In school we are taught social studies, English, science, and math. To graduate from school, the education system assumes that you are literate in these areas and other areas such as art, technology, or anything else the school deems necessary to know. How many people do we know that graduate but cannot multiply, or understand osmosis, or know why the French Revolution happened, or understand Romeo and Juliet? Are these people considered illiterate?
Literacy comes in different forms. Some people are more literate in English but they just can’t grasp the concepts of science. Some people understand math, but they just can’t write a paper. These people aren’t illiterate, they just have preferences or stronger abilities in different subject areas.
So what defines literacy? That depends on the person. If the person wants to be in the field of math, then they should know how to do math. If they want to be a historian, then they should know history, and so on. Literacy also goes beyond just knowledge about the subject areas. A person who lives in the woods and depends on the wildlife in the woods would most likely be literate on what berry is poisonous or which berry can be eaten. If you put that person in another environment that he or she is not familiar with, is he or she considered illiterate?
My answer to what is literacy is that there is no answer. Literacy comes in all different shapes and sizes and whatever path a person chooses, whether it is living in the woods, or becoming a teacher that will define what he or she should know.
Teaching in many ways is balancing this belief in the almost hyper-specificity of what is worth knowing, with the larger responsibilities of preparing young people to live satisfying lives. The question becomes what is worth knowing toward what purposes?
ReplyDeleteLori Ann has a great perspective on individuality and each person's needs to be educated.
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