In the passage," America Needs its Nerds," by Leonid Fridman, he claims that there is a problem with the values in society. society uses terms like "nerd" and "geek" to describe people that are academically serious. Fridman is stating that people in society shouldn't be ashamed of how much they study or being dedicated to pursue knowledge. He says that society should set their values straight for America's sake. Nerds are ostracized and gets compared to freaks. Many do not learn decent social skills or good communication skills. While nerds and geeks are being treated like this, athletes are being idolized. These athletes gain more respect and earnings than the best university professorships. In most of the world, the best university professorships…
One would think that it is better to be all brains than all brawn, but contrary it is the exact opposite. In “ America Needs Its Nerds”, by Leonid Fridman, Fridman goes over the unfortunate reality of “nerds” being overshadowed by athletes or anyone with great physical capabilities. Fridman analyzes how the United States, a country who desire to be top in academics, would praise “jocks” and not give proper recognition to “geeks”. The author With rhetorical questions, the consistent use of metaphors, and appeals to ethos, Fridman manages to develop his argument by mentioning the ostracization of intellectuals instead of praising them.…
Who ever said being street smart but not book smart was a bad thing? In his short essay “Hidden Intellectualism” written in 2003 Gerald Graff talks about what people call book smart (Intellectualism) can hide into what one calls “Street Smart”(Hidden Intellectualism). Graff argues about how teachers are going the wrong way on how they should do their job, stating that they can use this to their advantage by using topics that such individuals are interested in whether it’s clothing, sports or even video games to educate them. The essay was illuminating and persuasive at convincing it’s readers because of the ethos, well written counterclaim and purpose. If topics such…
Fridman compares nerds to athletes to develop his argument. In the dictionary, a nerd is a “... street performer who shocks the public by biting off heads of live chickens.” Fridman also says nerds are outcasts, while athletes are idolized. As a result, nerds are deprived of a good education because they followed society. A reader can feel sympathy for nerds, thus helping…
In Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, he begins with the argument of “street-smarts” versus “school-smarts”. Graff explains that school-smarts can be hidden within street smarts and can be learnt through not just talking with friends, but also from the media and our surroundings, hence the “hidden” intellectualism. He goes onto explain that “schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street-smarts” (198) because these types of intellectualism are actually considered anti-intellectualism. Graff then begins to discuss that intellectualism is often looked down upon within schools, and people that are considered “school-smart” are seen as nerdy, or boring. We learn that as a child, Graff was afraid of bullying and name-calling so he did not show his intellectual side out of fear. As he wanted to be accepted so badly, he decided to become an “inarticulate, carefully hiding telltale marks of literacy like correct grammar and pronunciation”. (201) Through this, he discovered that he was still able to show his intellectual side by using arguing and reasoning strategies while talking about subjects such as sports and toughness with his friends.…
In the article “Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, Graff target college students to inform them about a hidden intellectualism that can be found in our everyday society. In the article Graff draws attention to the many types and ways different people can identify with intellectualism. He argues that people are intelligent in several ways and just need to learn how to plug the intellectualism they enjoy into a school-like setting during classes. He exemplifies this by using his own intellect within sports and such as an adolescent. While being very analytical of sports team movies, and the toughness he and his friends engaged in, he was unknowingly before now trained to be intellect in a class room and other school subjects. In figuring all this out Graff only had to plug it into his school work. Graff uses descriptive detail, blunt similarities, and his own basic understand and experiences to convey his thoughts of hidden intellectualism to his collegiate audience.…
When it comes to academics, nerds usually passes the grade level that jocks get. Jocks are usually more concerned about how large and toned they are, whereas nerds, on the other hand, are usually more concerned about their studies. When the jocks are in the gym and on the field, the nerds can, most of the time, be found with their noses in a book somewhere. The benefits of this are pretty obvious. Spending so much time working out and practicing can get a jock an athletic scholarship to a university. For the nerds, however, their studying can get them an academic scholarship to a university. So either way, what you devote their time to the most will be strong point.…
Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “We Real Cool”, tells the story of seven troubled teenagers. The poem focuses on what activities the teenagers participate in to make them look cool. Through its symbolism, imagery and tone, “We Real Cool” illustrates how losing one’s identity to become part of a reckless group in insolence of moral and social traditionalism will lead one to an early grave.…
Halfway through his essay, he compares the United States with East Asia and the intellectuals at Harvard to athletes in order to show the dire need to take a stand. He compares to the intellectuals that live in the United States and the intellectuals that live Asia. who ironically do not feel comfortable expressing their own intellectual self’s to the world because the chance of embarrassment. In the last sentence in the third paragraph “Nerds are ostracized while athletes are idolized.” this quote is explicitly trying to inform the reader that intellectual individuals should be more idolize as well as any other athlete or celebrity.…
To help develop his argument, Fridman creates syntax and sentence structure. For instance, he asks questions such as “how can a country where typical parents are ashamed of their daughter studying mathematics instead of going dancing, or of their son reading Weber while his friends play baseball, be expected to compete in the technology race with Japan or remain a leading political and cultural force in Europe” (paragraph 9). The speaker is urging the readers to think and pick a side in the war for nerds. Asking questions like “how can a country where typical parents are…” emphasize his belief that intelligence is an extremely reputable trait. He also uses conjunction and words to balance out his sentences. For example, he says…
Have you ever heard that too much television can ruin a child’s mind? Malcolm Gladwell proposes in his article, “Brain Candy,” that playing video games or watching television is just as important as reading a book. Gladwell is using rhetorical appeals to prove that in fact, video games are not dumbing down society. Pop culture is helping to improve test scores and knowledge. In “Brain Candy,” Malcolm Gladwell does affectively use rhetorical appeals to convince his audience that pop culture is making our society smarter.…
MC Frontalot (aka Damian Hess) is often credited with coining the term, “Nerdcore.” His first mainstream success came with the song, “Nerdcore Hiphop” from…
The idea of being a nerd, versus being popular has plenty of analytic depth. Studies have shown that nerds get teased and bullied by their peers. The kids that appear to do the bulk of the teasing are those who are unsure about their status quo and or the popular kids who have bad days. Usually popular kids don’t bother nerds because they’re already secure about themselves, they don’t really need validation. Nerds are an easy target for ridicule because somewhere down the line someone decided that being smart or intelligent was uncool, and that the average minded people should be treated like royalty. Nerds are constantly faced with an inner conflict; they want the perks of being popular and the perks of being smart. They have these ideas…
There have always been labels in the world. Regardless of the time or place, people have always labeled other people. Whether it was negative or positive in one persons mind, it could mean the opposite to others. There are recent examples of labels, but labels have always existed in our society.…
There are four different grades in high school; freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. From when you are a freshman you always want to meet new friends, and get good grades. No matter what your grade is, you are still a student. So in a way, all the students are the same, but they do have tons of differences.…