Analysis Essay of “Hidden Intellectualism” by Gerald Graff
Gerald Graff in his essay “Hidden Intellectualism” explores the gap between the popular young and academic cultures that are often assumed as conflicting in the school environment and persuades his audience that actually these two domains can be effectively combined, as both represent a certain kind of intellectualism. The author argues that “street smarts” are hidden intellectuals, who do not recognize their own argumentative powers, and teachers in the school environment should encourage incorporation of popular culture into curriculum, as he believes that it may improve students’ performance, spur their interest in the academic research and stimulate young people to both consciously and unconsciously grow into true intellectuals. Graff also critiques the way these issues are addressed in school environment now and displays the potential academic power of “street smarts”, if it is applied wisely. The essay written by Graff is an excellent example of masterly used rhetorical strategies and approaches that make the writing effective and persuasive, as the author uses emotional, ethical and logical appeals and recognizes the opposite opinions, while refuting the counterarguments of his opponents in a scholarly and consistent way.
First of all, Graff uses personal information, anecdotes and emotionally-colored narration that appeal to the audience and establish his credibility. The author refers to his own background and experiences as a student, while taking a perspective of an experienced educator he is now. For example he mentions that his “own working premise as a teacher is that inside every street-smart student (which is to say, every student) there is a latent intellectual trying to break out, an identity that it is my job somehow to tease out” (Graff 22-23). Not only the author mentions that he knows the way the popular culture and street-smarts are treated in school from his professional experience, but as a knowledgeable person in the sphere, he offers his own vision and position towards the issue. This way, he asserts his credibility and gains trust of the audience that may conclude that Graff definitely knows the problem in question. He also dwells upon his correspondence with his colleagues, who are also the experts in the field, and that makes his argumentation even more effective. Additionally, personal stories and striking images affect the readers emotionally and provoke the desired response. For example, the author refers to his “personal experience of discovering my own intellectualism in unlikely places” (Graff 23), and narrates the details of his troubled position, when he was trying to balance between being a part of the group and somehow remaining “closet nerd” with the images of his neighborhood and different people he had to cope with on a daily basis. Graff also provides modern examples of the problems the young people have to face with the images of struggles and lack of understanding – the ones a lot of readers may identify with, so it makes the essay emotionally-colored. These references and examples approximate the author to the reader making him authoritative and at the same time understanding to wholly comprehend and explain the core of the hidden intellectualism problem.
Logical structure of the essay with well-prepared reasoning and the abundance of credible sources make the author’s argument strong and more persuasive. Graff logically adjusts the structure of the essay, as he mentions his argumentative purpose at the beginning and slowly moves from one claim to another, reasoning each of them. For example, to prove that the school treats popular young culture wrong he provides examples of how school approaches have affected him, his classmates, as well as modern students. Also, the author offers the solution to such treatment and introduces the ways to adjust the way alternative cultures are viewed by changing the traits school takes from it, as “culture has tended to reproduce these less attractive features of sports competition without the aspects that create close bonds and community” (Graff 28-29). He shows how the positive features the sports and other popular culture elements which are normally considered non-intellectual can actually contribute to the development of academic intellectualism. What is more, Graff uses the abundance of trustworthy academic sources to back up his claims. All the articles and books the author refers to are academic or scholarly and their authors are appropriately credited. Graff critically addresses each quotation and reference and analyses the claims of the researchers, putting them in a dialogue and elaborating different opinions based on the information they present. Such approach is critical and effective in maintaining good reasoning and credibility, as it makes the essay well-grounded and valid, while the author’s argument becomes stronger and more effective.
An important part of the essay is the references to other authors and reasoned refutation of their opinions to prove his point. For example, from the beginning of the essay he addresses the point of view that assures that there is no place for young culture and street smarts in the classroom, and immediately refutes this view, by saying,
We tend to assume that intellectual distinction can be manifested only with bookish subject matter—that is, that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the
All in all, Graff manages to create an effective rhetorical argument and successfully applies the writing strategies to make his writing convincing and appealing to a wide range of audience. The author achieves his purpose of persuading the audience in the intellectual potential of alternative non-school cultures that have the capacity to influence the way young people can handle conflicts of opinions and improve their argumentation skills. Graff applies emotional appeals to establish the contact with the reader, ethical appeals to make him sound authoritative and credible and logical appeals that are realized in the structure of the essay and well-grounded reasoning. Addressing and refuting the counterarguments also contribute to the overall effectiveness of the essay and create wider picture of the problem and the approaches to handle it.
Work Cited
Graff, Gerald. "Hidden intellectualism." Pedagogy 1.1 (2001): 21-36. Web. 19 Apr. 2016.
