Preview

Gerald Graff's Disliking Books At An Early Age

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
209 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Gerald Graff's Disliking Books At An Early Age
“Disliking Books at an Early Age” by Gerald Graff is about a story of his education. Graff is currently a professor of English and education at Illinois University at Chicago. Graff has also received his BA in English from the University of Chicago and PhD in English and American literature from Stanford University. This story is about the authors back round of education and its impact on his career
The author begins to tell the story through his childhood and how disliking books of books give him an advantage to being a literature teacher. Graff explains how growing up it was extremely difficult to study and achieve without other students putting him down. Growing up a Jew, he was scared to be caught reading because he feared he would be

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Alison Bechdel demonstrates on “compulsory reading” essay that children should never be pressured on reading books or stories beyond their desire ones, otherwise they develop aversion toward reading. She begins by admitting that she was a hardcore reader when she was young, but that change when her parents give her undesired books to read. Consequently, Bechdel develops a strong aversion toward reading. Furthermore, she loathes reading that anybody suggested her. She becomes an adult with a strong hatred toward reading, however that changes when she founds more compelling books on her parents’ book shelves. Children are naive and skeptical therefore adults should not force them to anything beyond their desire interest…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Comparative Critique

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Bartels, Eric. “My Problem with Her Anger.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 10th ed. Eds. Laurence Behrens and Leonard Rosen. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 328-333. Print.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books…

    • 882 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The problem is society’s views on books, and how that stifles freedom of speech and opinion, intentionally or unintentionally. Guy is able to take the initiative to try and change society because of Clarisse and her courage.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The short Essay, An Experiment in Criticism, by C.S. Lewis brings to light many new perspectives to how people read and experience literature. Throughout the essay Lewis works to give the message that; how good a book is doesn’t depend on the quality of writing but on the reader. He begins by defining two types of readers- the “literary” and the “non-literary”- which he uses through the rest of his essay to categorize different traits for treating literature.…

    • 78 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    When the author was a young man he wasn’t able to relate to any assigned readings to his life and once n college often found reading to be agonizing and foreign. He frequently failed to finish famous classics…

    • 369 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eng 125, Week 2

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages

    References: Clugston, R. (2010). Journey into Literature. (Ch. 7.1). San Diego, CA. Bridgepoint Education, Inc.…

    • 707 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    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.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read” Francine Prose confronts this plummeting interest in literature among teenagers. The United States has been afflicted with this disinterest for some time—young students are instilled with passion for math and science yet care little for English and literature. Attempting to explain this disparity, Prose argues that mediocre literature options and shoddy teaching methods leave students without any connection to the material they read. Unfortunately, while Prose’s ideas have some merit, her fallacious arguments, forceful tone, and jumpy logic negate any real impact her words could have.…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Being a writer and a mother, Francine Prose is disappointed by the quality of books American high school students are required to read. Prose reveals that high school students are not learning much from reading the books assigned by their teachers, neither are they enjoying those books. She shares her thoughts to educators, students, and parents about high school’s reading and why most teenagers disdain reading, in her essay “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read”.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This literature was confusing however, conceptually understandable that even though this short story was written somewhere between the life-time of Ernest Hemingway. People can relate to it in someway and the style of how it is written is something it could be said to be artistic and educational that people can learn from. As this textbook was dedicated for the purpose of learning literature, it was appropriate for using this literature in the book; So that people could debate, discuss the very meaning of the contents and…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He states in one of his books "Disliking Books at an Early Age," that he did not enjoy reading or was able to understand it due to him being away from all the teachings that were taught in school (Graff 24). Many students nowadays, whether younger or older, can empathize with Graff, as they themselves cannot find any interest in reading or knowing the teachings at school just because they see it as "boring" or "useless."…

    • 1051 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Hidden Intellectualism

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Next, Graff uses his personal experiences to help the reader connect with his ideas through pathos. He tells us how, as a young man, he did not consider himself an intellectual and was not interested in scholarly matters. “I offer my own adolescent experience as a case in point. Until I entered college, I hated books and cared only for sports.” (Graff 199) He later reflects his newfound thoughts on intellectualism as he states, “I have recently come to think, however, that my preference for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means.” (Graff 200) He then allows the reader to…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    One Good Book

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “If you just find one book that you really love, you will love reading forever. I promise.” This is Stephanie Whipple’s saying t on growing a new attitude toward reading. Stephanie tells a story about how her passion for writing she possesses today didn’t always exist. She gives examples of negative experiences she has had with writing and explains how they are were at one point responsible for her distaste in the activity. The cause of her changed mind set was in result of a single good experience she had with the previously thought to of been “miserable” activity, hence the name “One great book”.…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though the "uncommon reader" is the Queen, her reactions to reading are so true-to-life and so plausible that Author accomplishes a feat rarely even attempted, he makes the reader identify with the Queen and root for her success as a bibliophile. This novel captures both the joy of reading and the frustration reader’s face in the company of nonreaders. He also aims to show how much reading can transform a person, as well as how an informed reader can transform a book. It is a gloriously entertaining narrative, but it is also much more a deadly serious manifesto for the potential of reading to change lives, for its ability to broaden horizons, to imagine oneself in others' shoes, and to enable one or should that be one to break out from the constraints of upbringing, class and education and lead the life always wanted. As the Queen expands her reading under the direction of Norman, she becomes less interested in day-to-day activities, even…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays