In this passage from Leonid Fridman’s essay “America Needs Its Nerds,” Fridmandiscusses a common problem that occurs in modern times. The author provides the reader withthe information needed to prove that over time, intelligence has become something looked downupon rather than glorified. He does this by telling the reader about the ways that social skills andphysical activity are deemed more important than knowledge and learning. Fridman usesvocabulary and rhetorical devices to persuade the reader that intellectualism is more importantthan their sports and social lives.Fridman establishes his argument by explaining that the words geek and nerd are to beconstrued as derogatory terms for the “intellectually curious and academically serious” (Lines 3-4). What the author is trying to prove is that America currently has a skewed system of values ifthey are using derogatory terms toward people just because they value intelligence. To take thisargument even further, he gives the definition of the word geek from Webster’s New WorldDictionary; “a street performer who shocks the public by biting off the heads of live chickens”
