Luna

Luna Zhao
Tamera Davis
English Comp II
23 November 2015

Should We Promote Non-education Interests

Should we Promote Non-education Interests?
The debate about whether we should promote non-academic interests at the expense
of academic interest has brought different views on that topic. The issue of promoting nonacademic interest has been the subject of discussion over the recent past with various groups
involved having their main reasons for or against the topic. To the academician sides, they
argue that the only way that one can be successful in life is through the attainment of
education. Moreover, they argue that one cannot become critical in life without going to
school. It is through pursuing academics that one will end up getting one of the most lucrative
jobs in life. However, these views have not been taken lightly by those who are against the
idea that all the success in life is associated with academics. According to Affleck, Ben and
Matt (123), a society comprises different categories of people, both intellectually gifted and
unintellectual gifted people.
The people advocating for the freedom in the academic field argue that there are a lot
of people who have attained highest level of education, but they still cant think
constructively like the street smarts. In fact, they might end up doing somethings in life that
might make you wonder the rationale of going to the various schools. Gerald Graff is one the
many people who were against the idea that everybody must peruse education at the expense
of their interests. In his argument, he noted that the society looked down upon the street

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smarts who could perform well in class work. Moreover, he noted the notion of what a
waste by the society that somebody can be so intelligent in real life but fails to transfer the
knowledge to academics. Here, he noted that the society is all about the academics at the
expense of self-interest. So the question that we ask ourselves, should we advocate for the
non-education interests at the expense of education interests or vice versa. There are certain
things the current society we live in consider non-education. These include acting, sporting
activities and any other activity that can be done without the direct link to academics (Affleck
et.al, 234).
There are quite some people who do not have the intellectual ability to perform in
class yet they perform well in co-curriculum activities. They have the ability to express their
interests without involving the class work. I agree that that not everybody was blessed with
the brain to perform in the academics excellently. Moreover, the street smarts should also be
encouraged to express themselves in different non-education activities. The current society
today has adverse talent ranging from the movie to sports. These people should be
encouraged to at the highest level to showcase their talents. Moreover, it is believed that
talents pay more than any other profession in the modern world. According to Gerald when
the non-education interests are given the chance to be performed, they help in the satisfaction
of the intellectual thirst more seriously than the academic thirst. Therefore giving the nonacademic interests chance also allow the street smarts to outdo the book smarts by a greater
margin. Gerald stated that I believe that the street smarts can out do the book smarts in our
culture if given that chance. The main reason he was advocating for the street smarts to be
given chance was because they can satisfy their thirst for the community.
When the parents allow their children to exploit their talents in activities like sports,
there are a lot of advantages that come as a result of that. One of the advantages that one can
get from non-education activities is the self-identification with the culture. Gerald outline

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that, Sports introduced you to the culture and public argument. What he meant here was
that when one participate in activities like sports, there is that identification will one's
culture. One can, therefore, view some issues both at the cultural level to the larger public
domain. It is believed that sports as one of the non-academic activities advocated for
encourages interaction between different communities thus fostering harmony (Levinson,
456). On the other side, schoolwork causes isolation of an individual to others. This might
also lead to limiting the interaction with the outside world from that of education (Dewey,
345).
There have been series of discrimination that has been laid upon those people who
cannot perform well in the academic field. The so-called street smarts who are seen as
liabilities in the intellectual field are left out, and their self-esteem is killed. Gerald noted that
even if an individual has the prowess of showing how good he or she is good at drawing cars
or writing about their passion but fail to express their intellectual capabilities are rendered
academic dwarfs. He stated that for students who get excited about the chance to write about
their passion but fail to write and comprehend a topic on Plato are considered as failures.
Everybody should be allowed to express their abilities in every field without considering the
academic and intellectual rationale for it. Besides, sports also involve a lot of intellectual
training. Therefore, I agree that not everyone is not gifted mentally thus we should encourage
non-education interests within our societies.

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Work Cited.
Affleck, Ben, and Matt Damon. Good Will Hunting: An Original Screenplay. , 2009.
Print.