Deese 1 Charity Deese Professor Alicia Bolton ENG 101 17 October 2013 To Be an Intellect or Not to Be an Intellect Arguments are

the key to intellectual societies. Through arguing, we learn to give our opinions and to consider other peoples positions. In Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, the author, Grant Penrod, argues that intellectuals or nerds are social outcasts. Hidden Intellectualism, by Gerald Graff, argues that being street smart is just as important as being academically smart. While Anti-Intellectualism does not use a variety of logos, ethos, and pathos, Hidden Intellectualism is the better essay because it does use a good combination of all three. In Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids, Penrod uses a great deal of pathos which makes his argument weaker. It makes him sound like he is looking for pity. On two occasions, he gives examples of online bullying. One occasion is when he refers to an online commenter named ArCaNe who posted, Man how I hate nerds . . . if I ever had a tommygun with me. . . I would most probably blow each one of their . . . heads off (Penrod 754). This quote is a way of gathering sympathy, and it relates to emotions. Another instance that relates to emotion is when he refers to another online user by the name of Dan6erous: A+ this and. . . got a 1600 on my SAT and got all AP class*es+ next year woohoo. Thats all these people care about dont they have lives damn nerds (755). Another use of pathos is at the end of the first paragraph. Penrod uses the claim that, after all. . . he and his teammates were just the nerds (754). Each example of pathos appeals to the emotions, and it causes sympathy. Penrod also has a few hasty generalization fallacies in his essay. He says, nerds are excluded from social activity because of their label, and the image of intellectualism is disliked as antisocial (755). These quotes are untrue because most nerds are exalted for the knowledgeable things

Deese 2 that they do. Fallacies make his argument weaker, and they cause him to lose his credibility with the reader. The last thing that makes his argument weak is the lack of logos and ethos. He uses little to none to support his argument, and logic is important to a stable argument. The next essay, Hidden Intellectualism, is full of logos and ethos. Graff begins the essay by using ethos and establishing common ground: Everyone knows some young person who is impressively street smart but does poorly in school (Graff 198). Throughout the essay, he gives examples of his childhood as a reference. As a form of ethos, he shares his experience as an anti-intellectual teenager: I offer my adolescent experience as a case in point. Until I entered college, I hated books and cared only for sports . . . In short, I was your typical teenage anti-intellectual or so I believed for a long time. I have recently come to think, however, that my preference for sports over schoolwork was not anti-intellectualism so much as intellectualism by other means. (199-200) This establishes trust with the reader because he is using a personal experience. He also uses several examples of pathos in his essay. When describing his childhood in Chicago, he uses pathos and talks about the struggle of wanting to be accepted: I was desperate for the approval of the hoods, whom I encountered daily on the playing field and in the neighborhood (200). Graff discusses how nonacademic debates help in finding a community: They satisfy the thirst for community. When you entered sports debates, you became part of a community that was not limited to your family and friends, but was national and public. Whereas schoolwork isolated you from others. . . Sports introduced you not only to a culture steeped in argument, but to a public argument culture that transcended the personal. (202) This quote is pathos because it relates to readers emotions by making them feel the need for community. Next, opinions from experts are examples of logos and ethos; they make an argument more

Deese 3 valid. College professor Ned Laff has said, *The challenge+ is not simply to exploit students nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes (qtd. in Graff 204). Convincing evidence within the text makes the essay stronger. In another instance of logos, Graff explains how nonacademic topics help in learning how to make arguments: It was in these discussions with friends about toughness and sports, I think, and in my reading of sports books and magazines, that I began to learn the rudiments of the intellectual life: how to make an argument, weigh different kinds of evidence, move between particulars and generalization, summarize the views of others, and enter a conversation about ideas. . . I experienced what it felt like to propose a generalization, restate and respond to a counterargument, and perform other intellectualizing operations. (201-202) The quote involves logos because Graff gave an example of how nonacademic topics helped him learn to argue. Within the essay, Graff continuously makes good points and uses logos, ethos, and pathos; it makes his argument secure and effective. When arguing, it is best to make clear valid points that will mostly strengthen your views or opinions. Although both arguments establish an arguable position, Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids is lacking logos and ethos, and it has some fallacies; it is the weaker essay. Hidden Intellectualism is the more effective essay because it uses a combination of logos, ethos, and pathos.

Deese 4 Works Cited

Graff, Gerald. Hidden Intellectualism. They Say / I Say. 2nd ed. Ed. Cathy Birkenstein. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 198-205 Print. Penrod, Grant. Anti-Intellectualism: Why We Hate the Smart Kids. The Norton Field Guide to Writing. 3rd ed. Ed. Marilyn Moller. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. 754-757. Print.