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Gerald Graff’s Project in Hidden Intellectualism In his article Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff attests that intellect does not exist only in the scholarly form of thinking. Instead, he argues that intellect can also take the form of “street smarts”. In his opinion, this kind of intellectualism is obscured under the mask of normal discussions about sports, soap operas, and fashion, among others. Most students harbor intellectual resources that go untapped by formal schooling. According to Graff, book smarts may take various forms and hide in what is commonly referred to as “street smarts”, hence the phrase “hidden” intellectualism (Cooke, 2013). For this …show more content…
Sadly, many people believe that being street smart is a waste of time, and students should spend more time on their school work than wasting time on things like popular culture and sports. Graff started practicing being an intellectual even before he knew that was what he would be (Graff, 2001). While arguing about toughness and other subjects with his friends, he acquired the rudiments of developing an argument, weighing the different types of evidence, particulars and generalizations, and summarizing the views of others before entering a conversation about ideas. In addition, he was learning elementary semiotics in the …show more content…
At first, school was a highly repulsive institution for me. I would often feign sickness to avoid going to school. I had a special dislike for reading and comprehending my school work. Everything seemed hard and uninteresting. This had a negative effect on my academic performance. Consequently, I was among the worst performing students in my class. My teachers thought I was generally unintelligent and anti-intellectual. However, outside classroom, I developed an insatiable desire for music and musical instruments. Every evening after school, I would set aside at least two hours to learn to play the guitar and