Nerds Vs Jocks
Nerds and geeks are ashamed of who they are or what they do because they’re either ostracized or isolated. While in other countries people praise the smart children that excel in studying. In the excerpt “America needs its nerds” Fridman addresses the needs for nerds and supports it with reasons why. While doing this he uses the rhetorical appeals of pathos, irony, and logos to convey his message. Fridman displays a lot of emotion even though it isn’t clearly written out and one point on this is the first sentence of the excerpt “there is something very wrong with our system of values…” this line is a form of pent up frustration clearly pointing out that he’s saying we need to wake up and change otherwise we would be dumb not to. He then uses a metaphor in the second paragraph as to where peoples definition of geek and the one in the dictionary in which Fridman stops using the proper name street performer and instead uses the word “freak” which gives off an angry tone, and points out he hates when people use these derogatory terms to compare intellectually curious with freaks. He then says that “enough is enough” to make Americans and non-nerds reflect on how to feel about nerds and what actions they may take. Fridman’s use of irony also has great significance to encourage the need for nerds. He mentions in the third paragraph about how Harvard one of the top schools in the U.S ostracizes nerds. Which is humorous since Harvard requires you to be a “nerd” or intellectually smart to get into the school. Harvard having anti-intellectualism proves that American values need a change and we need to stop idolizing sportsmen and show more attention to those who are smart. Fridman even goes to lengths to make the readers think in a logical way to make his claim more valuable. (Lines 53-56) Fridman asks a question in which to leaves readers stunned and thinking, he asks “how can we try as Americans to stay a…” which is a good move for those who don’t see being