We’ll use Perusall to annotate and read together.
Jeremiah Johnson – Week 2 Cupcakes and Coding
“Literacy is not a necessity for personal survival. As far as we could determine, nonliteracy status does not exclude a person from full participation in economic activities or in town or society life.”
I took this passage out of the Scribner piece because I believe that it covers the main thing I’ve taken out of our (admittedly limited) readings to date. Part of being a member of society involves finding out what role best suits your abilities. Communities are founded and thrive when there is much diversity throughout it’s populations.
Examples we’ve seen from our class discussions tell us that not everyone is cut out to be able to critically analyze a written piece or use a troubleshooting chart to diagnose a faulty line on a engine. Is the person who understands Robert Frost more literate then the person who can follow lines on a page and point to a faulty engine part? Can you fault the baker of delicious cupcakes for not being able to understand computer coding for installing anti-virus software to their newest PC?
I would argue that it’s better to have people who can specialize in certain fields. I’d rather have a top-notch medical student who has studied anatomy for years diagnose the pain in my foot over talking to the lady down the street who enjoys reading Cat in the Hat to my four year old daughter and can do so in a way that doesnt sound robotic.
If we all knew how to do everything what would we need other people for? What kind of society would that make us?
I was taught early on when I joined the United States Air Force that knowing the answer to something is not nearly as important as knowing where to find the answer. I think that is extremely important knowledge to have. I believe that people should have access to literacy in which ever way they feel suits them best. Some people learn more from reading, others from doing. Does it really matter how one becomes literate in something? All roads lead to somewhere. Take your own avenue and see where it leads.
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One Reply to “Jeremiah Johnson – Week 2 Cupcakes and Coding”
There are two very important things that I took away from this. One, you made an excellent point about the fact that someone who is familiar with Robert Frost is more literate than someone who serves in a blue collar job. It think it is important for us to understand that literacy is NOT a luxury of the well educated, but is defined by its function in society itself. Secondly, you made a interesting remark about people learning literacy on a need to know basis. I am intrigued to see how something like that would look. When education people on literacy, what general literary knowledge would be taught first? I definitely agree and think we need to redefine what it means to be literate, especially since being well versed in poetry does not necessarily mean you have a functional literary purpose in that society.