Gerald Graff Hidden Intellectualism

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“Hidden Intellectualism,” written by Gerald Graff, compares the concepts of street smarts and book smarts, and argues that the educational system might be at fault for not encouraging everyone's “intellectualism.” “Intellectualism” is defined as “devotion to the exercise of intellect or to intellectual pursuits.” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary). The word intellectualism is often thought to refer to academics and can only be achieve through education, colleges, and a reading list of approved books. However according to Graff, intellectual isn't just academic but also non-academic, for example, things that you learn outside of school and from experiences such as sports culture. Graff argues that being street smart doesn't mean it can’t be academically …show more content…
He explains that growing up he was torn between needing to prove he was smart and being afraid of get a beating if he proved it too well, wanting to impress the hoods and not jeopardize his future. There would also be conflict in school over who was the toughest guy and if you were less than negligible as a fighter Graff explains. After listening to Peter Guralnick shed some light onto Graff, “I don’t dig the intellectual bit,” he told reporters. “But I’m telling you, man, he knows the most” and that's when it hits Graff, he finally understands that even though he didn’t “dig the intellectual bit” but all this time he has been making a type of analysis, knowing how to make an argument, weighting evidences and being able to make connections. Graff figured out he was able to make debates and talk more about sports because that's something that interested him, not all these approved books from school that were forced to read.
In conclusion everyone is intellectual just in there own way, some people prefer to be academically smart or known as book smart and others choose to use the knowledge they gain outside of school which is street smart. Whatever the case is Graff shows the read another side of intellectual a hidden one in fact and even if you're into sports, cars, video games, etc. you are intellectual just in a “hidden” or different
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