In “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff makes the claim that street smarts are better than book smarts because he believes that school culture does not satisfy an intellectual thirst the way that street smarts do. The author uses the term “street smarts” as means of describing the skill set that include, “how to make an argument, weigh different kinds of evidence, move between particulars and generalizations, summarize the views of others, and enter a conversation about ideas, that come from anti-academic topics”. (Graff) He primarily uses his experience growing up living near the hood to describe how futile academic intelligence becomes when you are faced with situations where you would need to keep yourself safe, learn how to effectively communicate with others, understand the importance of code switching when speaking to different sets of people, and more. Graff goes on to say that too often, “We associate the educated life, the life of the mind, too narrowly and exclusively with subjects and texts that we consider inherently weighty and academic.” (Graff) He introduces the idea that schools should implement more topics that students like while also illuminating the fact that although a student gets to write about a passion of theirs, it does not mean that they will do this effectively. it will be well written out. Needless to say that it would also be the same for the student who just so happens to have a passion for Shakespeare's work but has issues with articulating their words for written assignments. This further proves the fact that it is important to separate the amount of interest in a topic and the skill required to write about these topics. To be clear, the author is not saying that school in itself is the issue. It is only that schools should encourage students to use nonacademic interests to help them excel in their educational careers. In other words, schools should utilize these nonacademic interests as a tool instead of making students fit into standards that some students were not meant to fit in the first place. Therefore, Graff’s purpose for writing this article was to highlight the fact that people tend to erroneously correlate one’s intelligence with their ability to associate themselves with typical academically approved topics, rather than considering the fact that intelligence comes in many forms.
Upon reading, “Hidden Intellectualism'', I instantly felt a connection with the author in terms of his experience with school. I agree with Graff’s claims that street smarts are more important than book smarts. Although I grew up making sure my grades were top tier to simply please my parents and most of all feel adequate, being in school was certainly more of a challenge for me because I felt that my worth was only tied to my GPA. While being in school, one was not really seen unless they were one of the top ten students in their grade. I mention this because my personality caused me to be more in the background rather than the spotlight because I did not necessarily have the looks or the extroverted qualities to be one of the “popular” or most liked students in my school. My grades were the only thing that allowed me to have some sort of recognition. To further prove my point, I was only seen as an intellectual because of my grades and not because I liked art, dance, music, poetry, and many other things that I am passionate about. When in reality, I don't believe that academic success equates to intelligence. Being good in school is mostly a result of one’s work ethic and discipline to do the things that they do not find any interest in whatsoever. The only reason why I ended highschool with a 3.9 GPA was because I was determined to turn in all my assignments and study for exams while soon forgetting all the information I passively memorized because I never cared to learn about those topics in the first place.
Relating to what Graff stated about the schools valuing book smarts more than street smarts, I wholeheartedly believe that missing the true definition of intellectualism is one of the main issues that schools have today. This is especially true in the K-12 school system because it felt like testing was one of the main things we had to worry about. I can recall that in the school year of 2015-2016, the PARCC exams were optional because schools were starting to realize that we should not tie a student’s intelligence to the score that they have on an exam that probably will not benefit them in the long run. One thing about me is that during the season of state testing, I would simply sleep through a majority of the tests and guess on a good amount of the questions. I simply did not give a care in the world about the state exams because I knew my grade did not depend on it. In school, I was strictly only concerned with my grades. That is one of the only things that made me feel secure about myself. One of the main consequences of schools missing the true definition of intellectualism is that it causes many students to underestimate their ability to be a “smart person” because they feel as if their interests that they are passionate about, are not what the academic world would deem intellectual. As a result, students who do not fit into the academic criteria would most likely go around feeling like the world would only accept their academics, and continue to call themselves “dumb” or “stupid”. When in reality, they have so much more to offer. However, the school system tends to place a veil over their potential.
The world needs non-academic people such as artists, fashion designers, cleaning services, delivery services, motivational speakers, customer services, and many more. Life is so much more than just academic success. As for myself, when I am writing about topics that I love and know about, I feel like there is more space for my creativity. I am able to go more in depth because I most likely have some sort of prior knowledge tied to that topic experience. It is even better that way because everyone has their own different and interesting life experiences that they would be happy to share. Would not one want to hear more about that rather than a robotic view of shakespeare? I certainly agree with the author when he states that booksmarts are better than street smarts because there are many types of intelligence. Research shows that the most important type of intelligence is emotional intelligence. This is because throughout our lives, we are guaranteed to come in contact with people who have feelings including ourselves. Learning why some may act in certain ways, and why someone may say certain things allows an effective discernment of what the next steps should be with peers and strangers. For example, if one were to come across a rude cashier who seems to be extending mistreatment, it would be wise to first think about if this person might be having a bad day. The cashier could also be going through some things at home that they might be keeping to themselves. An emotionally intelligent person might be able to extend grace over that cashier or even go so far as to ask them if they are doing okay. Most importantly, the emotionally intelligent person would not take it personally, and they would not allow the cashier to ruin their day or their self esteem. Emotional intelligent people realize that we are all humans, and we all need grace because we are not perfect. Also that we should take the harsh criticisms that we may come across with a grain of salt because people tend to project their insecurities. It is important to take the initiative and be responsible enough to have that kind of discernment.
All in all, academic intelligence is corruptly put on a very high pedestal when there are certainly other types of intelligence that can get us even farther in life. In other words, book smarts can only get us so far if that is the only thing that we are focused on. All the while, being intelligent in other things that our heart desires can take us to the life we were destined to live. The main lesson that can be learned from “Hidden Intellectualism” is to just be true to ourselves and our life’s purpose.