What’s it worth to you?

"Increasingly, scholars have found literacy to be a resource with potential, but by no means guarantees for individuals at the mercy of larger economic and social forces." (Prendergast 5)

"… Moreover, there is surprisingly little agreement on or specific evidence for the benefits of literacy, whether socially or individually, economically or culturally." (Graff 3)

"Economists, sociologists, planners, and governments inform us that literacy rates correlate with scores of factors, ranging from individual attitudes to economic growth and industrialization, per-capita wealth and GNP, political stability and participatory democracy, urbanization and vital rates, communications and consumption—to list only a few of the correlations reported. There is a certain logic behind many of these correlations; however, no convincing or documented explanations or analyses correspond to them." (Graff 9)

“A lot of jobs I applied to and you needed a high school diploma. If you want a higher paying job, your GED helps you.” – Brenda, Tolton Center student


The quotes above illustrate the apparent disconnect between what scholars have found that literacy does and does not do and what the students at adult literacy sites believe that literacy will help them achieve.

So, whose side is right? What is literacy good for? And, as Prendergast asks, “who benefits from proposing literacy as the answer to all social malaise?” (Prendergast 5)

[Brenda]
Brenda took her GED test last week. She spent seven hours sitting in a classroom downtown on a Saturday with only a 45-minute break for lunch. She must believe in the power of literacy or else she would not have made such an investment. Brenda believes that literacy has direct social, individual, economic, and cultural benefits.

“Literacy is a great purpose in life. We need it in everyday life. We use it in everyday life. It’s not just reading and writing. It’s the way you present yourself by communicating with others. It helps you be a better communicator. Your sentences are better. You can write letters and represent yourself better in those letters… I think people kind of look down on [illiterates]… like they are not capable to learn.”

An introduction to this blog

This project seeks to shed light on the current discussion of the effects of literacy on social mobility despite of socioeconomic and racial marginalization. Since President Obama’s election, the media has claimed that we live in a “post-racial” society. They contend that race is no longer a force that creates privilege for the majority and disadvantage for the minority. They show Obama as an example that anyone with the chance of an education can pull themselves up by their bootstraps in spite of other oppressive factors. In a post-racial society, literacy is the great equalizer that eliminates environmental and societal factors to create a level playing field for upward social mobility. In my opinion, this is just the newest version of the literacy myth.

The concept of the literacy myth dates back to 1979 when Harvey J. Graff, in his book The Literacy Myth, challenged the assumption that literacy is they key to socioeconomic and political advancement of an individual and a society. This concept was problematized by Catherine Prendergast, who in Literacy and Racial Justice explains how literacy policies supposed to advance social justice (such as "No Child Left Behind") often fall short of their goals:

Current literacy policy tends... to be based now, as it has been for some time, on what literacy researchers call the “ideology” of literacy, the flawed but rhetorically seductive and seemingly deathless argument that literacy will guarantee equality of opportunity, moral growth, and financial security and ensure the democratic participation of all individuals in society, regardless of other factors. (4)

In this site, I plan to include interviews and information that analyze the role--both actual and perceived--of literacy in America. I hope to shed some light on how literacy acquisition actually affects adults who have lived their entire lives on the margins of society.