John F. Szwed explains the discourse around the ideas of reading and writing in the modern world. Around the world there has been a push for increased literacy, the western ideal of literacy: knowing how to read and write. Despite that literacy, according to Szwed, is "suffering a crisis." He makes an example out of the United States. For years I've heard that people don't read anymore, I don't know if they ever did but I've heard my teachers complaining about the lack of respect for the written art. Szwed explains despite universal schooling certain parts of the world population cannot seem to learn how to read and write. Szwed needs to take into account what it takes to get into a school. Even if there is no tuition, parents, economic circumstances, culture all plays a role in whether someone ends up in a school.
Szwed brings up a topic we've talked about before as a class. "But the stunning fact is that we do not fully know what literacy is." The western push for reading and writing seems to be coming under fire by a lot of writing theorists. I wonder when this shift of thinking occurred or has there always been two sides to writing theory? If I had to guess I would attribute the split to the different kind of writing theorists. The cognitive, expressionistic and social epistemic.
Szwed brings up a topic we've talked about before as a class. "But the stunning fact is that we do not fully know what literacy is." The western push for reading and writing seems to be coming under fire by a lot of writing theorists. I wonder when this shift of thinking occurred or has there always been two sides to writing theory? If I had to guess I would attribute the split to the different kind of writing theorists. The cognitive, expressionistic and social epistemic.
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