Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff Summary

In this essay I will be summarizing the article “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff. He argues that not only are book smarts good to have but also street smarts. He touches on how he thinks schools systems have killed our interest and passion of being intellectuals? And what subjects are better to write about, sports, cars, fashion, Plato and Shakespeare? In the article the author states “Everyone knows some young person who is impressively “street smart” but does poorly in school” (Graff 380). He goes on to say how our schools could be at fault for our thinking that street smarts will not make it in school. Graff himself in his younger years did not think he was much of an intellectual. He would rather read sport magazines rather than school books. They were more compelling to him. In addition he explains how he was torn growing up in his neighborhood. “ On the one hand, it was necessary to maintain the boundary between “clean-cut” boys like me and the working-class “hoods”, as we called them, which meant that it was good to be openly smart in bookish sort of way” (Graff 382). He continues to talk about how he wanted approval from the “hoods” that he would encounter on the playground. So he had to be careful not to seem too smart in fear of being beat up. Therefore he settled for being inarticulate, subtly giving signs of being literate. …show more content…
“I was practicing being an intellectual before I knew that was what I wanted to be” (Graff 383). As well he states how in all his debates at the school yard and in articles in sports magazines he learn rudiments of the life style, how to make arguments, join into conversations, and come up with generalizations. He felt sports vs regular books were full of more challenging arguments and debates, also you get more since of community when you are talking about sports with