October 18, 2006
Narrative and Argumentation: Literacy at Risk?
"We may be heading for a great, global irony. Never before has the world been so quickly in communication with itself. But now that we are 'wired,' no one may have anything to say."
Richard Rodriguez
CONTEMPORARY AMERICA: REIGN OF THE SEMI-LITERATES?
Yesterday we read an essay by Richard Rodriguez that questioned the relationship between technology and literacy in late 20th century America with more and more outlets for one's time and attention: sustained periods of time spent with literature and the written word seem to be the big loser in this equation. Rodriguez ends his essay ominously: “Of what news is it that they have no skill writing words of narration or persuasion? Neither do we.”
Rodriguez implies that semi-literate and overcommitted dot.com American adults have raised overcommitted and semi-literate children (eg.). Movies, cell phones, IM-speak (“lol!” "luv u!" “l8r!” [translation]), video games, myspace, and rap music have squeezed out serious reading and self-reflection. Reading is “boring.”
Two friends, for example, in different classes at school might text message each other under the table:
T1: i only read a book when forced 2 by teachers, and the scarlett letter is, like, more boring than most! it does not “entertain.” It sux!
T2: whatev!
T1: mayb they can, like, “sex it up”? mayb they can get demi moore to star in the movie, u know? mayb then it would b kewl! like, than mayb I would go c it!
T2: u think so?!?! rofl!!!
T1: whatev!!!
T2: ttyl!!!
So a typical conversation might run?
Rodriguez asserts the following: “I tell you that we Americans are losing our capacity to create or understand language that is dense and structured with feeling and thought.” But is that true? Completely? Partially? Not at all? How? Why? For what reasons? EXPLAIN! (Go for depth in your thinking and analysis, as reflected in your prose!)
So we arrive at the topic of this blogsite posting:
In the context of “’The Scarlet Letter’ is boring” debate and the low reading and writing test scores in American schools, please support, qualify, or refute Rodriguez’s claim that the future "may demand minds less self-reflective."
Go ahead and share your thoughts and experiences with the wider Ventura community in this first blogsite posting. I, and everyone else, will be reading with great interest.
(Further Richard Rodriguez essays.)
THE FUTURE?
“Are you ready for a world in which everyone is talking at once, but no one knows how to form a complete paragraph? Are you ready for a world where teenagers play hate on their computers and then go out and kill their classmates at Columbine High School?”
Posted by foothilltech at 09:51 PM | Comments (21)