Clueless in Academe : How Schooling Obscures the Life of the Mind

by Gerald Graff

• ISBN13: 9780300105148
• ISBN10: 0300105142
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2004-07-11
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Our schools and colleges often make the intellectual life seem more impenetrable, narrowly specialized, and inaccessible than it is or needs to be, argues this eminent scholar and educator, whose provocative book offers a wealth of practical suggestions for making the culture of ideas and arguments more readily understandable. "Graff is reopening the door on a major debate. In the wake of theory, in the wake of feminism, post-colonial criticism and all the rest, what is a liberal arts education supposed to be about? How should teachers teach? What should students learn? Intelligently, humanely, Gerald Graff is bringing all of these questions back home to the classroom, which, at least for now, seems exactly where they belong."Mark Edmundson,Washington Post Book World "['Graff] writes with lucidity and charm. . . . A worthwhile work."Steven Lagerfeld,Wall Street Journal "Clueless in Academeis charming. . . . The reader chuckles in recognition over the tales told of scholars and students."Terence Kealey,The Times Higher Education Supplement

Author Biography

Gerald Graff, professor of English and education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, is the author of many books and articles, including Beyond the Culture Wars. He was winner of the American Book Award in 1992.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Introduction: In the Dark All Eggheads Are Gray	p. 1
Confusing the Issue
The University Is Popular Culture, But It Doesn't Know It Yet	p. 17
The Problem Problem and Other Oddities of Academic Discourse	p. 43
The Mixed-Message Curriculum	p. 62
Intellectualism and Its Discontents
Two Cheers for the Argument Culture	p. 83
Paralysis by Analysis?	p. 96
Communicative Disorders
Unlearning to Write	p. 115
Scholars and Sound Bites: The Myth of Academic Difficulty	p. 134
Why Johnny Can't Argue	p. 155
Outing Criticism	p. 173
The Application Guessing Game with Andrew Hoberek	p. 190
Teaching the Club
Hidden Intellectualism	p. 211
A Word for Words and a Vote for Quotes	p. 232
Wrestling with the Devil	p. 246
Deborah Meier's Progressive Traditionalism	p. 261
Epilogue: How to Write an Argument--What Students and Teachers Really Need to Know	p. 275
Notes	p. 279
Index	p. 299
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