Literacy.......

Literacy…… This subject could go on forever. Literacy could be defined as being able to read, being able to write in one language but its soooo much more than that. Well that’s what I learned this week in English.  Literacy is hard to define in just one word or one sentence.  Just because someone cannot read doesn’t mean their illiterate.

We read memoirs about literacy issues two people encountered in their lives.  How to tame a wild tongue was interesting because the narrator explained the struggles she endured trying to please everyone but yet still couldn’t manage to satisfy anyone. No one should have to give up their heritage or language or anything for that matter to please another person. Those are the things that makes us who we are as people and without that we’re not who we truly are. The second memoir was about a man who was never really challenged in school and pretty much seen as below literate until one day he was finally challenged and one of his teachers saw his potential that he wasn’t “below average” and was an excellent writer. There are all types of literacy. Many levels of it. Everyone does not need to be mini Einsteins walking around and understanding how the universe works. If everyone was completely literate we wouldn’t have people to do the hard labored jobs that the “extremely literate” or college graduates don’t want to do.

Everyone has their own level of literacy and that’s a good thing. Not everyone needs to take a
standardized test to see what level of literacy on their own. Don’t get me wrong I think everyone needs to be able to read and understand something but not everyone needs to understand Shakespeare or be able to read like they’re trying to get into Harvard. Without basic reading and comprehending skills it’s going to be hard for people to really get anywhere in life. Literacy just has its own indefinable definition. If that makes sense.