Summary Of Gerald Graff

In his article Gerald Graff (2001) claims that by connecting non-academic interests to academic study students can become more intellectual and willing to involve themselves in intellectual study. While he doesn’t deny that academic subjects are important he believes suggesting students to analyze the subjects they enjoy they’ll gain more incentive to go into analytical thinking more often. “Students do need to read models of intellectually challenging writing […] if they are to become intellectuals themselves. But they would be more prone to take on intellectual identities if we encouraged them to do so at first on subjects that interest them rather than ones that interest us.” (Graff, 2001, p.380) He is not discouraging the study of
academic
During his time as an adolescent, when fear of bullying is high and peer pressure is starting to take hold he discouraged himself from appearing intellectual and concentrating only on subjects regarding sports. This lead to Graff concentrating on sports subjects over academic studies at every turn until he entered college.
“The only reading I cared to do or could do was sports magazines, on which I became hooked, becoming a regular reader of Sport magazine in the late forties, Sports Illustrate when it began publishing in 1954, and the annual magazine guides to professional baseball, football, and
Of Sports and Shakespeare 4 baseball.” (p.381) By Graff’s thorough list of his reading material one could tell not only was he interested in sports but was also willing to study sports over any other subject.
It was only in his adulthood that he realized by studying, discussing and analyzing sports he was already preparing himself to be an intellectual. “It was in these discussion with