...BOOK SMARTS OR STREET SMARTS THE ON GOING DEBATE TODAY AMONG CORRECTION OFFICERS REBECCA KIRBY PROFESSOR STEPHEN N. KNIGHTS, JR. OCTOBER 18, 2014 INTRODUCTION This paper will be discussing the debate on whether or not higher education in law enforcement officers should be mandatory and the effect it can have in the correctional facilities. It will also have insight from a local police officer on the education debate. As of today, only two states, Minnesota and Wisconsin require a police officer to obtain at least an associate’s degree. Other states carry a much lower standard, only asking for a high-school diploma or a GED to satisfy their requirements. It is often said that the criminal justice system and corrections are a booming business. Over the past two decades, the need for staff has increased and the need for education has also increased. But is it street smarts you need or is it book smarts? TOPIC: WORK ETHICS As a correctional officer there are many things that go into what they do. They have to be professional, understanding, logical, compassionate, intelligent, and reasonable. A correctional officer has many jobs while on duty and the police department asks a lot of them. Determining if an officer needs to have a college education is difficult. Debate on this controversy has led to the study of work ethics surrounding officers who do have some sort of formal education. This research dates back to the 1930s by August Vollmer and later...
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...Amber Carver 29 September 2015 Hidden Intellectualism Analysis In his eight page essay, Gerald Graff argues that street smarts can very well be more intellectual than street smarts. Street smarts should be encouraged to learn in a way that interests them so they have the same equal opportunity to be just as or more intelligent to book smarts who benefit from school in a different way. Back in the 1950’s, you had to choose whether you were a “hood” or a “clean cut” boy. The culture the students grew up in forced them to pick whether they wanted to be book smart and be made fun of, or impress the hoods by being physically and verbally tough. Graff did not agree with this. Graff Believes that schools should want all students to learn efficiently on something that interests them. He argues that street smarts could be equally smart if schools would allow them to learn off of something in their interest. Graff benefited more from playing on the streets and magazines because he was interested in what he was doing. Book smarts enjoy reading schools books, so it is beneficial to them. Gerald Graff’s essay “Hidden Intellectualism” is a critique on how schools are missing out on the opportunity to encourage street smarts to learn in a more effective way. To inform schools and universities, Graff was driven into the writing of his essay from the frustration of street smarts not being able to receive a beneficial education at school like the other students in the 1950’s after World War...
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...In his article, ‘Hidden Intellectualism,’ Gerald Graff’s main point is, street smart people can be just as, if not maybe more intellectual than people who are book smart. Everyone is smart in their own different ways. Graff goes on and talks about whether he is “street smart,” or “book smart.” Graff thinks that he was street smart. The author states, “Nor do we consider one of the major reasons why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns.” What I think he is trying to say is, most teaching industries over look some of the important things in life. Some things that schools do not teach, like how to do taxes, or fill out a mortgage....
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...In his essay, “Hidden Intellectualism”, Gerald Graff uses his own experiences to bring attention to the strain between book and street smarts, as well as the school systems failure to capitalize on street smarts. He references his own success in academic writing to shed light on possible solutions to rectify this failure and give street smarts the recognition they deserve. Graff begins his essay by discussing in detail the incorrect association between street smarts and lack of intelligence as well as the association between intellectualism and a focus on topics more widely considered important. He brings focus to the idea that children can be encouraged to learn on materials that aren’t quite so pretentious. Graff continues his essay by...
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...In the story “Hidden Intellectualism” written by; Gerald Graff, is about how schools and college’s make mistakes by not valuing street smarts, but academic skills. The reason street smarts are undervalued is because, they aren’t associated with academic skills. Since in the story Gerald Graff explained his interest in sports illustrated books, which he thought wasn’t intellectual to him or others. However, the author; Gerald Graff also mentioned “that one major reason why schools and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts; is the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns”(p.244). Students need to be exposed to intellectual writing, but need to write about what interest them. In the story; Gerald Graff discussed that “the educational life, and the life of the mind, is too narrowly and...
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...In Gerald Graff essay "Hidden Intellectualism" he contends that there is a probability of some type of shrouded intellectualism other than the conventional scholarly intellectualism. He suggests that in extra to simply book smarts, understudies who have more road smarts have the capacity to amass their insight into book smarts also. He underpins this contention with his childhood encounters with unique hobbies in perusing games rather than excellent writing. He then infers that it is conceivable to channel exceptional hobbies from every person with "street smart" (Graff 244) into their academics by consolidating more subjects that would intrigue these people. I concur with Graff's contention that there ought to be a balance between being street smart and book brilliant in light of the fact that the mix of these two sorts of knowledge could just advantage a person in their future....
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...In the article entitled “Hidden Intellectualism” of Clueless in Academe: How Schooling Obscures, Gerald Graff explores the contrary views of “street smart” and book smart in an academic setting. His main argument is to determine whether or not students’ nonacademic interests are worth being discussed at school. His purpose in writing the article is to outline a path to incorporate “street smart” into schooling, and encourage schools to take some actions. In supporting his argument, Graff first critiques what thought to be common sense to identify intellectualism by the subjects like Shakespeare, Plato, or nuclear fission, but not by the critical thinking skills which an intellectual possess. Next, he offers his own experiment being a “street...
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...In Gerald Graff’s “Hidden Intellectualism” he goes into detail as to why intelligence is not just about book smarts but also street smarts. He goes on to state that “…schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such street smarts and channel them into good academic work” (264). Many people discredit students all the information that street smart students possess since now days’ intellectualism is only accredited to subjects such as philosophy or historical wars. While students do need to read writers such as Shakespeare and George Orwell they will be more intrigued to gain a higher intellect if they being by doing research on subjects that they are fond of instead of being forced to study about something they have no interest in....
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...He believes that street smart beat out book smart in this society because street smart “satisfies an intellectual thirst more thoroughly”(Graff 960), Graff makes the relation that schools should not only educate their students on subjects known to be intellectual but also subjects that interest them.. He says “the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectualism concerns” (Graff 957), meaning this society doesn’t see the significance of being street smart.Graff states that being what is academically known as “book smart” won’t benefit you in a real life situation. In his article we are exposed to two types of social classes that are divided by their level of academic intelligence. One of the social groups appreciates the importance of getting a good education. The other social group known as the “hoods” value street smarts and doesn’t view academics with the same value that the “book smart” social class does. Graff is a part of the group with the book smart mentality. Although Graff already has his role in society he has a desire to seek acceptance from the...
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...In the reading “Hidden intellectualism”, Gerald Graff argues that street smarts are actually intelligence, the difference is that on how they approach knowledge, which is different from the norms do. In the article, Graff state that they are called “street smarts” because they are actually book smarts that hide in the society, hence called “hidden intellectualism.” He also implies knowledge is far beyond academic learning, where it can take place in people’s everyday life. Basically, he is saying that street smarts use their knowledge in a practical way. Graff uses himself as an example when he noticed using reasoning and argumentative strategies to discussing sports with his friend, which shows an academic side of him. Some people often suppress...
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...Hit the books! Is it better to be book smart or street smart? This question of what we consider to be intellectualism; Gerald Graff goes on to explains this through his the Chapter “Hidden Intellectualism” in his book Clueless in Academic: How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind. I agree with Graff’s point about how teachers should try to get students more engaged in schoolwork using subjects students find interesting. Graff clarifies how being intelligent is not only about being academically smart, but also being “street smart”, using his own experiences. At the beginning of his chapter, Hidden Intellectualism Graff says, “We assume that it’s possible to wax intellectual about Plato, Shakespeare, the French Revolution, and nuclear fission, but not about cars, dating, fashion, sports, TV, or video games.” (245). What I believe Graff is trying to convey is, how it is viewed more important to know what started the French Revolution, than it is to know how to keep a conversation going, even when the two people have nothing in common. Although keeping up conversation would not be viewed as non-academic, but could very well be used to give presentations or speeches in class or in a debate. Graff goes on to offer his own experience of his youth. He describes himself as a typical anti-intellectual teenager that preferred sports to schoolwork. He explains how intellectualism was treated very hostile in the 1950’s and because of that he tried avoiding seeming book smart. He explains...
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...A wise man once said “A man can live on his wits and his balls for only so long” (Hunter S. Thompson, 1998) meaning that book smarts will only get you so far . In Gerald Graff article “ Hidden Intellectualism,” Graff states how intellect doesn't only come in scholarly form but can also come in the form of “streets smarts”. In today society Graff feels that “schools and colleges might be at fault for missing the opportunity to tap into such starters smarts and channel them into good academic work.” (P. 244) Meaning that schools are not making an enough into trying to combine the two. Many people often construe that street smarts are things you picked up in life and book smarts are your typical 100 average student. Graff feels that “ real intellectuals...
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...An Intellectual False Dichotomy Hidden Intellectualism by Gerald Graff, addresses the educational issue in the problem of unlocking a student’s unique intellectual interest and abilities. He believes that the main issue in the approach of education is the false dichotomy between “street-smarts” and academic intelligence. It is demonstrated through his tonal writing, which is littered with criticism of the educational system, yet is fully supportive of education in terms of intellectual growth. Staying true to his stance, Graff constructs his hidden intellectual argument that sticks to an everyday, relatable tone associated with banter without compromising his ideas. Graff begins the text using familiar colloquial terms, such as “street-smart”...
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...through subjects that they already know and love. Graff believes that street smarts are every bit as important as school smarts. He believes that true intellectuals can bring interesting points to any topic. Graff grew up in a neighborhood in Chicago. He was not raised as what our society considers as an “intellectual,” but rather, a regular city kid. As a child, Graff loved sports, and more sports. He was not interested in any type of literature or publications, or even reading for that matter. As his interests in sports grew, he decided to take up reading Sports Illustrated. After he decided that reading sports was in his interests, he moved on to other sports books and novels. Graff was completely wrong about his perception of reading. Graff’s childhood trained him to be an intellectual. Growing up in Chicago wasn’t easy for him; he had to become street smart in order to thrive in his location. In his case, sports and being cool were his idea of street smarts. He decided that he had to improve his school smarts. However, through sports stories, personal experiences, magazines and books, and movies, he learned to be an intellectual in his own unique way. In “Hidden Intellectualism,” Graff uses his childhood to back up his point: You don’t need to read and study the cliché pieces of literature and publications in order to gain wisdom and brain power. Graff absolutely hated the thought of reading a book, and now he is a very successful man. School systems, in his mind, would...
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...Summary and Response September 16, 2014 In Hidden Intellectualism Gerald Graff’s argument is about “book smarts” (intellectualism) and “street smarts”. His argument is that most people look down on the street smart people thinking that they don’t know anything and are not smart and if you were “book smart” they also look at you as being too smart to hang out with certain people. He also puts many examples and even his own experience as growing up. This quote says it all and even in his own experience. “I grew up torn, then, between the need to prove I was smart and the fear of a beating if I proved it to well; between the need not to jeopardize my respectable future and the need to impress the hood”. With times changing I do believe that Gerald Graff’s argument and quote makes a very good point. I am one of those students who does not like to read or write unless it’s something I’m interested in or my passion which is nursing. Even though in most high school you can take an elective of your choice and it usually is something they like they don’t go beyond that of the science and math of it like cooking class ,car/small motors .the school systems should look at what they teach because then we wouldn’t have students left behind. They could pass with their class and not have to take that English or math class for the 3rd time. I would rather write about something that’s going to keep me interested and write a good paper then to have to write about something I don’t care to...
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