[AAACE-NLA] George's Challenge

[AndresMuro@aol.com]

Pam:

The fact that you and some others see no point doesn't mean that there is no point in having this discussion or that it is inappropriate. Nor does it mean that this is the wrong venue. It only means that you and some others feel this way. 

In fact, in the literacy literature, there is evidence that support the idea that these type of discussions are valid and central to literacy. In "Reading the Word and the World" Freire and Macedo argue that reading is meaningless unless the word is being read in the world. According to Freire and Macedo, what happens in the world must be analyzed and understood. In fact to them literacy is about understanding the social, political, cultural and economic forces the shape our reality. For them there must be a transition from a state of naivete to a state of awareness. the transition means that people move from passive recipients of decisions made by others to active participants in the decision making process. 

In "Teachers as Intellectuals" Giroux argue that, as teachers, we have an intellectual responsibility, to our students, to make connections between the social, cultural and economic realities and what transpires in the classroom.   

In Education and Democracy Dewey argues that learning happens through communication in social cultural contexts. For Dewey education had to be grounded in our social experience. 

So, the literacy literature is full of evidence that dwelling in the sorts of questions that George is asking is central to literacy acquisition. I, personally, find it unfortunate that, we, as literacy practitioners, don't show more interest in these sort of questions. Especially since they have a direct impact in our practice. I consider the literacy profession as one of intellectuals that dwell in questions of sociology, psychology, politics, philosophy, science, linguistics as means to enhance our practice. 

Whether or not people agree with George's ideological perspectives is not the point. The point is that by exploring the actual questions we engage in a dialogue that expands our knowledge of the field that we work in. Only be dwelling in these issues can we understand how we are affected by them, and how they affect our students. 

Andres  


In a message dated 10/7/2003 6:24:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time, pam at literacygbr.net writes:

> It's because we see no point in having this dialogue on this list.  I've
> heard from some others offline who feel very differently than you and some
> of the others.  We just don't think this is the appropriate 
> venue to express
> our personal political beliefs.
> 
> Pam Creighton
> Baton Rouge

go here: www.geocities.com/andresmuro/art.html