Gerald Graff's work, Hidden Intellectualism, is a display of hidden intellectualism in everyday life. In other words, education does not always come from schooling but is also taught from the world around us on the smallest level. In the article, Graff draws attention to what the typical view of what intelligence is often considered to be and why this is wrong throughout several repeated forms.
A key strength of this article is presented right away through the debut. Graff's eye-catching and relatable introduction immediately sparks the question of what if the school is at fault for missing out on tapping into street smarts. He mainly focuses on the way that most kids view book smarts as a negative trait and how schools contradict this by having …show more content…
Graff recalls, even in the 1950's, that a kid is more likely to pick up a magazine about cars and pop than they are to that of Hamlet and Shakespeare. Even as a kid, Graff understood this as a human desire to fulfill their curiosity in areas of their interests. Painting a vivid and tangible image in the reader's mind, Graff states, " Real intellectuals turn any subject, however lightweight it may seem, into grist for their mill through the thoughtful questions they bring to it..." (They Say, I Say, 265) This phrase really stands out to the reader as they can clearly grasp the idea through the expression.
Humans desire to satisfy their thirst for knowledge as Graff said. He also states that we also look to satisfy the thirst for community. He suggests that, there is more reward and support from the community when the topic remains on levels of interests such as sports. Graff goes on to further summarize his own anti-intellectual experiences as a kid in which he was more interested in sports than school work. Just as every kid desires to fit in now, the same went for his adolescent years. Kids did not engage in conversation …show more content…
He compared the night and day difference of the separation of the city blocks by their demographic. His family and self resided in a mainly middle class and white block of the city. Just a block over, however, Graff confirms that a mix of African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and southern hillbillies occupied the next block as realtors would not sell to these groups of people on his block. He compares this boundary similarly to that of how society views so-called intellects. To better explain, educated boys like himself were called "clean cuts." The boys on the other block were addressed as "hoods" based partly on the matter that they possessed more street and worldly smarts than educational skills.
Graft points out the issue of society's view on so-called intellects and anti-intellects several times over throughout his article, Hidden Intellectual. He further identifies this problem by using vivid comparisons to indicate that a school's education is not always the only path to intelligent learning. Who's to say that reading articles from They Say, I Say and writing analytical reports is the best way to learn. Surely, as Graff would most likely agree, there are other ways for students to understand these literary devices that appeal to their greater
A key strength of this article is presented right away through the debut. Graff's eye-catching and relatable introduction immediately sparks the question of what if the school is at fault for missing out on tapping into street smarts. He mainly focuses on the way that most kids view book smarts as a negative trait and how schools contradict this by having …show more content…
Graff recalls, even in the 1950's, that a kid is more likely to pick up a magazine about cars and pop than they are to that of Hamlet and Shakespeare. Even as a kid, Graff understood this as a human desire to fulfill their curiosity in areas of their interests. Painting a vivid and tangible image in the reader's mind, Graff states, " Real intellectuals turn any subject, however lightweight it may seem, into grist for their mill through the thoughtful questions they bring to it..." (They Say, I Say, 265) This phrase really stands out to the reader as they can clearly grasp the idea through the expression.
Humans desire to satisfy their thirst for knowledge as Graff said. He also states that we also look to satisfy the thirst for community. He suggests that, there is more reward and support from the community when the topic remains on levels of interests such as sports. Graff goes on to further summarize his own anti-intellectual experiences as a kid in which he was more interested in sports than school work. Just as every kid desires to fit in now, the same went for his adolescent years. Kids did not engage in conversation …show more content…
He compared the night and day difference of the separation of the city blocks by their demographic. His family and self resided in a mainly middle class and white block of the city. Just a block over, however, Graff confirms that a mix of African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and southern hillbillies occupied the next block as realtors would not sell to these groups of people on his block. He compares this boundary similarly to that of how society views so-called intellects. To better explain, educated boys like himself were called "clean cuts." The boys on the other block were addressed as "hoods" based partly on the matter that they possessed more street and worldly smarts than educational skills.
Graft points out the issue of society's view on so-called intellects and anti-intellects several times over throughout his article, Hidden Intellectual. He further identifies this problem by using vivid comparisons to indicate that a school's education is not always the only path to intelligent learning. Who's to say that reading articles from They Say, I Say and writing analytical reports is the best way to learn. Surely, as Graff would most likely agree, there are other ways for students to understand these literary devices that appeal to their greater