Liberty and Literacy

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Liberty and Literacy
Perspectives of Literacy Conventional Functional
Cultural Critical Hegemony
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Literacy

• Literacy rates are affected by differences in
  social class, race, gender, region and social
  need
• To be illiterate is to be significantly
  handicapped in todays society
• Literacy depends on the social setting and
  workplace needs.
• What counts as adequate literacy for management
  might not be adequate from the workers
  perspective.
• What is adequate literacy in once social setting
  may not be adequate in another
• Literacy can depend on the function we wish it to
  serve in a given context
• HOW DO YOU DEFINE LITERACY?

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Conventional Literacy

• Ability to read, write and comprehend
• 1980 Census found that 99.5 of U.S. adults were
  literate by this definition
• Determined by self-reporting of grade levels
  completed and if they could read and write
• What about all of those that did not answer the
  Census questionnaire?
• Can the respondents read and write in English?

Functional Literacy

• Using printed and written information to function
  in society to achieve ones goals and to develop
  ones knowledge and potential
• US Army during World War II defined it as
• the capability to understand written
  instructions necessary for conducting basic
  militant functions and tasksa fifth grade
  reading level

Many objected to the functional literacy
perspective because it has as its goal the
competence to function at the lowest levels of
mechanical performance, instead of indicating a
more ambitious conception of literacy.
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Functional Literacy cont

• In the mid 70s the University of Texas used an
  index called the Adult Performance Level (APL).
  Tested how well adults could function in
  sixty-five tasks requiring literacy skills in
  everyday life.
• 20-60 of those tested failed to perform
  successfully at tasks such as writing a check
  that a bank could process, addressing an envelope
  adequately, figuring the difference in price
  between a new and used appliance, etc.

16 of whites, 44 of blacks and 56 of
Latinos were functionally illiterate
Cultural Literacy

• Not just to read in the technical sense of the
  word, but to be culturally literate, knowing
  historical names, geographical places, authors
  a basic foundation of knowledge to give meaning
  to words
• E.D. Hirsch introduced the idea of cultural
  literacy in 1987. Believes that understanding
  words depends on a great deal of background
  knowledge of cultural institutions and values.
• See illustration on page 253ish
• Cultural Literacy has been criticized as the
  trivial pursuit approach to education

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Critical Literacy

• Literacy is associated with power--Those with
  power are able to define
• knowledge
• Goal for literacy should be to empower people to
  criticize and change political
• and economic oppression.
• How knowledge and power are interrelated
• It is the ability to understand and act against
  the social relations of
• oppression.
• economic, political, racial, ethnic, gender and
  social class
• Sometimes known as the emancipatory literacy

HEGEMONYUnequal power relationships between two
or more cultures, ideologies, socioeconomic groups

• A small minority of U.S. citizens control the
  political and economic institutions that shape
  the beliefs, values, and behavior of most of the
  population
• Ideological hegemony argues that the social,
  political, and economic institutions of this
  society serve a relatively small group at the
  expense of the majority of citizens

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• Hegemony theory summarized
• Institutional elites who share common economic
  and political interests control the dominant
  political and economic institutions of the U.S.
• Though they may disagree on particular policies
  or strategies, these institutional elites share a
  common world view, or ideology, which reflects
  and justifies the organization of dominant
  institutions.
• Through such institutions as the government,
  workplace, school, and mass media, the general
  populance is socialized into accepting these
  rules
• Although ruling ideas do not reflect the
  experience of all social classes, they serve to
  limit discussion and debate, to prevent the
  formation of alternative social explanations, and
  to promote a general acceptance of the status
  quo.

Mass Media and Cultural Hegemony Polls show that
print and broadcast journalists receive the bulk
of their information on domestic and foreign
policy from other journalists in mainstream news
media that represent the dominant
corporate-government ideology Example Americans
are told of a developing country turning to
communists and that this is a threat to our
national interest. What the public does not hear
is what constitutes our national interest in
these developing nations. History shows that we
can tolerate deep differences in ideology with
our business partners in the third world.
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• Schooling and Cultural Hegemony
• Ideological hegemony theory suggests that it is
  not consent, but compliance, that is fostered in
  the schools, and that both the organization and
  the curriculum of schools are responsible for
  this compliance.
• While schools contribute to functional and
  cultural literacy of the citizenry, they also
  obstruct democratic tendencies by socializing
  students to be uncritical followers in a social
  order where major decisions are made by an elite
  few.

Hegemonic Processes in Schooling

• Hierarchical distribution of power
• Unequal power relationships
• Students must obey not only the authority of the
  teachers knowledge but institutionalized
  authority in the form of school rules as well
• Teachers have authority over students, principals
  have authority over teachers, etc
• Teachers often tell students that they themselves
  do not agree with a rule (I.e. grading) but must
  do so because of rules

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• The nature of student work
• Work and only work is compulsorywork because it
  is assigned, not because it is interesting
• Nature of schooling is to compete for the scarce
  rewards for good work
• Successes and failures are due to our individual
  talents and achievements, not to faults in the
  school
• This personalization of school failure eventually
  helps legitimize the unequal distribution of
  goods in contemporary society

• Social stratification within the school structure
• Students are grouped by skill level, by IQ score,
  age, classroom behavior
• Grouping results in different kinds of education
  and opportunities for success
• Different income groups and different races
  occupy different tracks both in and out of school
• That black, Hispanic and poor white females
  should occupy the bottom of the social order does
  not seem surprising to people who long ago came
  to accept this in their school experience

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Teaching as a Profession

• Characteristics of any profession
• A. Professional autonomy
• B. Highly developed, theoretical knowledge base
• C. Control of training, certification, and
  licensing of new entrants
• D. Self-governing and self policing authority,
  especially with regard to professional ethics

Factors/concerns in teaching as a quasi-profession

1. Low pay
2. Teachers lack of control over workplace
3. Predominance of women
4. Many stakeholders in schools
5. Multiplicity of teacher roles and
   responsibilities
6. Teacher training/retraining
7. Teacher morale

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How North Carolina is meeting the demand for
higher standards

• Teacher accountability through the ABCs testing
  program
• Student accountability through the Gateways in
  grades 3,5,8 and 12
• Encouraging teachers to attain National Board
  Certification by paying for their testing
• Increasing Praxis scores for teachers
• Statewide report card of schools of education

How are students affected by these changes?

• Lose Control, Lose Your License law
• Increased testing
• Various graduation tracks
• Career Preparation
• College Technical Preparation
• College Preparation
• Increased technology requirements
• Zero tolerance for weapons

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How teachers are affected

• Increased technology requirements for
  certification
• Increased salaries
• Increased accountability and incentives for
  students performances
• Site based management in some schools
• Increase in Lateral Entry teachers