Graff Hidden Intellectualism Analysis

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To start off, Graff does a nice job incorporating an anecdote and pathos into Hidden Intellectualism. It appeals to feelings. In the first few sentences of his article it is easy to relate to his words. Although some people can relate to it, not everyone can. However he needs more logic in it. Anecdotes and pathos achieve sympathy, but he does not have enough facts in there in order to persuade someone to believe what he is saying. He lacks factual evidence which is an essential part of trying to persuade someone. Bringing personal stories and anecdotes into a persuasive article is unprofessional, and not to mention he does not have on statistic in there. Most of what he is saying only applies to him, and he did not take the time or effort …show more content…
How are people expected to believe something if it is only one person’s opinion. To add on, Graff’s article is organized and not all over the place. It does not seem to jump all over the place. Evidently, due to his lack of evidence and overuse of anecdotes and pathos, Graff’s article “Hidden Intellectualism” was not a successful article. And could be improved by adding more statistics and opinions from other people. In Graff’s anecdote, he talks a lot about “street smarts” he states “ everyone knows some young person who is impressively street smart but does poorly in school. What a waste, we think, that one who is so intelligent about so many things in life seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work.” While this may be true, it is not a proven statistic, and he does not know that for a fact. He writes that because of his personal experience. Furthermore, later in Graff’s article, he writes “I have recently come to think, however, that my preference for sports over schoolwork was no anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means.” Graff uses the word “I” which is extremely unprofessional in a persuasive article. If Graff switched the person of view in his article it would be more professional, and it would be more

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