Fridman's Essay 'America Needs Its Nerds'

Preaching to the Nerd Choir

Although Fridman’s assertions in his essay “America Needs Its Nerds” are well grounded, his method or argument is flawed. He makes successful points on America’s off-balanced priorities (putting an emphasis on sports rather than education) but his confined audience and uncited claims weaken his argument. Despite Fridman’s fallacies, he manages to create a thought provoking text on the necessity of valuing knowledge.

The basis of his argument is that negative words like “geek and “nerd” deteriorate a child’s love of learning, leading to a less education focussed nation. Although many may agree with this notion, Fridman’s choice of tone and diction alienate an entire group of readers, making his argument applicable to only certain people: those who already consider knowledge more important that sports. His many points-- being picked on in school, feeling embarrassed about studying, hiding good grades out of shame-- only have emotional resonance to those already targeted as “nerds.” To these readers, Fridman’s pathos might be highly successful, provoking recall to similar experiences, but to those lacking such experience, the argument is lost.

To extend one of his claims, he uses a concrete, and somewhat shocking example of an extreme circumstance where such intellectual stigma is still present: Harvard University.

Despite what many may assume, Fridman claims that even in the most prestigious, education focussed of schools, kids are still ashamed of their academic prowell. From which source Fridman derived this information, it is unclear. However, such statistics are convincing of how deeply ingrained this stigma has become. His point is to illustrate the extent of the damage of these insulting terms, and by creating a reaction from the reader, he is

successful.
By comparing the United States to our “economic rivals in East Asia,” Fridman breeds a sense of competition, motivating the audience to feel passionate towards his subject. This is manipulating our national pride, while also pointing out connections between countries who value knowledge and those who are successful. He then reflects upon American values through a series of rhetorical question that illuminate the imbalance between sports and education that is unique to America. This juxtaposition of our national values in consideration with others elucidates Fridman’s argument of America’s uneven prioritizing and the effects it has.
Although parts of the argument are limited to those that already agree, it makes up for that in its provocative nature and emotional resonance. Fridman’s use of unsourced claims injures his argument but because they don’t serve the basis for his main points, these discrepancies are not disastrous. Moreover, the connections he makes through comparison and reflection are thought provoking and well developed. The passage from Fridman’s “America Needs Its Nerds” is persuasive to a point, underlying America’s need to reassess their values.