“Blond Indian” by Ernestine Hayes is a compelling recount of a biracial Alaskan Native girl and her academic and social standing within her community. She delves into the personal and educational facets of her life and writes of discrimination and prejudice shown toward her. Hayes beautifully crafts vivid imagery with her descriptive and alluring syntax, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves in her narrative. Hayes touches upon several controversial topics in her narrative, particularly how socioeconomic status is denied to minority groups who don’t have functional literacy. Knoblauch dissected literacy into four components, as an ominous definition cannot be agreed upon.…
The word literacy is defined as a person’s ability to read and write a sentence. According to the article “Adolescent Literacy”, the literacy problem is getting serious in America because the students feel frustrated and discouraged to read and write when they are in school. Students without a diploma will face problems in getting a good job or promotion to a higher level. The authors, Jimmy Santiago Baca and Malcolm X were having an illiteracy problem when they were in prison. Jimmy Santiago Baca is born in New Mexico and grew up without a proper family.…
Knowledge is an effective factor in which human society relies on. Thru history, those who were educated were well-respected, honored and valued. Author Jonathan Kozol wrote his essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” to project the magnitude of knowledge and to explain that without it, people can suffer disastrous outcomes. He highlights real-life examples to how people suffer and as a result this leads to severe illiteracy, and his essay is a backing for familiarity and literacy. Douglass and Malcolm x’s personal experiences attests Kozol’s argument that people suffer due to chronic illiteracy.…
Summary of the Essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society.” In the reading “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” written by Jonathan Kozol, published in Reading for Writing in N.Y. 2013, discusses how illiteracy affects society. Jonathan Kozol shows examples to the reader of the many challenges that Illiterate citizens face everyday. Jonathan Kozol also points out that living in today’s society as an Illiterate citizen is not only difficult, but is dangerous.…
The readings of this week distinguish two literacies; vernacular and dominant. According to Barton and Hamilton (in Purcell-Gates, Jacobson, & Degener, 2004) vernacular literacy refer to the informal learned literacies rooted in every day experiences and serve every day purposes. This type of practices increase vernacular knowledge and are usually less valued by society. On the other hand, dominant literacies concern to education, law, religion and the workplace. These literacies are high valued regarding legal and cultural issues.…
The power of literacy lies not only in the ability to read and write, but rather in an individual’s capacity to put those abilities to work in shaping the course of his or her own life. With the insight that genuine literacy involves “reading the word and the world,” renowned educator Paulo Freire helped open the door to a broader understanding of the term, one that moves from a strict decoding and reproducing of language into issues of economics, health, and sustainable development. Freire’s view of literacy is at once practical and all-encompassing. Whether it is the words of a language, the symbols in a mathematical system, or images posted to the Internet—literacy can transform…
Dana Gioia builds an argument to persuade his audience on how the decline in our American arts, specifically literacy, has caused many negative impacts to individuals that don't read regularly. Dana Gioia's paper has informed his audience of young adults, over the importance of literature, and how it helps in social aspects, but most importantly being “advanced” in literature is very “significant in the business world”. A major claim that Dana Gioia mentions in his article, is that “38 percent of employers complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension”. This only supports his view on how our society is quickly losing an “advanced literacy skill”, that could help anyone in any “educational, cultural and economic factors”.…
Kozol, who wrote Still Separate, Still Unequal, was a writer, teacher, and an activist. While briefly teaching at several “lower class schools”, he often wrote about the steep downward decline of our educational system. On the other hand, Knoblauch who authored Literacy and the Politics of Education was considerably more professional in terms of his career. As a professor of English, he had an interest in literacy studies. Knoblauch wanted to reveal America’s state of literacy and what types of literacy actually exist.…
Knoblauch defined literacy in 4 various elements: functional literacy, cultural literacy, personal growth literacy, and critical literacy. The Anyon article had five different schools with different economic backgrounds and placed them in four categories: working class, middle-class, affluent professional, and executive elite. Both authors used well-rounded details to establish their point of view which are similar in various ways. Some of the schools mentioned in the Anon article had similar aspects to the definition Knoblauch states in his article. Functional literacy is the most familiar type of literacy that basically stems from basic everyday functions that allows us to process information in simple terms (Knoblauch, 1990, p.3).…
In “Reading as Situated Language: A sociocognitive perspective”, James Paul Gee argues the importance of written and verbal language is always needed in school, home and work. Many people do not really realize how much they use this skill in every aspect. Although,“ learning literacy is not English in general, but specific varieties of English that...is call “social languages”(Gee, 714). At a young age, my parents taught me the language they knew and frequently spoke. For me, it was Spanish.…
Even though I believe that we hold much of the responsibility for our own literacy, at the same time, I understand that Brandt makes a valid point. To paraphrase, more influential individuals maintain their own power by directing the course of literacy for individuals. For example, my literary sponsors have been, until recently, superiors and peers at work and influential authors. However, returning to what I consider traditional literacy sponsorship, in order to prepare for my secondary education, I pursued college courses.…
Writing is a Technology that Reconstructs Thoughts Summary In the article, The Written Word Literacy in Transition: Wolfson College Lectures 1985 by Gerd Baumann, the writer Walter j. Ong has provided the advantages and disadvantages of literacy in society. In the article there is a compelling reason to believe that both literate and oral cultures are important and must be exercised on a regular basis in society. Although literate and non-literate cultures are extremely different, each method has contributed to the advancement of the society. In this summary, you will discover the differences between literate and non-literate cultures as well as the opinion about each method from Walter J. Ong.…
As soon as a person turns five years old they are expected to go to school and stay in school until they have obtained a degree; in fact, in the state of California, kids are required to attend school up until high school. However, education is not a requirement in all parts of the world, like developing countries for example, therefore it may be harder for people in that situation to become literate. In Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read and Write” and Sherman Alexie’s “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me,” both authors share the process through which they became literate. Because of the color of their skin and the times in which they lived in, becoming literate was not an easy task.…
The United States of America is privileged to have books to read and multiple ways to share information. Other countries have very limited or absolutely no access to information that citizens of America can easily access. Yet, the U.S. has many illiterates across the nation. It is reasonable that Jonathan Kozol places the responsibility of providing illiterates with enough knowledge and resources on the people that are literate in his article “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” because they are aware of these issues. The individuals who are illiterate do not know, understand, or see the importance of literacy.…
1.2. Literacy Williams (1988), a well-known literary and cultural theorist, notes that as a new word in the nineteenth century, ‘literacy meant both an ability to read and a condition of being well-read’. Literacy is the ability to read and write. It lies in being able to make sense of the world around us.…