Hidden Intellectualism By Gerald Graff Summary

Street or Book Smart… How About Both
Often times “street smart” and “book smart” are treated as two different identities, street-smart individuals are lacking any real intelligence and substance, good
“Hidden Intellectualism”, by Gerald Graff is an article in which the author suggests that intelligence cannot only be obtained by being school or being “book smart" individual but can also be achieved by what he describes as being "Street smart," Graff argues that intellectualism is not only the knowledge you obtain through school or through all the high cerebral books you read but also through real-world knowledge and life experiences. Graff shares stories of his adolescence and of the difficulties of balancing the of a “clean-cut” smart boy and the working-class kids, or as they were known as “hoods” in the neighborhood
Street smart individuals actually care and have a true interest in the subjects they cover. His ideology is that schools should make the effort to make non-academic material and subject part of the academic studies in order to attract and keep students interested. His final thought; if students get attached to reading and writing term papers on subjects that truly interest and speak to them, they would eventually find interest in the more academic material. The ability to have meaningful discussions and debates on a wide range of topics is also very important to one’s overall intelligence, even if these subjects are not considered to be intellectual or even worth discussing by many individuals and organizations. The negative associations of the term “street smart” are one of the main reasons schools and others overlook and are dismissive of the potential of these