This story makes me think about how believing in yourself and working hard can basically help you achieve any goals you have in mind. Jake Cullen had stopped believing in himself for a brief period of time in the beginning of the book. He thought he had no chance of becoming the first string quarterback for Granger High. He kept getting down on himself for worthless thing like overthrowing a ball to Calvin, there #1 receiver, in one of Jake’s first practices. He continued to get down on himself until Coach Jessup, the offensive coordinator, helped him by having one-on-one sessions with Jake after practices. Coach Jessup would help him with his throws and tell him valuable things like “Be Jake Cullen, not Wyatt Cullen,” and “The #1 thing you need to remember is, as long as you believe in yourself, you can do anything.” After about a week or two into these practices with his coach, Jake had already changed, not only with his throws, but with his…
Leonid Freidman the author of “America Needs Its Nerds” develops his argument by using strong evidence to back up his topic. Fridman believed that nerds get ostracized while athletes are idolized. Whats the world without and education? The world doesnt need athletes!…
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.…
2. What is human institution or human weakness is being satirized in this piece? The way our society values athletes who work for…
In this play, Troy Maxson is a bitter, aggressive fifty-three year old man who is reflecting on his life in the past. Being able to support his family by providing food, clothes, with a roof above their heads is very important to him to make sure they have everything he did not receive growing up. Troy’s mother abandoned the family and was the direct result of the abusive relationship he had with his father. This affected him in several ways as an adult. His father never put his family first lacking the affection of love towards him making Troy a cold, aggressive man as an adult. Troy’s abusive childhood reflects on his son Cory. Cory gets an opportunity to have a successful future by receiving a scholarship to play college football. As Troy refuses to sign Cory’s scholarship acceptance letter he is letting Cory’s future ruined for him just like his were. When Troy’s dreams were ruined to play in the major leagues for the national American pastime, baseball, because of the racial prejudices of his time his opportunities to a successful future for his passion were denied. Troy is scared…
During his time as an adolescent, when fear of bullying is high and peer pressure is starting to take hold he discouraged himself from appearing intellectual and concentrating only on subjects regarding sports. This lead to Graff concentrating on sports subjects over academic studies at every turn until he entered college. “The only reading I cared to do or could do was sports magazines, on which I became hooked, becoming a regular reader of Sport magazine in the late forties, Sports Illustrate when it began publishing in 1954, and the annual magazine guides to professional baseball, football, and Of Sports and Shakespeare 4 baseball.” (p.381) By Graff’s thorough list of his reading material one could tell not only was he interested in sports but was also willing to study sports over any other subject.…
The statement shocks the reader in a humorous way, pulls the reader in, and allows for curiosity to build as they continue to read. The humor is a great way to make this article accessible to a broad audience. It puts people on a level playing field since most people don’t actually know the true definition of “geek”. He conveys this message even further by using irony to express the severity of the problem at one of America’s most academically rigorous schools – Harvard. Students are embarrassed and afraid to admit the hours spent studying. Instead, they focus on fitting in and being popular. Leonid Fridman uses a continuous comparison between nerds and jocks. Instead, athletes are held higher than the academic. Sports participation has consistently risen while American educational rankings continue to plummet in comparison to the rest of the world. The U.S. has won more gold medals in the Olympics but places 31st math, 23rd in science, and 14th in reading when compared to other global countries (Zhao). The comment also paves the way for one of his argument in the case that American culture applauds the jocks, while they make fun of those who accelerate academically.…
The authors purpose in The Education of Dasmine Cathey is to convince the audience how greatly the Tennessee department of education failed him through the use of pathos, appealing to the audiences emotions with a moving story, and applying reason or logos to show how NCAA athletes are failed. Wolverton’s argument was not overt and jumping off the page but it was extremely compelling, and makes everyone who reads it feel…
Another of the narrator’s character traits is his intelligence. The superintendent of his high school helps to show the narrators intelligence in this story “he knows more words than a pocket sized dictionary” (285). The narrator doesn’t want to come right out and say he is intelligent, but expresses it in the way his superintendent spoke of him “Gentlemen, you see that I did not overpraise this boy” (286). The narrator says “I delivered an oration in which I showed that humility was the secret, indeed, the very essence of progress. Everyone praised me and I was invited to give the speech at a gathering of the town’s leading white men” (278). He was very well spoken and presented himself as such.…
Troy’s dreams are thwarted due to accounts of racism that occur in his life and he refuses to acknowledge that any racial progress has been made. Although he is constantly told he is too old to play baseball, Troy sees it in different way. To Troy ability has nothing to do with age, he believes the single reason for him not making it in the major leagues is racism. Troy’s longings to become a baseball player are obstructed by oppression and discrimination. Like many black athletes, Troy was not given the same opportunities as white people were, which strengthened his already adamant view toward the idea of one’s skill vs. the color of one’s skin “I’m talking about if you could play ball then they ought to have let you play. Don’t care what color you were” (Wilson 18). Troy gets frustrated with…
For many college athletes, the lure of playing pro sports is intoxicating. Dreams of fancy cars, luxurious homes, tailor-made suits, voluptuous women, and the mental images of a crowded stadium chanting their name is enough for any collegiate athlete to think about abandoning their education for a chance at stardom. When the dreams are solidified with million dollar contracts, think immediately is replaced by impulse. Left behind in the frenzy is the much needed college education that no one seems to care about any more. An athletes only hope is to complete a college education first for what life's lessons has to offer later when hard-knocks is the final exam.…
Friedman applies the term ‘ostracized’ as a later follow up to the previous description of how it is common for the child who’d rather study or read books is looked down upon versus athletes who are falsely praised. In his essay, Friedman gives us insight on the negative connotation of the nerd and the failure to criticize the ones deserving of it.…
Just a few pages into the book, words had already begun to jump out at me, capturing my attention. "The kids in Newark, black and brown, speaking Spanglish, hoods over their heads, wheeling their stolen cars over to the local chop shop -- they were aliens in America. Strange, forever separate and separated from the American ideal. But these Glen Ridge kids, they were pure gold, every mother's dream, every father's pride. They were not only Glen Ridge's finest, but in their perfection they belonged to all of us. They were Our Guys (page 7)." This is a story about White Privilege, I thought. After reading the next two pages, I changed my mind. "...I wanted to understand how their status as young athlete celebrities in Glen Ridge influenced their treatment of girls and women, particularly those of their age.....I was especially curious about what license they were permitted as a clique of admired athletes and how that magnified the sense of superiority they felt as individuals (pages 8-9)." Oh! This is a story about jock culture, I thought.…
After coming to an understanding of what these conversations helped Graff establish, the idea that "the sports world was more compelling than school because it was more intellectual than school, not less" began to surface in his mind. Graff then pleads the reader to take interesting topics unrelated to school and look at them "through academic eyes." In other wards, Graff essentially conveys the idea of taking street smart topics and turning them into intellectual debates. His stance portrays a culture that incorporates common subjects to be discussed and viewed in different ways.…
The writer presents a young adolescent who is in her initial stages of life. Initially, she does not know that she is poor, but from her interactions with Miss Moore and the other rich kids, she becomes aware of her environment. She is however reluctant to accept that she is disadvantaged which a positive character is. It is surprising to note that believes she is the best despite realizing that she is disadvantaged. She portrays a positive character when she says, “aint nobody gonna beat me at nuthin.” She is different from many people who would feel this affects their ego. She is focused on remaining upbeat that she is the best among all of her…