Literacy is the ability to read and write. Or is it the ability to have competence in one area, or two? Could it be taught at home, or in Discourse or a course? And what would we call it? What letters would we use, how would we spell it? Could we then say that my alphabet starts with this letter called yuzz. It’s the letter I use to spell yuzz-a-ma-tuzz. You’ll be sort of surprised what there is to be found once you go beyond ‘Z’ and start poking around. (Dr. Seuss) Literacy, Literacy oh how could it be that a single word could have so many meanings, yet we still have to be able to read and write it to comprehend it.
Gee says “It is not what you say, but how you say it.” and your either primary or secondary. Primary or Secondary sounds like he or she is better than me. Discourse and discourse are both a course in literacy, but you won’t be the same person when you speak this language. One you do inside of the house and the other you do outside. And the good news is you now have an identity kit, according to Gee. It comes complete with “the appropriate costume and instructions on how to act and talk” so that others will recognize you. (Shapiro p.537) You mean finally someone will know who I am? How does one acquire such a language or discourse is what we all want to know, it varies according to place and time. And I could linger on and on. But would it answer what I really want to know, and am I privileged enough to know? Literacy is part of a larger political entity according to Gee. (Shapiro, p.546) I have to be born into it, so to say, in order to obtain it. And if not, then I probably will never get in. This builds an argument in my eyes then as now literacy has become a sort of social stratification. And it now therefore is based on my class, race, and gender. Hey wait a cotton pickin' minute! Who said I wanted to be on this course?
Literacy can be a more complicated word than we think. I would much rather prefer that it only mean that I could read and write. However, that would be the easy way out. And I am finding that being taught to comprehend also means that I know not. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. (Dr. Seuss)
Maria Goodwin
Yes, literacy is certainly a social stratification, and this is an issue that not only lurks behind all of the texts we've read so far, but an issue we'll come to again and again. It centers on, in my view, who has the power to exclude and cordon off others, based on certain criteria. The criteria, at least for now (and historically) have been reading and writing Standard Written English, which will become the focus of our next "unit".
ReplyDeleteDo you think that there is a "way out" of this course? What might it be? And why would you want a "way out" of this course?