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anti-intellectualism..
In Grant Penrod’s argument about intellectuals he does make some very valid points on why our current society looks down on those that are smarter. Although I do understand his argument, I do not completely agree with everything mentioned.
First he begins to talk about how in high school the “nerds” or “geeks” are the unnoticed and unpopular kids while I beg to differ from that point. When I was in high school the “nerds” had just as many friends and were just as well known as the “popular” kids, and in a lot of cases were the “popular” kids. The football was noticed for its wins but so was DECA and the debate team. During my high school years one of my best friends was on the debate team, my other best friends was in all AP classes, my other best friend was a cheerleader and a twirler, and I was a cheerleader. In no way were there any ranking status or anyone leaving out the “nerds” in my school. I am aware that a lot of schools do struggle with stereotype problems which could cause this forgottenness but it is not always the case and usually can be fixed.
He then started talking about public figures and their success compared to their degree of education. So there were a few people that got lucky in the world and made it big without a college degree, but now look at all the people that made it big with a larger form of education. The amount of people that had education and are successful completely outweighs the amount of people without a high school degree. There are even many actors and models that have some level of college degree that that do not even need. It is obvious that with a higher degree it is more likely you will earn a higher salary but there are cases where people without degrees can make a high amount of money, and this is not just with celebrities but with everyday people too.
Penrod does have some valid points and does bring up a good argument but I feel that he is lacking a few things. In my opinion, anti-intellectualism is not a big problem in todays society but the view could be altered a little bit to make it slightly more accepted.
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Argumentative
I begun researching ideas for my argumentative essay by going on the internet to the Post Gazette’s website and to a local Pittsburgh news website. On the sites I found many common interests for topics including the excessive amount of snow and the problems it caused, the police withholding crime info from the public, and the graffiti problem around the city.
We are all very aware how the excessive two feet of snow affected everyone around the whole city. Weather you lived outside downtown or living in downtown it was almost impossible to get anyone for almost a week. Due to the fact that the city of Pittsburgh was in an official state of emergency, most businesses, jobs, and schools were shut down for almost the whole week. Everyone was then behind a week with their jobs and schooling so Pittsburgh was in a rush to catch up on lost time. This became a difficult thing to do because the roads and sidewalks took forever to get cleaned off. This caused a lot more panic in and around the city. Therefore, Pittsburgh could definitely use a better snow plowing and snow emergency system.
In the Post Gazette there was an article about how the police was keeping crime information from the public. This is a big issue because the public likes to know what happens around them and what to watch out for. This new policy makes disorderly conduct, retail theft, harassment and public drunkenness a confidential record and all information regarding these issues will be withheld from the public. This policy could trigger a lot of conflict from the city’s citizens because they do have a right to know and be away of the crime around them to better protect themselves.
When driving or walking around Pittsburgh you notice there is graffiti drawn almost everywhere. This may seem like a form of artwork but it is vandalism and is illegal and sometimes offensive. Locals do not like their city being turned into a giant canvas for juvenile kids to “express” themselves on. Most of they vandalism is acted from boredom, popularity, or gang promotion. They city is trying to be more aggressive to slow down and stop this crime and clean up the city as much as they can. Once the problem is solved the city will be presented as a much cleaner and safer area.
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Elle, My Opposite
I slowly start walking, staring at my feet dragging on the floor, my eyes not wanting to look up to see anyone around me. After my slow walking I reach an area of sofas and I choose to look up only to see five people staring at me in confusion. I don’t say a word and just sit down next to a tiny girl with long dark brown hair. They all continued their conversation as I silently discreetly peer at the girl sitting next to me. She is clearly enjoying her friends company and having fun giggling with them. I sit there quietly, too shy to speak, as she is making jokes and rolling on the ground laughing because of their fun joking around. Suddenly she jumps up from her seat, she runs into the other room without a word. Everyone is curious to what she is doing but before they could ask any questions she comes back in the room with her hands full of drinks. Generously and without question she wanted to make everyone drinks as a kind and caring gesture. She hands a drink to me and the other girls while going off on another talkative rant about a story from her past weekend. As I leisurely sip my drink, I notice that she gets along very well with everyone in the room. Even though every girl here has a different personality, and I am too timid to talk or be social, she still finds ways to include me and everyone else also. I hate being around people and don’t want to sit here or be here at all, but some how she makes me feel okay being around other people and being in a type of environment that I’m not used to. I am supposed to leave soon and when I walked in this room I did not want to be there but now I don’t mind sitting around people and it is all thanks to her. I still don’t like eye contact or talking to people but at least I feel tolerable being here with five other people.
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The place i choose…
While deciding what topic to write about for this paper I came across some problems on what place to choose. There are so many places in Pittsburgh to choose but I didn’t want to choose any obvious places that had too many things written about them. When I first started thinking I thought about what place I would choose, I thought of Dozen bakery and thought about talking about their cupcakes. That option sound very obvious and I wasn’t sure how much information I could get about it or what exactly I wanted to talk about. The next option I thought of was the Hard Rock Café, and talk about the atmosphere and all the celebrity items they have in the restaurant. I then thought that option sounded hard to get good information about it about not really the way I wanted to go with my paper. I realized I wanted to go into a different direction with my paper and wanted to talk about something more interesting to me and something I would enjoy talking about. Then I thought about CVS and how I know they donate money to charities and organizations. I love how they help families and organizations and it would something that I’m interesting in talking about and about would enjoy writing a paper about. Also there is a CVS in downtown Pittsburgh so it would be easy to interview someone, but I feel like there wouldn’t be many people in the Pittsburgh store that would know about their giving efforts. The next thing that came to my mind was writing about the Pittsburgh zoo. I wasn’t sure what I would write about and knew I didn’t want to write about the animals, but I feel that they are talked about too often and too obvious. I then started doing some research and found out the zoo does a lot of things to stay green and I thought that would be a great topic. I could go and interview someone at the zoo and I would enjoy the topic I choose, but it also seems like something that is not over talked about since I never heard about it before.
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A Place In Pittsburgh
Even though I’m originally from the other side of the world, I now call Pittsburgh my home. It’s hard to believe that I live only fifteen minutes outside a busy downtown city, and the natural environment is still so beautiful. Unlike the surrounding areas, the grass is always bright and healthy, and large trees become my skyscraper views. I do see a few small buildings in the distance behind the fences, but mostly all of them are helpful. The air here is pollutant free, since everyone here travels by foot and there is no need for excessive honking and harmful exhaust fumes. Although it is very fun, in the summer it gets very hot because I spend most of my day outside in the exhausting sun. As I pace back and forth in my secluded area a loud guy instructs people to come close to the tall metal fence by me then around the rest of the park. Then there is usually a large group of little children and annoyingly strange people with fanny packs and excessively flashing cameras. My enjoyable time continues until the snowfall comes and I have to spend most of my day indoors until the bitter winter breeze is over and the icy pathways are all cleared up. Despite how far I am from my natural environment, I am taken very good care of here with many people feeding me and helping me to live a better life. I love living in this amazing natural oasis outside the downtown city and I think anyone that visits would agree that it is a wonderful and beautiful habitat.
