Literacy as Passion and Competition

Examining these two films through my newly acquired literacy frame of reference, reveals countless insights into literacy practices as explained by Sylvia Scribner in “Literacy in Three Metaphors.”

With this blog I will use the three metaphors Scribner attributes to literacy as a means of discussing the exceptional literacy practices of the “Hobart Shakespeareans” and the “Spellbound” students, focusing mainly on the last metaphor because I think it has the most interesting connection to these kid’s literacy functions.

The first metaphor Scribner presents is “Literacy as Adaptation,” concerning the functionality of literacy in terms of everyday life.  A common example is reading traffic symbols.  Scribner suggests that this seemingly straightforward concept is exceedingly difficult to gauge across cultural barriers, even within a small community where pragmatic literacy varies from person to person based on various factors.

“Literacy as Adaptation” is interesting to consider when discussing the students from both of these movies, because it does not seem to apply.  In fact, there is nothing functional about their literacy functions.

Yes, their is value in learning to read, perform, and more importantly understand Hamlet, but these skills do not represent a necessary function in the everyday life of the students.  They go way beyond adaptation.  This is an example of literacy as passion!

The “Spellbound” students too, are not spelling their tails off for their survival.  Undoubtedly the practice and sense of achievement they gain from the competitive spelling is an important outlet for them, like any other sport, but this goes way beyond adaptation as well.  This is an example of literacy as competition.

The next of Scribner’s metaphors is “Literacy as Power,”  a concept that represents the relationship between literacy and power in a given society, and the world as a whole.  An important theme is the conceived power struggle, and the question: Does literacy dictate who is powerful, or does power dictate who is literate?

This metaphor applies to the children of both of these movies, because one of the main issues of literacy as power is whether or not literacy actually translates to power if concerted efforts are made to make it available to the powerless.  Most research suggests that it does not, and these films do not refute the research.

The “Hobart Shakespeareans” are primarily inner city minorities (although not in this class) from Hispanic and Asian decent.  They are exposed to literacy in a fascinating and heartwarming way.  In terms of power, the exposure to Shakespeare is probably not changing the power dynamics of the United States, but their are some definite power dynamics within the class which are directly affected by literacy ability.  Although I do not anticipate the lessons of Mr. Hobart to translate into political power for these students, as individuals the values gained are undeniable.  Power through literacy was represented on a smaller scale within the classroom through the use of a monetary system.

Scribner applies these metaphors to a broad spectrum of analysis, mainly considering the conceivable global impact of the literacy functions, while using examples from everyday situations.  “Literacy as Power” especially seems to apply to a larger scale, even the global impact of literacy.

The last of Scribner’s three metaphors, “Literacy as a State of Grace”  seems to directly coincide with these two films.  This metaphor describes how people are held in higher esteem when their literacy skills are known to exceed others within a community, or they have more access to literacy than others.

The “Spellbound” kids were all revered by their peers, teacher’s, and family because of their ability to master spelling at such a young age.  Sometimes this extra attention was manifested in admiration and adoration.  The little girl who won the competition had a teacher who may have been a little too invested.  She seemed kinda kooky. Regardless, they also felt a great sense of accomplishment in themselves, which ties into the children from L.A.

The “Hobart Shakespeareans” are a perfect example of “Literacy as a State of Grace” in action.  These children seem to be thriving off the literature they read.  Not only do they genuinely understand the themes, they passionately interact with the text and each other.  The parents of these kids were sometimes speechless when trying to describe the benefits of their son’s or daughter’s literacy skills, and even attributed a general sense of increased inquisitiveness to this literacy experience.