Literacy With Attitude

"Literacy With An Attitude" Patrick J. Finn (1999)

First, I would like to say, holy cow!, that was a lot of condensed reading.


Anyways, although the excerpt from Patrick Finn's book "Literacy with an Attitude" was terribly long, there were some really interesting ideas. 

Somewhere through the reading, I kept hearing the saying, "Knowledge is power!" I've probably heard it a trillion times during ABC's Saturday morning cartoon block as a child, and hundreds more times on inspirational school posters. This simple motto was used to inspire a love of learning in children; to teach them, that with education, anything was possible, any dream fulfilled. But after reading this text, it leaves me wondering, how much power does one actually get with knowledge? 


But Finn's text begs the reader to consider the quality of knowledge which students are receiving, and rallying others to become active members in changing the quality of education for the better. Knowledge, or literacy, if anyone can access the same knowledge, why are there such vast differences in the quality and implementation of literacy when it comes to education? 
Now that education can now be accessed by everyone, what other insidious ways is the caste forming to  perpetuate disadvantage? Students in the same town, school district, and even same school building are getting a different quality of education. 

Take Jean Anyon's research about the striking differences seen in education between New Jersey's social classes. Anyon found that students from high earning families received a far superior quality of education than students who were from working class or even middle class families. Well, you're first thought is probably "D'uh!," I mean private school vs. public school. You'd assume that private schools have the better education, but ask yourself the question of; why is the education better? Better school curriculum? Better student to teacher ratios? Better teachers? What is it about the teachers that make them better? 

Well, Anyon  would say its a series of these things. Her studies found that not only did the very foundations of how students were taught differed drastically based on class, but also that students were often educated only enough to support their role in their respective social class (think West Virginia coal-mining communities).

This really made me reflect on my own schooling. I would say that my school was located in an area where most of the families were of middle-class background. I was taught in a school setting where there were "special" classes for students. There were students in my school that needed extra hand, and often were taken out of class for the mystery that was 'special instruction', and there were others who excelled and rewarded with college prep courses or special electives. I, on the other hand, had neither. My school life, and my life outside it were separated. My classes weren't spectacular and my schooling was pretty average, although now as an adult, I see that my education mirrored in the text in some ways. Anyon found that in other schools like mine,

"The dominant theme in the middle-class school was possibility. There was widespread anxiety about tests and grades but there was a pervasive belief that hard work would payoff. These students viewed knowledge as a valuable possession that can be traded for good grades, a good college education, and a good job (14)."

This doesn't sound so bad until you realize that students with families in  the working-class received education that "...was often evaluated in terms of whether the steps were followed rather than whether it was right or wrong (10), lacking both creativity and teacher enthusiasm. 

Students coming from wealthy families received education that was less restrictive, open to creativity, and thrived on personal excellence.

The worst part is, "we all participate in this social system as if it were natural, the way things were meant to be" (Preface  X). Finn urges his readers and those emerging teachers to become "transforming intellectuals" to incite change in the way education and literacy is dispensed.

I really enjoyed reading about Paulo Freire. 

All students should be afforded quality education that affords them to become active "participants in the culture circles [that] think about culture, how they create it and engage in it and how, since it is something they create, it is something they can change."

Finn, and Freire, believe this is only possible through open dialogue within the classroom, must like those students from wealthy families receive. 

But, don't begrudge the wealthy kids, because apparently, "teachers in gentry schools often engage in dialogue with their students, not because the teachers "empower" the students, but because the students are already powerful (168)."

As we see again, the further those are from a place of power, the harder it is to change anything.

Browns v. The World

I first want to say that Tim Wise, author of “Between a Rock and a Hard Place” was correct when he stated in his interview,

 “… contrary to a lot of rhetoric we’re hearing; we’re no where near a post-racial America.”

Wait, wait...What?

So how do we know that we still need to work on becoming a post-racial society? Well, we could turn on the TV... Or we can realize texts like McIntosh’s “White Privilege Knapsack” still rubs people the wrong way. We know that racism in America is still a problem because we still have issues with segregated schools (closer than you think!), and newspapers are still running stories like Salim Muwakkil wrote about. Or, just ask Jo(s)e Zamora.

Slavery in the United States lasted for over 245 years; slavery has only been abolished half as long as slavery’s entire duration. And, in all things considered, it has been a relatively short time since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial segregation in public schools. Brown v. Board of Education only happened sixty years ago. That is not even a lifetime for most people. And I'm sure there are still many people from that time that can remember Brown v. Board of Education kicking... or, erm... shuffling about. 

But I also think that it’s okay for everyone to be “cautiously optimistic” about the topic of race relations. In comparison to most countries, we're still young. We are still working through a healing process, so to speak. We have to continually make sure we have our "global glasses" on; making sure we are looking through to our society with empathy to culture and life experiences.

 I feel Wise summed it up marvelously in his interview,

  “It would be dishonest and I think disrespectful to suggest the ball hasn't moved quite a ways… But my concern is that every other time that we've seen, and look we’re in black history month as I’m speaking to you, the reality is that, in this month, we learn about the accomplishments of individual folks of color, and most of them accomplished the things that they accomplished under a system of formal apartheid. Under a system of formal white supremacy. So even in the midst of horrible oppression individuals of color can accomplish great things”

So how do we translate this? Take Bob Herbert, for example, columnist from the New York Times. Bob writes, 
"Schools are no longer legally segregated, but because of residential patterns, housing discrimination, economic disparities and long-held custom, they most emphatically are in reality."

So, we still live in a society that is not yet post-racial. We can see this because of segregation in schools to this day, except now its under the insidious ploy of classism. We can see this when 6 out of 10 white adults readily accept stereotypes about black people as common knowledge. 

Who really knows the long term impacts of prejudice and discrimination (they might)? 

But here's the catch. It is going to be an on-going push to achieve the goal of a post-racial society. We are going to play the whole game of Monopoly, and not just quit when someone gets mad. It's going to take everyone, not just the disadvantaged. Do not collect $200. Go directly to Delpit. Page 26. ;)


But! We have a black president... so that's something... right?

Right.

Because every step counts. 

We're one black president closer to a post-racial society! Guys, it's kind of a big deal. 

'Merica!