Final Essay Up in heeeeeeyaaaa

Claudia Locke

WRIT 1122

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Dear Fifth Graders,

There are a bunch of things that you could be worrying about for your first year of middle school: what you’ll wear, whether you’ll be popular, your new academic classes, forgetting your locker combination, or getting picked last in gym class. But I urge to you pay attention to something else: your upcoming addiction to the Internet and its effect on your literacy practices. I’m writing to you because middle school is when you’ll start becoming more Facebook-oriented and when your real nasty Internet habits will start to develop. Most of you probably have unlimited access to your computers already. But do you know why the Internet is something to worry about when it comes to your literacy?

Part of the answer lies in the site that you’ll be spending your Internet time on: Facebook. Facebook is great for things like keeping it touch with far away relatives and planning events. It’s also cool to have a place that keeps all of your pictures together. But what isn’t cool is how it affects your literacy. If you’re considering creating a Facebook page, you should know what your future looks like. If you are like the majority of the younger generation Facebook users, the only writing you’ll be doing is status updates and the occasional wall post. Not only does this writing use “text-speak”, but it encourages short snippets of information that are easy to swallow. Since your news feed is being constantly updated, there’s always something new to glance over or pictures to click through; you’ll spend hours skimming through information without retaining anything useful.  Click, click, click. You’ll depend on the thick blue border website’s scrolling news feed to tell you about your own culture and your friends. You’ll obsess about how many “friends” you have and how many pictures you are a part of. Headed into high school and college you’ll find yourself on Facebook during class, reasoning that what the teacher is saying is “too boring”, when in reality, what the teacher is saying involves serious thought and concentration. You, serious thought, and concentration no longer get along. Watch out for headaches from staring at a computer screen for too long, sore wrists, and poor social skills in the real world. You’ll forget what the sun looks like, or the scent of fresh air, or how to turn a page in a book… Okay perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself... How exactly does Facebook affect the relationship between the digital age and literacy practices? It creates a world where you shut off your brain and waste hours of time. Time that could be used doing something productive, such as reading a book, flying a kite, talking with your parents, or creating a strong friendship. In his article “America the Illiterate”, Chris Hedges describes a literate person as one who can "actively think for themselves, draw independent conclusions, express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, be self-critical, challenge authority, understand historical facts, separate truth from lies, advocate for change and acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable." Facebook does not promote any of these qualities. It’s about seeing who is wearing the cutest outfit, who is going out with who, and what the latest gossip is.

                Unfortunately for you, dear readers, Facebook is only the tip of the iceberg. Here comes the Internet as a whole. Welcome to your new fake, commercialized world within the real world. FACT: a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate and that their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year (Hedges). FACT: a third of high school graduates, along with 42 percent of college graduates, never read a book after they finish school and that eighty percent of the families in the United States last year did not buy a book (Hedges). Why can’t Americans read books anymore, you ask? Because reading a book takes thought. It takes actively thinking on your part. The average American is no longer willing to read books because there are easier, more mindless forms of entertainment. What we’re looking for is easy, fast, and straight to the point. The Internet tells you what to think. It spits out key words and “facts” that are never seem to be backed up with evidence. It catches your attention, in a negative way. It sells you a product. It pushes an advertisement in your face. It tells you that Kim Kardashian had an emotional moment in front of cameras. It tells you to LOOK: is this giant alligator real? It tells you that Investigators are looking into Iowa lottery mystery. It tells you the Ten Most Popular Colleges and it tells you the 4 'Must Do' Money Moves to Achieve Fiscal Fitness. The Internet tells you things. It doesn’t ask, or probe, or discuss. It tells, and you accept, because that’s easiest.  After hours and hours of no-thought “reading”, you decide to start your homework. An English essay about eighteenth century literature. It’s a shame that the vocabulary in the prompt is too difficult for you to understand. You’ll spit back up the summary you read on Wikipedia and with a thousand more words to go, you’ll find yourself asking What do I say next? You’ll find that you don’t know what the Internet hasn’t told you. The Internet does not promote positive reading and writing habits. Your Internet life will affect your literacy, your thought processes, your interests, your opinions, and your homework grades.

                Did you know that your literacy affects how you will vote in political elections and which movies you see? Of course not! You’re only in fifth grade! (But I’ll let you in on the secret) In his article, Hedge speaks about the American public as easily persuaded by entertainment, pictures, and culture. Because we cannot actively think on our own, we are part of a governing system in which it is “style and story, not content or history or reality, which inform our politics and our lives”. A direct example of this is the presidential debate comprehension level- sixth grade. They must be this low because Americans “speak, think and are entertained at this level” (Hedges). Congratulations kids, you’re just as informed as your parents, and totally ready to vote! The Internet’s effect on literacy also relates to the arts. Illiteracy is the reason why "serious film and theater and other serious artistic expression, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of American society" (Hedges). You’re not illiterate, but you’re certainly not looking for any extra brain work when it comes to the arts! So which movie will you see this weekend? Probably the one that is commercialized the most, the one with the static characters and easy resolution. Hey, it’s the weekend! You’ve had such a long week! No need for thinking!

                One last point of advice, kids. Watch out for the lies they’ll try to feed you regarding the Internet and your literacy. Some people try to argue that the Internet actually increases our writing abilities, claiming that today’s kids are writing more than ever. Andrea A. Lunsford’s article “Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not so Fast” discusses the advantages of this Internet-crazed generation. This Stanford professor states that in a research group consisting of 189 Stanford students, all the students were participating in a gigantic amount of writing, of which consisted of “no LOLs, no 2nites, no smileys” and was tailored to fit the audience in a suitable manner.  Lunsford’s article does not relate to the average American teenager because her research was largely based off of the writing of Stanford students. You’re only in fifth grade, dear readers, but I’m sure you know that Stanford is one of the most prestigious schools in the country. Lunsford’s hypothesis that the younger generation is writing more is discredited by her lack of complete and unbiased information.

Literacy is not only being able to read and write, but also to comprehend text. New technologies are detrimental to literacy habits because they promote efficiency and immediacy above understanding. In his article “is Google Making Us Stupid”, Nicholas Carr argues that although the Internet has many advantages, primarily being the “immediate access to such an incredibly rich store of information”, it does not make us smarter. There seems to be a buzz around the block that “the more pieces of information we can “access” and the faster we can extract their gist, the more productive we become as thinkers” (Carr). This is not the case. Who cares how much information you come across if you don’t ever really process it or learn and grown from it? There are no quick fixes, no miracle products, no easy answers like the Internet would like you to believe.  Through the Internet you’ll learn a heck of a lot about what other people think, but you’re not going to learn anything about what you think. With the Internet, you won’t have any real life experiences. You’ll be staring at a screen while the real world goes on buzzing without you. Our future in reading, writing, and thinking lies in your hands, young fifth graders. You know what you need to do.

 Works Cited

Carr, Nicholas. "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" The Atlantic Monthly, July-Aug. 2008. Web.

Hedges, Chris. "America the Illiterate." Www.truthdig.com. Nov. 2008. Web.

Lunsford, Andrea A. "Our Semi-Literate Youth? Not So Fast." Stanford.edu. Stanford Study of Writing. Web.

Final Blog

I liked blogging because it was more of a conscious-stream-of-thought sort of deal, which I'm really attracted to. I think that it makes it more human. The most challenging part of these posts is not being able to read everyone's and not knowing who was reading mine (if anyone). I like talking to people directly, or even in a big group  discussion because I like seeing their bright beautiful faces when they talk. I think the most surprising and interesting part has been seeing how personality comes across over the Internet. I was surprised sometimes at the tone of people's blogs... I seem to know them better, in a sense, than I would have in a group environment. After this little experiment, I'm more likely to use the Internet for news, rather than spending time on Facebook because I've finally come to the conclusion that I just don't care. I think that after this, I'll use the Internet less, and for more useful things, like knowing what is going on in the world/ US politics. Overall, I like blogging because it's like an ongoing diary, but public. It's alright, I guess. Are you guys going to keep going with this? If so, what are you going to write about? My opinion of blogging is still neutral. Did anyone change sides?

Blog Post Numero Ocho

I liked the definition that literacy is "a kind of reality that educators should be able to grasp and explain, or, expressed in more classical terms, that literacy has an "essence" that can be captured through some Aristotelian-like enterprise." It sounds so much nicer than simply "being able to read and write".

What probably surprised me most of the whole essay was about literacy not being individual. The essay argues that literacy is a  social achievement because literacy abilities are acquired by individuals only in the course of participation in socially organized activties with written language. I have never thought of literacy as being as "group" activity, and I'm glad that I have now come to a broader definition of the word.

What qualifies as literacy? Writing one's name, ability to memorize sacred text, etc. What I wondered was how vocabulary has an affect on literacy. Suppose I'm reading a scholar's essay which contains enough big scary vocabulary that I can't understand what is being said. I'm not illiterate, but I don't quite fit into "literacy"'s definition. Does being able to read but not understand still count as literacy? What level of vocabulary is "literacy" level? "Functional literacy" states that literacy involves the "proficiencies required for participation in the actual life conditions of particular groups of communities", which makes sense.
"Today's standards for functional competency need to be considered in the light of tomorrow's requirements". Again, it makes sense. Do you agree with the prediction that "in coming decades literacy may be increased for some and reduced for others, accentuating the present uneven, primarily class-based distribution of literacy functions" ? What would need to change to disprove this hypothesis?

I was very confused regarding the questions about "Literacy's "social purpose" and "What activities are carried out with written symbols?". Why are these questions relevant?

What I learned in the Literacy as Power section of the essay is that I have no answers to the questions that are being asked in regards to literacy. "How are communities best mobilized for literacy-around local needs and small-scale activism? or as part of broader political and social movements? If literacy has not emerges as a priority demand, should government and private agencies undertake to mobilize communities around this goal? " I'm really not sure what the answers are to these questions! Do you?

Okay so then all of this Literacy as a State of Grace popped out of nowhere and threw me for a loop... My first reaction to this was "What! How does being able to read sacred texts affect literacy at all???"
I'm admittedly still a little confused, but this sentence helped me to understand a little bit better: "The power and functionality of literacy is not bounded by political or economic parameters but in a sense transcends them: the literate individual's life derived its meaning and significance from intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual participation in the accumulated creations and knowledge of humankind, made available through the written word." This is so funny, I think! I think this is quite outdated. I'm interested to hear what you (yes, you) thought of the Literacy as a State of Grace section?

Do you think that you could live in the Vai society? Why or why not?

I was pleasantly surprised with this article, I thought it was going to be a bore, but it turned out to not be so bad. I never thought literacy could be so confusing!




OKAY NOW ON TO THE THOMPSON ONE.
okay the first thing that I thought when reading this article was" okay, if you're studying the reading habits of the students at Standford, you're not going to get accurate results for average American teenager literacy.

The second thing I thought was: Yaaaaaaayyyyy... so we're good at "kairos—assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across". I'm so proud of myself.

I do agree that online media is pushing literacy into cool directions... sort of. And okay fine the last sentence did get me: "What today's young people know is that knowing who you're writing for and why you're writing might be the most crucial factor of all". Thanks to Thompson, I am now reminded of how awesome my writing skillz are.

 The end.

PSYCH. 
Okay, so what are our most pressing literary concerns? 
I think ....
1. That literacy can be used as a source of power. 
2. That literacy is not accessible to everyone.
3. That people think that our Internet writing is somehow better than writing styles of the past.

The end for real.
p.s. sorry this post is so long. 

Chris Hedges's "America the Illiterate"

Again, I really really liked this article. 

What scared me was that nearly a third of the nation’s population is illiterate or barely literate and that their numbers are growing by an estimated 2 million a year. Also, I could barely believe that a third of high school graduates, along with 42 percent of college graduates, never read a book after they finish school and that eighty percent of the families in the United States last year did not buy a book (I'm assuming ebooks count.

Well, I guess we're SOL.

Hedge describes the public as easily persuadable by pictures, entertainment, and culture. He says that we are a culture who cannot think on our own. We're part of a governing system in which it is "style and story, not content or history or reality, which inform our politics and our lives". What I thought was interesting evidence to Hedge's argument was the presidential debate comprehension levels. They are so low (sixth grade level) because most Americans "speak, think and are entertained at this level." 

He basically defines literacy as being able to read and process what you are reading. He goes further to describe a "literate" America as being one in which the citizens can "actively think for themselves, draw independent conclusions, express dissent when judgment and common sense indicate something is wrong, be self-critical, challenge authority, understand historical facts, separate truth from lies, advocate for change and  acknowledge that there are other views, different ways of being, that are morally and socially acceptable." 



Hedge brought up a subject that I had not previously considered as one that is affected by America's literacy problem: the arts. He says that illiteracy is the reason why "serious film and theater and other serious artistic expression, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of American society". For example, "Voltaire was the most famous man of the 18th century. Today the most famous “person” is Mickey Mouse". This makes me sad. Who is going to be the most famous person during my kids' lives, or my grandchildren's lives?? Please don't tell me the Kardashians are still going to be around!!
 
In conclusion, entertainment and modern culture is our escape from the real America, the illiterate, Google-stupid, blind America. I saw numerous connections between the Google article and this one. Primarily, they are both about how Americans cannot think for themselves. We need other commercialized services to do the thinking for us because it's too hard. We're easily persuaded and distracted by shiny things. Goodbye, real,, genuine thoughts, hello ADD. 

I thought the last sentence was a little off, and did not relate to the article as a whole. Yes, Obama used millions of dollars in his campaign fund to manipulate the masses.... so did all of the other candidates. I thought that Hedge could have used a better conclusion than the oh boy, is the President going to be sorry one. 

I think this is the best line:
"We confuse how we feel with knowledge."
 It seems to describe America perfectly, myself included.