They Say, I Say

I read the Hidden Intellectualism by Gerry Graff. This reading made a lot of sense and I really enjoyed reading his view on this subject. I totally agree with what he is talking about when he says that “schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work.” He talks about how we think that we need to read and study books and subjects that are considered intellectual in order to become intellectual when the truth is that you can talk about anything intellectually, it just depends on the way you are looking at it. Graff says that “we assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, clothing fashions, sports, TV, or video games,” so it’s the way you look at it is what makes it intellectual, not just because it is a good subject or from a famous writer. The writer grew up in a neighborhood where he was constantly having to show how smart he was but not too much because he had make sure that the hoods would still respect him. He recalled endless debates about who the toughest guy in school was, and he was still learning how to think intellectually, just not the way the school had intended him to. He began learning how to think intellectually by arguing with his friends and through reading his sports magazines. The schoolwork did not interest him much, but the sports magazines could entertain him, and he was also learning, which he did not realize at the time. I completely agree with Graff’s theory that in order for you to learn it needs to be something you care about and not just dull schoolwork. The schools really do need to learn a little from sports magazines and other things in order to keep the attention of their students and also in order to teach them better.