Literacy... Evolution in Progress

Literacy… Evolution in Progress

            Literacy, is something that is that can be defined in several different ways. Many writers have tried to give their own personal perspective on literacy, but now I am here to give you my own personal take on literacy, what it means to me, and how it stacks up to other authors definitions. In the simplest form, literacy is a mode of one human being communicating to another through symbols, letters, and words. But literacy has so much more power than just that, and through the years I believe literacy has evolved from the technology accesses able to everyone, it my be good, it may be bad, but that is not for me to decide.

            My favorite example in how literacy does evolve comes for the article Is Google Making Us Stupid? By Nicolas Carr. He describes how technology is changing how we read, he states “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski”(Carr).  This is something I can relate to. With Google an incredulous amount of information is always available at my fingertips. If I have to read an entire article to find the information I want, I most likely am going to be very frustrated. The way I look at it is I am not missing information, I am making more effective use of my time, and that is something I can accredit to Google. I can use it to find extensive information in fractions of a second. Does skimming make me less literate? This problem is not only seen with Carr, when he asks his friends he comes up with the conclusion  “The more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing”(Carr). Even as I write this very essay I find myself being distracted by what’s around me…. The X games are on, watch a run, write a bit more, go on Facebook, write a bit more. I believe this is just another step in the evolution of literacy. Todays world is just incredibly fast moving and it is almost impossible to keep up if you are not constantly multitasking. We may not be going as in depth with our reading and literacy but I truly believe America as a whole is able to great a large variety of literacy with technology. We are able to read about things many miles away instants after it occurs, people are always just looking for the next interesting thing to keep moving forward. Another prime example of people taking shortcuts to literacy stems from the article Our Semi Literate youth? Not so Fast by Andrea A. Lunsford. In this article it specifically talks about how college age students use text slang often, and how it might be detrimental to their literacy skills. Lunsford’s main argument can be summarized in her statement “So yes, these students did plenty of emailing and texting; they were online a good party of every day; they joined social networking sites enthusiastically. But rather than leading a new illiteracy, these activities seemed to help them develop a range or repertoire of writing styles, tones, and formats along with a range of abilities”(Lunsford). The way Lunsford looks at writing with the new age technology is something I had not truly thought of before this. I do agree with what she is saying however, through high school I have been taught to read Shakespeare, epic poems, and so many more types of writing. This new age form of texting, bogging, and emailing is not making us lazy but it just shows us the new age style of writing. As writing is always evolving it is important to stay familiar with the current and past styles of writing. I appreciate Lundford’s view as she looks at more of the positive aspects technology has on writing.

            Writing is not only changing because technology has allowed us the shortcuts of communication and searching but it has changed the way writers can publish their own work. Andrew Sullivan is an extremely successful blogger and in his article Why I Blog he explains “as blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom that’s enabling writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before.”(Sullivan) This is a perfect example of how technology has improved literacy in the sense that more people get published. People are able to express themselves without the difficulties of publishing companies and editors. In this sense this is literacy at its purest form. Each author expressing themselves with no limitations. That is something that was never achieved until blogging became prominent.

            I do not however agree with all of the articles I read concerning literacy. Some are very unusual, and as far as I am concerned have an outright absurd approach on literacy. Chris Hedges completed a piece called America the Illiterate. This article seemed to only scrutinize America and its literacy as a whole, in a somewhat angry fashion. Chris Hedge’s uses unsupported facts such as “there are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level. Nearly a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate”(hedges). This means that according to Hedges an average of one out of every three people you meet can barely read or write. Where did these facts come from? From personal experience, I rarely, if ever have met a fully-grown adult who cannot read and write. I believe Hedge’s is utilizing scare tactics to lead us to believe we are not competent. This is something that I do not agree with, I would rather praise people so that people have something to look up to, rather than scare them into learning more. If someone truly wants to learn and gain a deeper ability to read and write, they will do it on his or her own. Hedges then goes on to insult those who are illiterate even more as he says

“The illiterate and semi-literate, once the campaigns are over, remain powerless.  They still cannot protect their children from dysfunctional public schools. They still cannot understand predatory loan deals, the intricacies of mortgage papers, credit card agreements and equity lines of credit that drive them into foreclosures and bankruptcies. They still struggle with the most basic chores of daily life from reading instructions on medicine bottles to filling out bank forms, car loan documents and unemployment benefit and insurance papers. They watch helplessly and without comprehension as hundreds of thousands of jobs are shed. They are hostages to brands.”(Hedges)

Hedges just continues on and on, criticizing these people for their lack of knowledge. This is not the fault of technology, anyone who ends up in the situation he is describing would not be functional in todays society. Hedges seems to be picking out specific cases to criticize America as a whole and because of that I believe he is describing literacy completely inaccurately. One last point Hedges makes that is silly is “During the 2000 debates, George W. Bush spoke at a sixth-grade level (6.7) and Al Gore at a seventh-grade level (7.6). In the 1992 debates, Bill Clinton spoke at a seventh-grade level (7.6), while…. In the debates of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas the scores were respectively 11.2 and 12.0.” (Hedges). How can he compare the people of today to the people of the past? So much has changed in the time period between these two debates that comparing them is unbelievable. To me it is similar to comparing old English to modern English and calling anyone who spoke modern English stupid. When technology, ideas and culture evolves so does the way people communicate. The literacy is not missing, people can still communicate in a very effective way, it has just changed as it always does.  America the Illiterate has a very pessimistic view on literacy and I find it ridiculous.

            Technology is changing at a rate faster than anyone has ever seen before. As technology changes, the way people read, write, think, and communicate in any sort of way has to change as well. Whenever humanity started literacy is nowhere near the same as it is today and it would be completely unfair to come why is it any different today? People may not have the same literacy as 50 years ago; instead literacy has evolved into something completely new. Do I expect literacy to be completely different within twenty years? Yes, I do technology will not stop progressing and that means neither will the way people communicate with each other. In the future it may be perfectly acceptable to write books that are fully informal, who knows, only time will tell.

Blogging a bit better

Blogging has been a love hate relationship for me so far.

 I really enjoy how I am able to input my own personal ideas easily with little to no structure required. It makes the blog much more personal and I feel that it is easier to have a strong voice. I feel I can freely write and sometimes I do get side tracked from what the actual goal is. Blogging is certainly a type of writing that I enjoy over essay writing, poem writing, or research writing.

This is where the hate part comes in. Ok… I do not actually hate these aspects, they are more of the challenges. A lot of the time the articles that I am responding to are much longer than I expect and therefor I get caught up and bored.

My attitudes toward blogging have certainly changed. I typically am not a fan of writing but blogging has slightly changed that. I do not actually dread writing blog post as that is the way I typically feel with writing essays. I am able to get my ideas on to the page without worrying about it being a specific tense or being 100% grammatically correct. I do understand that that is still important, however not having to worry about it has made me think differently than I normally would.

This writing course has changed the way I viewed a typical writing class and the reason for that is these blog posts. I have enjoyed a less structured system and am glad that this was required.

Once again another take on literacy

Scribner takes a completely separate look at literacy than Hedges or Carr. She breaks literacy into three specific sections, they are literacy as adaptation, literacy as power and literacy as a state of grace.

            I found it quite interesting how she could break down this simple concept into these three very specific categories. I also enjoyed how she made it clear that it was not necessary to be literate to live a good life, rather literacy just makes life better. Literacy is a privilege not a right in her eyes.

            Adaptation, the first metaphor, I found to be the most relatable. Language and literacy is always changing. People today do not talk as they used to in Shakespearean times. If you heard a person walking down the street talking like Shakespeare you would immediately think that they were insane. The world is always seeing progression and that is very apparent in literacy.

            The other metaphor that appealed to me was literacy as power. Even without her own personal explanation, I had my own idea about how literacy is power. In the old days only important people were literate and because of that they help power. Literacy is essential to the growth of power. Our literacy level has improved immensely since the beginning of mankind. We have gone from a species that used grunts and hand signals to something much much more complex. A good writer can now transfer emotions and so much more just through pen and paper. With literacy people are able to communicate in such a powerful way that it can not be achieved by any other species on earth.

            I agree with Scribner’s view on literacy and may take a little more time to appreciate a good article or book.

Where is our literacy?

 Over the last few decades Americas literacy and ability to research has dwindled...

Google is not directly making us stupid, it is just making us a product of what its primary function. Google wants to create information that is easily and readily accessible to everyone. What is resulting is people who can not concentrate on long articles, books, or other things that take extended lengths. I like how Nicholas Carr related Google to the clock. When the clock was invented peoples days started revolving around what time it was on, not on the instincts they once used. With Google people do not spend time researching in a library or spending time reading through articles because all of the information can be in front of them in a matter of seconds. This connected to Chris Hedges “America the Illiterate” in the sense that americans are not taking the extra step to obtain information they want. Hedges describes how people are typically speaking on a 6^th grade level when only a couple decades ago the average persons vocabulary was much more expanse.

America the Illiterate was quite confusing. Mainly the facts Hedges uses, for instance he writes “There are over 42 million American adults, 20 percent of whom hold high school diplomas, who cannot read, as well as the 50 million who read at a fourth- or fifth-grade level.” If there are only 42 million American adults, how can 50 million read at a fourth of fifth grade level? I am mot sure how accurate these statistics are and it makes me question some of the writing. Hedges define literacy as being able to understand what you are reading, not just being able to say the words out loud. I do agree with him that without having a vast vocabulary is something that is rare these days. If this pattern continues our future will be filled with people who have trouble with some of the most common things.

Reading and writing

Reading can be defined in various amounts of ways. But when it come to reading everyone should have a purpose. It could be for research, pleasure or some other reason. What is important is the reader has a specific focus is order to gain a proper knowledge and understanding of what is being said. Harris specifically stated that one must read with a purpose in rewriting. From there the reader can interpret what they read in many different ways. This is because the readers understanding of any piece is influenced by there background and own personal ideals.

Writing is another topic that can be many different things. Sullivan described how writing can be informal and instantaneous such as its use in the blogging world. Harris on the other hand talked about how writing is more formal. I prefer the way Sullivan describes writing with the freedom of blogging and being able to publish anything without having to jump through the hoops of publishing and extensive editing.

Rewriting #1

In rewriting by Joseph Harris he is very specific about how people should read with a purpose. When a reader does this they can collect the information and create a paper or “project” from the information. Harris then describes rewriting as a way to take and article and improve on it, through the reader/ writers own personal views. This means any article can be rewritten in many different ways because of the broad variety of views readers can have. This proves how writing is not just black and white. I think Sullivan proved this in his article about blogging. Blogging can be written for many different purposes, as we viewed in class. People write about music, cupcakes, their lives, and so much more. There is never just one purpose for writing. Readers can perceive an article in many different ways and all of them could be correct or have a valuable point. In addition, Harris talks about how many different applications of writing there can be. Papers can include newspaper articles, educational papers and much more. Harris also connected to Sullivan when he talked about writing for a purpose. When writing the author should always have a reason. Writers want to have a voice and that is something Sullivan reiterated in “why I blog”. Although Harris’s version of writing is not as informal as blogging there are many similarities between the two forms of writing. Writing is never wrong or 100% right it is all in the writer interpretations and own personal opinions.

This is why to blog

Blogging has truly revolutionized the job of being a writer. In the past, writing has consisted of writing articles and books that then get revised by publishers and editors. But with blogging any one can publish their work on the Internet and have it be accessible to billions of Internet users worldwide. This type of publishing was never possible in the past. Also writers can connect with their readers like never before. In Andrew Sullivan’s “why I blog” piece he states “feedback was instant”. Meaning the writer did not have to hear back from the editor or publisher, readers would scrutinize his work immediately. Sullivan also makes many other meaningful points, such as when he notes “readers and I experienced 9/11 together, in real time”. This I found was an outstanding purpose for a blog as one could record history in real time. This type of recording has never been used in any other generation. In fact, with the amount of blogs people can see opposing viewpoints and actually be able to record history much better than any book ever has. Writers can also use their blog to create their own unique voice and readers can get to know the writer through that. Sullivan says a blog can be ones “private Wikipedia”, I think this statement alone has incredible value. A blog can consist of any type of work; it does not even have to be completely accurate. The writer has complete control of what happens and in that sense it is a completely pure form of writing. Blogging is a new way to get ideas out into the world with no restrictions or boundries.

Blogging is a Breeze

Welcome to my first blog ever! I just went through the experience of creating this wonderful blog. Making a blog is as easy as can be with blogger. Since I already had a Gmail account no new account was needed. If I had not had a Gmail account this may have been a problem. Luckily Google owns blogger so it all connects together. This was one of my favorite features because it made the process very fast and simple. Truly I cannot reiterate enough how simple this thirty-second process was. If I were to make a metaphor on how easy it was to create this blog, I would say it was easy as pie. As far as my outstanding opinions on blogs, they has not changed. I thought blogging was an easy way to get ones ideas or feelings out and creating this new blog confirmed my idea. The features blogger are very helpful and user friendly. I was able to choose from many different colorful designs and layouts. This made the blog more personalized and I like that. The simplicity of creating a blog made it painless and it makes me think I may even create or continue my blog in the future. Blogs seem to be a lot like Facebook in the sense that anyone can post their thoughts, ideas, and pictures just as people post status, comments and pictures on Facebook. Thank you for reading this post and stay tuned for more intriguing updates throughout the quarter.