pages

The essay “In Praise of the ‘F’ Word” by Mary Sherry explains some flaws Sherry has noticed in our education system. These observations are from her teaching perspective, and from her son’s own experience in high school. Sherry claims that some students that have earned a high school degree should not have because they are “semi literate.” She starts out her essay by stating this bluntly, but further explains herself as it goes on. Sherry is an adult literacy grammar teacher, and often faces students that wish they could have had a more beneficial experience in high school.

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910 Words | 4 Pages

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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363 Words | 2 Pages

Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” contemplates the age-old idea that street smarts are anti-intellectual. However, as Graff points out, “schools and colleges are at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into academic smarts.” (244). What Graff means by this is that being street smart does not mean a person lacks intelligence. Rather, educational institutions need to find a way to effectively ‘tap into’ this different format of intellectualism to produce academic intelligence.

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496 Words | 2 Pages

In “The Dangers of Telling Poor Kids That College Is the Key to Social Mobility”, Andrew Simmons, a high school teacher who teaches in a poor area of Los Angeles, argues that students should be taught to go to college in order to have “an intellectual awakening”. The writer’s purpose is to persuade and inform his readers to accept his view on the flaws of the education system. According to Simmons, teachers promote higher education by focusing on the economic advantages it could bring instead of the actual education that is offered. Because teachers focus on the financial benefits of college, students in poor areas focus on their potential wealth instead of their future education while students in wealthier areas focus on their future careers

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869 Words | 4 Pages

“3 Reasons College Still Matters” by Andrew Delbanco 3) “Surely, every American college ought to defend this waning possibility, whatever we call it. And an American college is only true to itself when it opens its doors to all - the rich, the middle, and the poor - who have the capacity to embrace the precious chance to think and reflect before life engulfs them. If we are all serious about democracy, that means everyone.” 4) In this part of the writing Andrew Delbanco tries to persuade his audience by using the pattern of logic that agrees with the overall argument but also considers another striking point of view to strengthen the argument (While these arguments are convincing, they must also consider…).

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1433 Words | 6 Pages

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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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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569 Words | 3 Pages

In Carl Singleton’s article, “What Our Education System Needs is More F’s,” he argues that students aren’t receiving the failing grades they deserve. School systems are to blame for the lack of quality in America’s education. No other recommendation for improvement will succeed. The only way to fix the American education system is to fail more students. According to Singleton, the real root of the issue is with the parents.

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1095 Words | 5 Pages

Graff feels that teachers should base some of their lesson on what students have a connection so they can be more focus because they are interested and not bored. He talks about how if schools and colleges will connect with the kids that are "Street Smart" they won't do a poor job in school they will do fairly better if they were more intact with the topic itself. Graff explains to us his growing up in the "hood" you were more respected for being street smart then you was for being book smart. It took a discussion about toughness for him to notice how intellectual he was, but he as just different from others , it wasn't about everything it was just about things he had a strong interest in. He noticed from how he us to have serious verbal altercations about sports and how he acknowledge the difference in players through

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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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1340 Words | 6 Pages

The Other Education Rhetorical Analysis David Brooks is a well-refined journalist for the New York Times News Paper Company. He writes many different controversial articles, that tends to focus around arguments of education. Within Brooks’ arguments he uses effective techniques to persuade the audience. In this specific column, he addresses society as a whole, but with special emphasis on students. David Brooks successfully persuades his audience through his presentation of his claim, his persuasive writing style, and his usage of emotional appeals.

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