Gerald Graffs Hidden Intellectualism Essay -- ethos, pathos, logos, T

Co-author of â€Å"They Say/I Say† handbook, Gerald Graff, analyzes in his essay â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism† that â€Å"street smarts† can be used for more efficient learning and can be a valuable tool to train students to â€Å"get hooked on reading and writing† (Graff 204). Graff’s purpose is to portray to his audience that knowing more about cars, TV, fashion, and etc. than â€Å"academic work† is not the detriment to the learning process that colleges and schools can see it to be (198). This knowledge can be an important teaching assistant and can facilitate the grasping of new concepts and help to prepare students to expand their interests and write with better quality in the future. Graff clarifies his reasoning by indicating, â€Å"Give me the student anytime who writes a sharply argued, sociologically acute analysis of an issue in Source over the student who writes a life-less explication of Hamlet or Socrates’ Apology† (205). Graff adopts a jovial tone to lure in his readers and describe how this overlooked intelligence can spark a passion in students to become interested in formal and academic topics. He uses ethos, pathos, and logos to establish his credibility, appeal emotionally to his readers, and appeal to logic by makes claims, providing evidence, and backing his statements up with reasoning. In the first sentences of this essay, it is easy to relate to Graff’s words. Immediately, he engages readers in the topic and begins to establish his pathos. By using the phrase â€Å"Everyone knows some young person†, Graff relates to a common identity and appeals to his readers emotions. This broad generalization expands the author’s audience by automatically including all of his readers. It is Graff’s opinion that â€Å"schools and colleges might be at fau... ...ting them choose their own groups to be in during class, as offering multiple ways to complete projects, different assigned reading topics, and etc. The student can only get out of the class as much as they put in. Even though the students may wish the teachers would give less homework or let them read Sports Illustrated in class, there is a fine line between academic learning that incorporates â€Å"street smarts† and academic learning that lacks on the academic part. Teachers must insure their students are learning the required material and that they are not taking detours from learning about topics and ideas that students need to be successful after college. Works Cited Graff, Gerald. â€Å"Hidden Intellectualism†. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. Comp. Graff, Gerald, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russell Durst. New York W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.