On Thursday’s we discussed Sylvia Scribner’s three metaphors for literacy, which were, “literacy as adaptation, literacy as power, and literacy as a state of grace.” A short, easily understood explanation of these three ideas is that literacy is defined by functionality, power, and the status a society gives to the idea. Scribner says that these metaphors can not stand on their own, and must be said all together in order to give a complete definition of literacy, but for the sake of this discussion we can look at them separately.
As college students, we are in a different place in our lives than most. In the classroom we surpass functional language, and literature, and have moved onto theoretical ideas. We are on the verge of using our literacy as power, but can be stopped by our age and the time and place we are currently in. Lastly, we all believe that we are the elite of the gracefully literate because the emphasis our society puts on literacy and college education, but are we? If we think about each of these ideas, what is the literacy metaphor that is or should be the most relevant to us, right now? Does this change with age in our culture? Where will the relevance be after graduation? Am I correct in the statements I have made?
I feel as if nowadays, college students tend to fit into the “literacy as a state of grace” metaphor. Just knowing that one is “literate” enough to go to a 4-year university is a nice reminder of that good quality of literacy. As one goes through college, even through the good times and the bad, there is always this reminder that one is luckier than most because they are in college. One had to do a certain amount of work and be literate enough to get into a college as well as continue to study there. The whole point of college, so it seems, is to become “more literate” in particular fields that students such as us plan to pursue later in our lives.
However, I feel as if this isn’t necessarily true. Like Professor Vee said in class today, some people go to a technical school to learn how to do housework. Does that make them any less literate than a college graduate? If you handed me a 2×4 and a nailgun and told me to build something, I would be completely and utterly lost.
I feel as if the “literacy as adaptation” metaphor is most relevant to us as college students. We are all studying different realms of the academic spectrum, from humanities to sciences to engineering. We all need to be “literate” in different skills in order to properly function within our own professional context. College education is about that adaptation of literacy. We are being trained for the future in ways that are necessary to be successful in whatever that future may bring.
After college, however, I feel as if a different metaphor applies. Yes, in a way even after we get acclimated to a new career, there is still much more training and learning to be done. As we get older and more involved with post-graduate work, the “literacy as power” metaphor seems to be more relevant. The job we are in will hopefully be stable enough at some point that “adaptation” will no longer be as necessary. In order to climb the professional ladder and accomplish new things, we need to be more skilled than the others in our same professional category. Thus, power seems to the be the overarching theme.
I do not think that you are incorrect in the statements you made at all. I feel as if everyone has their own take on professionalism and individual growth during and after college.
What I think is particularly interesting about your post here is that you said, “for the sake of this discussion we can look at them [the metaphors] separately.” By trying to separate the metaphors, it seems to highlight the reasons why they all need to be seen and analyzed together.
I completely agree with you! The statements I made on the college point of views were about what is stereotypical of college kids. I would also argue that functional literacy is the most vital language of our age. As students our language is still not graceful. We are attempting to learn and speak in a way that one would call graceful literacy, but most of the time we need our professor to help us understand. If we reached our peaks already we would not be here to learn, especially in a Comp class that analyzes the uses of literacy. Perhaps reading Plato, Aristotle, and all other classic geniuses make us well read, but if we do not understand any of it, the literacy skill that we have used is not graceful.
I think that as college students, the literacy metaphor that fits us best is the state of grace. I think that what Scribner meant by literacy as a state of grace was not necessarily that we are inherently more elite/literate/graceful than others, but that we as society place a high value on “academic” literacy. So, to answer your question, I do think that by being in college we have the privilege of literacy as a state of grace. The other two metaphors are also relevant to the type of literacy we learn here, but I think that the state of grace metaphor is the most relevant to the learning that we are doing. If we think about this class as an example, most of us are probably thinking of it as learning “about” literacy rather than learning to be literate, which is indicative of the “state of grace.” We might feel like we’ve surpassed more “basic” forms of literacy and are now at the point where we are so literate that we can analyze what being literate even means.
During the class, I also had a very similar thought. Who is more literate: A mechanic who lives in the same town he grew up in, raised a family, and goes to work and home everyday, or a college graduate with a much deeper knowledge of mechanical engineering but many more questions than answers? In the mechanic’s world, he has all his questions answered and the literacy he has been exposed to, he is proficient in. Meanwhile, a college graduate with a very deep understanding of things has more knowledge but because he is exposed to more forms of literacy, and thus has a harder time grasping an advanced level of literacy in all such topics. In this case, how should we measure literacy? In terms of global literacy, or personal literacy? Which is more meaningful?