Leonid Fridman's 'America Needs Its Nerds'

All About Nerds “Enough is enough,” exclaims Leonid Fridman in his passage entitled “America Needs Its Nerds.” His passage explains his discomfort and frustration-surrounding society’s attitude towards nerds. Without nerds there would be no electricity, cell phones or computers. The world must love its nerds. Through his use of exemplification, definition, compare contrast, and rhetorical questions, Fridman argues for the need of nerds in society.
In the common American society, examples supporting the nerds are abundant. Fridman represents how nerds are treated in an average United States school with exemplification. He discusses how being scholarly instead of athletic causes the intellectuals to become outcasts. This example is very prevalent in today’s society. Parents, teachers, students, along with others witness the hardworking students being shunned. “Children who prefer to read books rather than play football, prefer to build model airplanes rather than get wasted a parties with their classmates, become social outcasts,” retorted Fridman with a tone of disgust. Not only does this problem occur on a high school level but a college
A scholarly student in the U.S. is shunned while a scholarly student in the east is praised. Fridman also shows his discomfort when he compares professional baseball players in the U.S. to ballplayers in other parts of the world. He says, “but not in America, where average professional ball players are much more respected and better paid than faculty members of the best universities.” America is one of the few countries whose athletes are respected more than their teachers. Fridman’s argument shows the need for change. He preaches, “For America’s sake, the anti-intellectual values that pervade our society must be fought.” It informs readers that America’s ways are wrong and convinces citizens to