As I read the Cornelious piece, I tried to draw connections between the risks a slave would take in order to learn to read, and our own educational and social attitudes towards literacy learning. It’s hard to fathom anyone in modern American society risking the severing of a thumb for literacy. But, on the other hand, “knowledge and information” still help “one to survive in a hostile environment.” Or at least I believe that they do.
If that particular quote still holds true, how do we teach literacy (even metacognitively) as the means to survive, withstand and, perhaps, overcome the conditions of hostile environments? In what ways is our cultural environment hostile? Or are the stakes so completely different that it’s pointless to draw connections here?
3 Responses to Risking Literacy