“Hidden Intellectualism”An excerpt from “They Say/I Say:

The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing”

byGerald Graff

Mr. Cleon M. McLeanDepartment of English

Ontario High School

Examples of Definitions of

“Intellectual”Essence of the Definition

of “Intellectual”

“The demands for certainty is one which is natural to man, but is nevertheless an intellectual

vice [i.e., a bad habit or practice]” Bertrand Russell (literary critic)

Raises questions about the relationship between certainty

and intellect

“An intellectual is a person who takes more words than necessary

to tell more than he knows” President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Raises the idea that being an intellectual may be more about a behavior than knowing a body of

knowledge

“An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself”

Albert Camus (novelist)

Raises questions about reflection, self-awareness; being an

intellectual may be grounded in a way of looking at the world or

ways of thinking or feeling about things

What/who is an “intellectual”?

Prompt 1:    In his essay “Hidden Intellectualism,”

Graff argues that schools should use non-academic topics and texts to encourage students to “practice being an intellectual.” Do you agree that this educational approach would help students develop academic practices of analysis and reflection?

Write two paragraphs which answer the question above with specific references to Graff’s article. Your paragraphs should include reasons and examples from your studies, experiences, or observations which support your answer.

Writing Prompt #1 of 2

Prompt 2:   In his essay “Hidden Intellectualism,” Gerald

Graff describes how, for him, some non-academic topics were “more intellectual than school” and that these non-academic topics were “full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously was not.” Do you agree with Graff that non-academic topics can “satisfy an intellectual thirst” as readily as traditional academic topics?

Write two paragraphs which answer the question above with specific references to Graff’s article. Your paragraphs should include reasons and examples from your studies, experiences, or observations which support your answer.

Writing Prompt #2 of 2