In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, he begins with the argument of “street-smarts” versus “school-smarts”. Graff explains that school-smarts can be hidden within street smarts and can be learnt through not just talking with friends, but also from the media and our surroundings, hence the “hidden” intellectualism. He goes onto explain that “schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street-smarts” (198) because these types of intellectualism are actually considered anti-intellectualism.

Graff then begins to discuss that intellectualism is often looked down upon within schools, and people that are considered “school-smart” are seen as nerdy, or boring. We learn that as a child, Graff was afraid of bullying and name-calling so he did not show his intellectual side out of fear. As he wanted to be accepted so badly, he decided to become an “inarticulate, carefully hiding telltale marks of literacy like correct grammar and pronunciation”.

Through this, he discovered that he was still able to show his intellectual side by using arguing and reasoning strategies while talking about subjects such as sports and toughness with his friends.

Graff describes how important it is to teach hidden intellectualism to children that don’t realize it’s inside of them. He describes that if children are able to discuss topics such as today’s music, entertainment, and sports then they can hopefully progress more easily into subjects such as literature, and courses of more difficulty throughout their schooling.

Also, if students are asked to write papers on articles such as “Sports Illustrated” or “Vogue” they would become more comfortable writing and analyzing books or articles of a more difficult nature. Graff explains that he is not insisting that children write about cars, sports, or fashion etc in a “cop-out” kind of way, but to write about them through “academic eyes”, and in an analytical and reflective way. Gerald Graff believed that street smarts beat out school smarts in our culture because they seem to satisfy the intellectual thirst more than the boring and unreal school culture.

He goes onto explain that by talking about subjects such as sports, one is able to experience the topics of arguments, debates, and even statistics in a way that the subjects in school could not live up to. We see him talk about how everyday culture can be applied to the world much more than the topics and readings we learn about in school, as this culture is able to be talked about more enthusiastically with someone one had just met. Children would also be able to look at the world in a different light, as they would be learning essential life skills and essential knowledge in an interesting, exciting way.

Graff faults the schooling systems for not being able to grasp his youthful attention and the attention of so many of today’s children. Graff closes by saying that helping children find their intellectualism within themselves is still a work in progress. Intellectualism is most often described as someone who has a vast amount of knowledge, is well spoken, and most people’s idea of intelligence is someone who is “book smart”. Book Smart would be described as someone who van write and converse about subjects that are most often taught in school.

Another type of “smart” would be someone who is known as “street smart”. They are seen as intellectuals who are knowledgeable in the world around them, and today’s culture, and individuals who learn through personal experiences. In the essay Hidden Intellectualism, by Gerald Graff he insists that schools and universities/colleges are missing an opportunity to turn street smarts into book smarts. Most schools believe that only certain topics such as Shakespeare are proper for a learning environment; this is why we see today’s cultures topics are often not brought up at school.

When Graff says, “We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV or video games. ” (199) he is agreeing with this. He is basically saying that just because a student’s knowledge is not coming from the curriculum, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t important. Children should be able to take their hobbies and interests and incorporate them into academic study. The concept of learning is not only gained at school, it is gained everywhere in the outside world.

Children often do not realize that by talking about pop culture, latest news, or sports, they are actually building up their hidden intellectualism. Graff states “It was in reading and arguing about sports and toughness that I experienced what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to a counterargument, and perform other intellectualizing operations, including composing the kind of sentences I am writing now” (201-202). Graff is saying that even though he was not learning these things in an academic environment, he was still learning the principles that his teacher were trying to teach him at school.

References:

• Graff, Gerald. “Comment on Sandra Stotsky’s Book Review.” American Journal of Education 112.1 (2005): 153-156.
• Guide, M. L. A., et al. “A Version Control Problem and its Novel Solution Featured.”
• Henfield, Malik S., James L. Moore III, and Chris Wood. “Inside and outside gifted education programming: Hidden challenges for African American students.” Exceptional Children 74.4 (2008): 433-450.
• Thiele, S. J. “Anti Intellectualism and the ‘Aboriginal Problem: Colin Tatz and the ‘Self Determination’Approach.” The Australian Journal of Anthropology 14.3 (1984): 165-178.
• Lynch, Kathleen. The hidden curriculum: reproduction in education, a reappraisal. Psychology Press, 1989.
• Green, Peter. “Strepsiades, Socrates and the abuses of intellectualism.” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 20.1 (1979): 15.