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Street Smarts Gerald Graff Summary

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In this article by Gerald Graff, the issue of “street smarts” versus academic intelligence is debated. Graff wants to make a point to show how street smarts can be untapped sources for formal educational. In this article, he is trying to make a point in how these forms of knowledge are looked down upon, and thus ignored in a school setting. Because of these thoughts, he really wants to emphasize that intelligence isn’t as cut and dry as being able to do math, or know historical facts off hand. Graff shows that just because some students struggle with their academics doesn’t mean they are not smart in their own right. I really agreed with this point as I see ways to bring in these elements of alternative knowledge into the classroom to create interest and better acknowledge different types of thinking. …show more content…

There isn’t a great way to measure someone's intelligence in every aspect of life. There are students that may do horribly on standardized tests, yet could do things considered more practical than academic. These students that are more practically intelligent compared to academic have different ways of thinking. People can be very tech savvy, or know how to cook extremely well, both are things that can be learned outside of a formal school setting. Some people just lean towards this type of thinking better than being able to recall facts and analyze information. Although these are different ways of thinking, it doesn’t make one more valid than the other in my eyes. I think we should focus on how we can bring together these two forms of learning together to help both succeed in the

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171 Words | 1 Pages

“Hidden Intellectualism” is a short article written by Gerald Graff. It talks about how teens who are street smart have a difficult time being smart at school. Graff blames schools for not tapping into student’s street smart and converting it to book smart. Ever since the beginning we see smart kids as nerds or geeky but everyone praises the athletic guy who plays sports. Through the beginning of the article Graff has an confusion of what is more important, being tough or being smart.

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173 Words | 1 Pages

Graff argues that school should take these street smarts and make them work on academic work. Graff also implies that street smarts are more important than

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849 Words | 4 Pages

Gerald Graff and Mike Rose both share the important trait of “the value of non academic intelligence” because they both talking about gaining knowledge, satisfying intellectual thirst and education not taking non academic knowledge into account. Author Gerald Graff’s talks about how colleges and schools are not taking into consideration the importance of “street smarts.” We may not see this type of intellectuals as important but they are. One and all know one person who is not that bright but can solve a difficult challenge and has useful knowledge about our environment.

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998 Words | 4 Pages

After the skills are established with interesting topics, the classic academic topics will no longer be as challenging or out of reach. Graff (2003) acknowledges that this second step will not be successful with every student, but at the least, the first step will build intellect. These intellectual skills can be applied in everyday situations that rarely appear in settings similar to classrooms. Being able to function in society is a continuous test. I would include a third step to this proposal and encourage schools

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776 Words | 4 Pages

Mike Rose disagrees with the assumption that “Intelligence is closely associated with formal education” (Mike, 247). Formal education does not always measure the level of intelligence of a person. Education as something people can gain not only in school, but every day of their lives. We should be learning from our experiences, and apply this knowledge to our everyday lives. Wisdom should not be looked at as just

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1257 Words | 6 Pages

Hidden Intellectualism is an article written by Gerald Graff on the school system and how being street smart is better than being book smart. Graff fills most of the article with stories from his childhood and relating the issue back to himself. He starts the article by asserting that “…schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work.” Immediately Graff blames the school system for not providing a way for street smart students to be academically engaged. Graff goes on to talk about his childhood throughout most of the article and strongly relates his love of sports to how this love could be academically applied in a classroom.

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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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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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1238 Words | 5 Pages

Intellectualism is the factor of being intellect or intelligent. The idea of what it means to be educated can be interpreted many different ways by different people. Some think it’s having a 4.0 and going to Harvard, while others believe in the idea of having common sense. In the essay, “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff reflects how lack of education is viewed negatively in society. On top of that, a question also lies what it means to educated.

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653 Words | 3 Pages

People believe students who go to college have intelligence more than students who’s in the work field after high school. UCLA Professor Mike Rose explain intelligence should not be measure by the level of school students completed and students can be successful in the work field or without finish school. In fact, Rose used his mother as an example of students might have intelligence without finish school. For instance, his mother drop off school in middle school who is a waitress at the coffee shop she has intelligence to memorize all the customer. According to Rose “he observe and studied the working habits of blue-collar job workers and have come to

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540 Words | 3 Pages

Hidden Intellectualism In Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff introduces the reader to his article with the comment that street smart students are being labelled nonintellectual by colleges and schools professors since they do poorly in academic work and their interest is centered into sports, magazines, and video games; nonetheless, these nonintellectual students seem more intellectual than those called themselves intellectual. As a first argument, the author claims that being interested in sport and novel reading more than school work readings could be another form of being intellectual. As a personal example, Graff writes “Until I entered college, I hated books and cared only for sports” (265).

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932 Words | 4 Pages

The reading "Hidden Intellectualism" by Gerald Graff reflects views on being "street smart" and "book smart." He explains that society tends to associate people who are intelligent on solely being "book smart" and performing well in academics, rather than being street smart. He goes on to further explain that students perhaps can be intelligent on topics that interest them. Graff opens up the reading by giving his own personal experience on feeling torn between trying to prove that he was smart yet fearing that he was overdoing it. He was trying to prove that he learned just as much about the real world by reading his sports books and magazines as he would have if he had read the classic works of literature like most students in school.

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745 Words | 3 Pages

“Hidden Intellectualism,” by Gerald Graff starts off with an older argument between being book smart and street smart. Throughout the reading, Graff uses his own life experiences to critique the education system today. Points made focus on the idea of overlooking the intellectual potential of those who come across as being, “street smart”. Different authors cited in the reading to show how to accept another’s different intellectual. However, we realize that people who come across as being intellectual weren’t always labeled as that.

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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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1182 Words | 5 Pages

Personally, I believe the blend of these two theories is essential in the classroom and make for a learning experience that is enjoyable for the student while also meeting their educational

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