1. Mr. Cleon M. McLean Department of English Ontario High School
“Hidden Intellectualism” An excerpt from “They Say/I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing” by Gerald Graff
Mr. Cleon M. McLean
Department of English
Ontario High School

2. What/who is an “intellectual”?
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

3. Writing Prompt #1 of 2
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.

4. Writing Prompt #2 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.