Blog 5

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A new approach: moving from the myth of American literacy to the reality of a sustainable literate America

Achieving “literacy” is often viewed as a threshold moment in our culture. It is a crossing over, which is recognized with both the award of degrees and entrance into greater spheres of economic, social and political influence for the person obtaining literacy. This prescription of literacy is problematic-- it is literacy as commodity-- instead of a literacy unto itself. The unfortunate truth is that what is masquerading as an American literacy, designed to carry both the cultural heritage of our nation and facilitate communication between its many disparate peoples, is a myth propagated by the capitalization of academia. Recently, due to the evolving demographic changes in the American population, numerous studies and researchers have undertaken the seemingly Herculean task of how to both properly educate and integrate non-native English speakers into the fold of the American educational system. The conclusion reached by the majority of these works of scholarship is that literacy itself--especially English literacy in America--serves only one function: for persons within a class to eventually place themselves on a market, obtain and maintain employment. This end does not only betray an ethnocentrism that is rampant within the academic community, but it is also evidence of the capitalistic nature of of modern scholarship. 

If a literacy is to exist without the market, it must be more than a complex, academic model supporting the larger economic paradigm of America. It must support both our country's people and their cultures, while still providing a means for their existence in a system of capitalism. If this is not accomplished, the transmission of both our collective identity as Americans and individual identities will be limited to the myopic myth of employment based literacy. Therefore, we must adopt a new model. I will expand on the problem and solution later, but a short outline on the tenets of this "Sustainable Literacy" is as follows:

1/ The idea of what is literacy must be fundamentally sound and true, viz. it must serve the totality of Americans.


2/ This new literacy must be both economically and pedagogically feasible for all educational systems in America to implement. If they cannot support the curriculum, then it is unsustainable.


3/ The new literacy must be socially responsible. The purpose of this literacy must be to facilitate communication, not stratification. By creating and maintaining a common base for a literacy that serves all Americans, this system will encourage opportunity without the need for external motivators.


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