Owens 1 Lauren Owens Professor Alicia Bolton English 101 1 7 October 2013 Hating on School Smart i!

s "s# $sing Street Smart i!s Shoul! teachers use more %street& smart wor's in class to anal()e or shoul! the( continue to use the other wor's* +his is a ,uestion that -eral! -raff an! -rant Penro! both tr( to answer# -raff suggests that teachers shoul! start out b( using %street& smart wor's because the( are what the stu!ents are more intereste! in an! woul! more li'el( be willing to anal()e what the( want to rather than what the teacher sa(s that the( ha"e to# He !iscusses that e"entuall( once a stu!ent is able to correctl( anal()e a %street& wor'. then the( woul! be able to correctl( anal()e a wor' from Sha'es/eare or another im/ortant English writer# 0hereas. Penro! !escribes the hate that most of the intellectual /eo/le face in e"er(!a( life# He ta'es u/ for the /eo/le who are smart an! show how smart the( are b( ma'ing A1s all the time an! how 2ust because (ou might be a celebrit( or a big3time s/ort1s star an! (ou !ro/3out of High School. !oes not ma'e (ou an( better than someone who wor's har! for their gra!es# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& is more effecti"e than Penro!1s %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate the Smart i!s& because it has a better use of the logos. it is effecti"e at establishing a clear /osition b( gi"ing con"incing reasons. an! through the lac' of fallacies# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& uses more logos than /athos or ethos# -raff uses logos when he sa(s.

Owens 2 0hat !oesn1t occur to us. though. is that schools an! colleges might be at fault for missing the o//ortunit( to ta/ into such street smarts an! channel them into goo! aca!emic wor'# 61789 +he logic behin! this is that if teachers were to loo' into the street smarts that their stu!ents 'new then the( might coul! get them to use what the( 'now into their learning or their writing# +he street smarts that the( 'now coul! hel/ to get them to become better writers: an! e"entuall(. if the( were to start out writing about stuff that the( care! about rather than what the teacher wante! them to care about# 4f the teacher !i! not force the stu!ent to into using their wor's then the stu!ent might be more willing to write an! might actuall( un!erstan! what the( are writing about# He also uses logos when he ma'es the /oint that. %there1s no necessar( relation between the !egree o interest a stu!ent shows in a te;t # # # an! the ,ualit( # # # such a stu!ent manifests in writing # # # about& 62033 20<9# 0hereas. Penro! !oes not use an( ma2or ethos. /athos. or logos# +his is one of the reasons that %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate Smart i!s& is not as effecti"e as % Hi!!en 4ntellectualism&# -raff uses logos when he tal's about how things shoul! or coul! be !one in a classroom5 %so it ma'es /e!agogical sense to !e"elo/ classroom units on s/orts. cars. fashions. ra/ music. an! other to/ics& 6/gs# 20<3 20=9# Another reason that %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& is more effecti"e is that it establishes a clear /osition# -raff sta(s with one o/tion# He !oes not go bac' an! forth from /osition to /osition li'e Penro! !oes# Penro! goes in circles. which is

Owens 3 one of his wea'nesses# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& comes right out an! sa(s that things shoul! start out centere! aroun! the stu!ent# -aff means that e"er(thing that the stu!ents write about shoul! be focuse! aroun! their interests# +his coul! hel/ im/ro"e their writing s'ills# +he stu!ents might be more willing to learn how to write an! s/ea' correctl( if the( were able to use %street& wor's rather than learn about a certain writer or something that the( ha"e absolutel( no interest in# Penro! onl( tal's about how much the %ner!s& are hate! on# He ne"er mentione! how the( coul! hel/ im/ro"e the s'ills of the writer# He tal's onl( about the /eo/le who ha"e been /ic'e! on or ma!e fun of in the /ast an! gi"es e;am/les of how this occurs# Although this is effecti"e. it also ta'es awa( from the main /oint# He shoul! ha"e inclu!e! somewhere in there how the( coul! im/ro"e on not being ma!e fun of# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& was more effecti"e than %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate the Smart i!s&. it uses more fallacies than %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate the Smart i!s&# Penro! uses a fallac( when he sa(s that the gu(s on the >ebate team were %2ust # # # ner!s& 6/# 7=<9# +hat is the onl( ma2or fallac( that Penro! uses# +he fallacies that -raff uses range wi!el(# -raff calls himself %clean3 cut& 6/# 2009 an! calls the wor'ing3class %hoo!s& 6/# 2009# +his is to show the !ifference between him an! who he grew u/ aroun! an! who all li"e! in his town when he was growing u/# Another one of his fallacies that he uses is a! hominem5 ?or stu!ents who get e;cite! about the chance to write about their /assion for cars will often write as /oorl( an! unreflecti"el( on that to/ic as on Sha'es/eare or Plato# 62039

Owens < He also goes against @e! Laff5 %to sa( that stu!ents nee! to see their interests 1through aca!emic e(es1 is to sa( that street smarts is not enough& 6/# 20<9# He uses a! hominem here again to attac' @e! Laff1s character or better (et. Laff1s i!eas or theories# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism& is more effecti"e in how -aff tries to ma'e his /oint whereas. Penro! !oes not seem to be as effecti"e in %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate the Smart i!s&# -aff uses more fallacies. has a better use an! gras/ of using logos. an! b( ma'ing a /oint an! stic'ing to it# 0hereas. Penro! runs aroun! in circles. almost li'e a !og chasing his tail#

0or's Aite! -raff. -eral!# %Hi!!en 4ntellectualism#& They Say I Say. E!# -eral! -raff an! Aath( Bir'enstein# @ew Bor'5 0#0# @orton C Aom/an(. 2010# 178320=# Print# Penro!. -rant# %Anti34ntellectualism5 0h( 0e Hate the Smart i!s#& The Norton Field Guide to Writing with readings and handbook. Ed. Marilyn Moller. @ew Bor'5 0#0# @orton C Aom/an(. 2013# 7=<37=7# Print#