In “America Needs Its Nerds,” by L. Fridman, addresses an issue that still exists in today's society: that students perceived as intelligent are ridiculed. In his exhortation Leonid argued that the curious and smart scholars need not to be ashamed of their intellect, and that society needs to change their attitude towards these types of people because it comes off as pessimistic. The writer combats these views with rhetoric, parallelism, and strategic diction. Early in the writing, the author writes “intellectually curious and academically serious,” which is a use of parallelism since the words are similar in its pronunciation and grammatically overall. He uses this rhetoric again in lines 20 thru 23, as he examines the stereotyping students face and are forced into, for being serious about their academics. He Mr. Firdman uses dition throughout his essay to more than likely suggest that he is or has been considered a nerd as well. His very descriptive word structure is evident throughout, with lines 20 thru 32 containing connotations and imagery to evoke pathos in the audience with words such as ‘grave’ and ‘haunt’.
