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Class Writing Task 1

Gerald Graff argues that "street smarts" should be incorporated into schooling as a valid form of intelligence. He claims educators associate learning too closely with academic subjects and texts, rather than considering students' interests. While some believe tradition education using classics is best, Graff believes engaging students' interests gains their attention and teaches critical thinking. The author agrees interests can spark learning but classics also broaden understanding. How students think about topics, not just the topics themselves, determines educational benefit.

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Julie Blackett
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68 views2 pages

Class Writing Task 1

Gerald Graff argues that "street smarts" should be incorporated into schooling as a valid form of intelligence. He claims educators associate learning too closely with academic subjects and texts, rather than considering students' interests. While some believe tradition education using classics is best, Graff believes engaging students' interests gains their attention and teaches critical thinking. The author agrees interests can spark learning but classics also broaden understanding. How students think about topics, not just the topics themselves, determines educational benefit.

Uploaded by

Julie Blackett
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Julie Blackett-17354921 Class Writing Exercise #1

Wednesday 4-6 Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff

Graffs argument centres on the idea that street smarts are not anti-intellectual, but simply another kind of intelligence, and one that is not being incorporated in schooling. He claims that educated life is associated too exclusively with subjects and texts that are considered intrinsically weighty and academic. He continues by arguing that no connection between text or subject and the possible educational complexity and weight of a discussion generated has been established. Graff claims that using students interests in writing is a good way to gain their attention, but for this to be an effective pedagogical method, students need to think and write about these interests in an analytical and insightful manner. This has become a controversial issue as there are those who believe that a traditional education, using appropriately important academic subjects and classic texts, is the correct and most effective manner of teaching. Others, like Graff, believe that using students interests is a more effective way to gain their attention and demonstrate the tools necessary to become critical and reflective thinkers. Even though I agree that using students interests is an excellent way to gain their attention and set them on the path of academic learning and knowledge, use of the classics is also an important step as it introduces students to ideas that are not familiar and enables them to move beyond their comfort zone and continue to expand their understanding. As Graff notes, the success of using non-academic topics in teaching depends upon how students are required to think about the topic and the manner in which it is answered. This also allows students to focus on their strengths and weaknesses with a topic that is familiar to them, and thus not intimidating, before expanding their repertoire.

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Although Graff addresses the question to a point, this text is not really fixated on it. He certainly argues that education has a responsibility to teach students how to become critical thinkers and that there is more than one way to achieve this. However, this text is focused more upon education in general, rather than higher education and does not really mention educational responsibilities beyond using what has been considered anti-intellectual topics.

Reference: Gerald Graff, Hidden Intellectualism, in They Say/I Say The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, 2nd Edition, by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, 198-205. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2010 Word Count: 363

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