Book Smarts vs. Street Smarts

Gerald Graff argues in his article, Hidden Intellectualism, that people in today’s world are better off with street smarts than book smarts because people with street smarts are interested in what is going on in their communities and in the nation rather than just studying on an academic level. Gerald’s thesis states, “…that street smarts beat out book smarts in our culture not because street smarts are nonintellectual, as we generally suppose, but because they satisfy an intellectual thirst more thoroughly than school culture, which seems pale and unreal.” Gerald stresses the idea that there is a hidden intellect in all of us whether it is in school or in our community.  Unfortunately, schools do not care about street smarts but only about how smart you are academically. He argues that students would be better writers if they were allowed to write about nonacademic topics that they were interested in.

Gerald Graff supports his argument well by talking about his personal experiences. He tells readers’ that growing up he hated reading books but enjoyed reading sports articles. He then realized that when he was reading sports books and magazines and talking to his friends about sports that he was being an intellectual. He was making arguments, weighing different kinds of evidence, moving between particulars and generalizations, summarizing the views of other, and entering a conversation about ideas. He was able to do this easily because he was interested in what he was discussing. If teachers gave more leeway to what students were allowed to write about then they would become better writers.

I agree with Graff’s argument because we all have hidden talents whether they are academic or outside of school. These talents can open our world to many new experiences that may not involve academics at all. People that have stronger street smarts should be given a chance to get into good schools and programs because in today’s world it can be better to have street smarts than book smarts. I also agree that it is easier to write about a topic you are passionate about than a topic that is uninteresting. When I write about something I am interested in I don’t feel as though writing is a task. It becomes something I enjoy doing rather than something that is unexciting to me. I like the fact that in this writing class, we are all given an opportunity to write about personal experiences and topics that we find fascinating.