Reeve Hargrave Blog
When I was reading Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, I kind of got the same idea in my head that people can agree with him. Graff says that there is a need for where street smarts to change into a form of critical theory enabling students to learn in ways that will actually help them and not just doing it the same way everyone else does. Everyone learns differently you just need to find it. Graff is not trying to make everyone into a little robot or anything; and he just wants there to be a closer teacher-student relationship so that teachers can learn how to make their students be more involved and want to be there.
He says that growing up, he was not into reading or did not read much. But then a teacher came along and really changed him into being an anti-intellectual into an intellectual by combining what he likes into reading. But also an anti-intellectual has the street smarts and other things that an intellectual might not have. We think of intellectuals that read a lot and are super smart but that is not what Graff is saying in my opinion. He is saying that people can all learn the same thing just in different ways. People can become intellectuals by not just reading and writing but also what hobbies they do and combine learning into that so that they like learning. Like what graff said about himself, he learned by reading stuff that had to deal with books and he eventually became an intellectual because his teacher brought that idea to him. He was into sports and probably did not like reading and writing that much. I am the same way, if I see a book that I don’t have interest in I probably won’t read it unless I have to. But if is something about sports or like about wars you will see me sit in my room and read that book. That is because people tend to lean towards things that they like. They won’t notice but they are becoming more intellectual. Graff says in paragraph 10 “These intellectual resources go unnoticed because they are tied to ostensibly anti-intellectual interests.”
I also found it interesting when he talked about how he saw his teachers the closet thing to intellectuals, like they were the closet thing to famous people, like sports stars and heroes. Like if you saw them in public you would be like omg that is my teacher like do I go say hi. I feel l shouldn’t be seeing them here right now but I am. Graff says, “Teachers were such unreal figures that you did a double take when you ran into one in the grocery store or the laundromat–amazed to realize that they had a life outside their classrooms.” I agreed with this because everyone has a life outside of their job, especially teachers. They are intellectuals that we see everyday but they are the same as us doing regular things.
I actually understand what Graff is saying throughout his writing about anti-intellectuals and intellectuals. I just found these small points interesting and wanted to write about it. I just don’t understand some of his points. Like I am still not sure what critical theory is. What is it? And why does it play such a big part in what he is saying?
Thanks
Reeve Hargrave