In “Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids’ Grant Penrod goes over how intellectuals are cast aside and even belittled for their academic achievements, where athletes are given high praise and put on pedestals. He gives examples of this by stating how a football team in Arizona won a championship, and were congratulated and praised, while the three academic teams, who also won championships were barely recognized. Penrod’s use of real-life examples is especially persuasive because it helps emphasize the point he is trying to make in his essay.
High schools are one of the many places that anti-intellectualism originates from. Most high schools cherish their football and basketball teams. Examples like Mountain view high school, shows that teens who play sports, will gain much more attention and recognition than they would if were better in school. ‘Intellectuals almost constantly see their efforts trivialized in the rush to lavish compliments elsewhere.” (Penrod 759) What he means by this, is that the student’s accomplishments would be played
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He names famous high school dropouts like Christina Aguilera, Kid Rock, L.L. Cool J., and Sammy Sosa. He goes on to say that because of these icons, motivation to attain good grades and education is mocked and ridiculed. Trying to drive home the point, he states another icon that wasn’t successful in school, George W. Bush, president of the United States at the time of this article. Penrod claims that Bush was a “C” student. Penrod is baffled that the things Bush said during his presidency were not brought to attention, and how it shows the level of importance that Americans have for intelligence. However, he doesn’t specify for how long Bush was a “C” student, there aren’t any statistics to back up this claim. He puts these examples here to show that celebrities are more known for their popularity and looks, other than their good grades in
The next piece of data used is from Harvard. Harvard is known as a home of scholars and highly intelligent individuals. Fridman challenges this connotation by citing the “rampant anti-intellectualism” within the college. This data and the backing that follows has a profound effect on the reader. If even the highest point in America’s intellectual scene has been poisoned by this stigma then the implication is that nowhere is safe for those seeking unbridles
In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald Graff pens an impressive argument wrought from personal experience, wisdom and heart. In his essay, Graff argues that street smarts have intellectual potential. A simple gem of wisdom, yet one that remains hidden beneath a sea of academic tradition. However, Graff navigates the reader through this ponderous sea with near perfection.
Why does our society praise braun over brain? When did athletic talent and beauty begin to reign over intellect? In past cultures intellect was cherished, praised and honored. However, in present time our most honored members of society are our athletes and entertainers. Why do we no longer honor our philosophers, scientists, and innovators? Intellects keep the world turning. Due to this lack of admiration for intelligence, our children are no longer inspired to learn. Their dreams co...
For example, on page 134, he states that a group of 556 seniors at fifty five prestigious American universities were given a multiple choice test. 40 percent of these students did not know when the Civil War took place. Then the author states his concern: why politicians like senators Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Herbert Kohl of Wisconsin want to go after MTV when they are the ones responsible for the massive failure of American education (pg...
When in fact the high school outsiders become the more successful and admired adults in society. Botstein. states that team sports in high school dominate more than student culture.... ... middle of paper ... ...
In reasoning with his readers, Hartenstine provides statistics that correct Marx’ argument on student-athlete graduation rate. He states, “82 percent of Division I freshmen scholarship student-athletes who entered college in 2004 earned a degree. In Division II, 73 percent of freshmen student-athletes who entered college in 2004 graduated” (Hartenstine, 476). He wants readers to feel that it isn’t the college that is failing the students. The students can do fine coping with school and sports with the aid of tutoring and assistance programs in place at colleges. I found it easier to accept that players don’t need to be paid because the school is investing more into their education than just
Amanda Ripley argues in The Atlantic in her article “The Case Against High School Sports”, that the United States place too much attention on sports rather than academics. Ripley argues that sports programs at schools should be reduced, maybe even cut out completely. She states that there are a lot of countries that outperform America on international tests, and it is because they put more of their emphasis on academics, where the United States puts more of an emphasis on athletics. Ripley says that high school sports negatively affects academics. (1). I disagree with Ripley on this topic; I think that sports are important for young kids because it teaches them very valuable life lessons and it keeps them out of trouble.
...c achievement over physical prowess”. Rhetorical questioning and Anaphora both help Fridman prove his point because they directly stress the need for anti- intellectual values to be fought and academic achievement and intellectual ability be highlighted.
In Artie Kohn’s “The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation” in Bergmann’s Academic Research and Writing, the author is skeptical regarding if the issue of grade inflation is really existent. It is shockingly apparent after reading the portion of the essay stating Harvard University’s two headlining quotes, each quote’s dates were spread apart by over a hundred years (Bergmann, 2010, pg. 260). Those representing Harvard University in the quotes come off as rather egotistic and overly confident in nature. The author states within the essay “To say that grades are not merely rising but inflated – and that they are consequently ‘less accurate’ now…is to postulate the existence of an objectively correct evaluation of what a student (or essay) deserves,
"College Athletic Programs Undermine Academics." Student Life. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 27 July 2011.
“Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, is a compelling essay that presents the contradicting sides of “book smarts” and “street smarts” and how these terms tied in to Graff’s life growing up. Graff felt like the school was at fault that the children with more “street smarts” were marked with the reputation of being inadequate in the classroom. Instead of promoting the knowledge of dating, cars, or social cues, the educational system deemed them unnecessary. Gerald Graff thought that “street smarts” could help people with academics. In his essay, Graff confessed that despite his success as an “intellect” now, he was the exact opposite until college. Where he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, intelligence was looked down upon around peers
In “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, the author speaks about how schools should use students’ interests to develop their rhetorical and analytical skills. He spends a majority of his essay on telling his own experience of being sport loving and relating it to his anti-intellectual youth. He explains that through his love for sports, he developed rhetoric and began to analyze like an intellectual. Once he finishes his own story, he calls the schools to action advising them to not only allow students to use their interest as writing topics, but instead to teach the students on how to implement those compelling interests and present them in a scholarly way. In perspective, Graff’s argument becomes weak with his poor use of ethos, in which he solely focuses on his own anecdote but, through the same means he is able to build his pathos and in the last few paragraphs, with his use of logic he prevents his argument from becoming dismissible.
In the study the graduate student, Mary Willingham a learning specialist now found that some student athletes she had worked with and researched read at a middle school or lower reading level. Willingham explains that she encountered many athletes who faced many academic problems which she admits to helping them get around standards set by the NCAA. In the article written by Ganium, she reports that as CNN did extensive research they found that UNC-Chapel Hill wasn’t the only college guilty of admitting athletes whose academic abilities were less than college level twenty-one colleges to be
Power, Clark. "Athletics vs. Academics." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Jan. 2014. Web. 07 Apr. 2014.
Why street smart students are considered anti intellectual in academic area? In the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff, he accounts the idea that street smart students are way more smarted than book smarts. He explains that street smart student will be able to solve an issue much faster than book smart because of his/her previous experience. According to author, the problems with considering street smarts as anti intellectual are they are actually much smarter that book smart students, they don’t equal opportunity , and schools along with colleges never challenge their mind get them to succeed in academic work.