Street Smarts

      "...schools and colleges are missing an opportunity when they do not encourage students to take their nonacademic interests as objects of academic study." With this bold thesis, Gerald Graff establishes his belief that knowledge in subjects other than those taught in a classroom can be taken advantage of to earn straight As. Graff supports the thesis with his own adolescent experience during which he was infatuated with and knowledgeable about sports. This knowledge was labeled as mere "street smarts" but it offered him more than what teachers and parents expected it could. By having street smarts, he obtained many abilities, such as how to form arguments and critically analyze, that may also have been obtained with book smarts. And so, upon entering college he was already able to weigh evidence, differentiate between specifics and generalizations, and evaluate opinions because of all the passionate conversation about sports he had had with his fellow fanatics. By applying his street smarts in college he was able to earn grades that enabled him to argue about complex topics such as hidden intellectualism and to become a renowned professor.  
         Besides using a personal experience, Graff points out an undisputable premise to support his argument with; a student will write better about a topic that he interested in rather than that of which he is not. Graff then implies that schools should be focused on developing certain skills rather than drowning students in information they find to be boring. For example, writing class should exist only to improve students' writing ability, not to make them memorize every word of Plato Book 1. After presenting these premises to the audience, he then concludes that students should be allowed to write about topics that interest them because that will motivate them to write and to develop that skill. After all, there is no advantage in forcing a student to write about Hamlet when letting him write about a topic of his choice would elicit more improvement in his writing capability.
         I agree with Graff's claim because I am currently enjoying my time as a student of an expository writing course that is lenient towards the topics I am allowed to write about. This leniency has been improving my writing talent by allowing me to enjoy the assignments. For example, I was thrilled when my professor assigned me with the task of writing a descriptive piece about any experience. Since I was allowed to write about any experience, I spent a long time sculpting and perfecting a piece about weightlifting, a passion of mine, which was awarded an attractive grade of 9.5/10. I was even disappointed that I was not given that last half of a point and so I became motivated to improve. If I had been forced to write about a boring topic, I would not have worked as hard, had as much pride for the finished piece, or had any incentive to improve after receiving a less than perfect grade. Because I have experienced the power of passion, I must agree with Graff's claim that passion unlocks hidden potential.