Hidden Intellectualism

Improved Essays
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff uses examples from his personal life to submit his view of a college education. Mike Rose exemplifies his mother and uncle’s comparable opinions in “Blue Collar Brilliance” to prove his view on a college education. Even though both articles reflect the same view, they use different methods and devices to relay their common interest; although, Graff uses personal experiences, Rose uses standpoints. Confirmed by both Graff and Rose, education is not only something gained from school, but something one develops on a day-to-day basis. Through obtaining a compassion for a specified field of work, dedication to the career, and a differentiation between a college education and a personal experience, both authors …show more content…
In some instances, such as the ones Graff and Rose share throughout their articles, it is imperative to have a career in order to support a daily fulfillment. Dedication may be to the work being completed or rather to the reason the work is being done. Rose admires his mother’s dedication to her job as a waitress and shares his observation as he minded the little things she did to improve the work environment. “…she studied human behavior, puzzling over the problems of her regular customers and refining her ability to deal with people in a difficult world. She took pride in being among the public…” (275) claims Rose. Rosie, Rose’s mother, knew the way she performed her job depended on the tip she would receive, therefore she put her dedication into her job in order to satisfy each customer individually. In comparison to Rosie, Graff shares his experience of dedication by explaining how students should take non-academic interests as objects of academic study. As previously stated, Graff found passion in different sports magazines rather than books about the French Revolution or nuclear fission. Although Graff did attend college, he was still able to determine a lifestyle based upon a constant battle between being smart, or fitting in. Graff shares to his readers, “Until I entered college, I hated books…my performance for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as it was intellectualism by other means.” (265). He became so dedicated to sports readings that he realized the amount of gratitude it brought him to obtain different information about different teams or players. Nonetheless, both figures took pride in particular interests, making a clearly satisfying way of

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