Brandt

Before You Read

In the summer, my school would encourage us to read at least two books. I always ended up liking the books because for the most part they were on the best seller list. The english department at my high school strongly encouraged reading, along with all my other teachers. They stressed that unless we read our text books, it would be hard to get the A that we all wanted. 

Summary

Literacy is something that many people take advantage of. There is a huge problem with people not being literate just in America, and this is what Brandt stresses in the article, "Sponsors of Literacy." She begins to explain the problem and then goes on by showing examples to better get her point across. 

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
I feel that this is true to a point. It is hard to think that we are at the will of someone else completely when it comes to making sure that our nation has a high literacy level.	"Neither rich nor powerful enough to sponsor literacy on our own terms, we serve instead as conflicted brokers between literacy's buyers and sellers." (348)
It shows just how important literacy is because literacy does not simply just mean being able to read and write, there are many other situation where literacy is a big deal.	“Literacy looms as one of the great engines of profit and competitive advantage in the 20th century: a lubricant for consumer desire; a means for integrating corporate markets; a foundation for the deployment of weapons and other technology; a raw material in the mass production of information” (333).
This is a good way to look at it. It is important to stress literacy but at the same time students are going to do something that they want to do. When someone feels more motivated to do something they are going to put in more time and effort to get it done.	“In bringing attention to the economies of literacy learning I am not advocating that we prepare students more efficiently for the job markets they must enter. What I have tried to suggest is that as we assist and study individuals in pursuit of literacy, we also recognize how literacy is in the pursuit of them” (Brandt 348).
Everything helps. I think that these two things do help but it is not all.	“Rather, these developments should be seen more specifically, as outcomes of ongoing transformations in the history of literacy as it has been wielded as part of economic and political conflict.” Pg 342
Yes there are going to be changing requirements. Sometimes when new rules are enforced, old ones get pushed out of the way, this is simply what happens.	"Sponsors enable and hinder literacy activity, often forcing the formation of new literacy requirements while decertifying older ones." (344)

My thoughts

There is no arguing that it is a big problem when looking at the facts. I feel that they way she conveyed her thoughts really brought forth emotion and made you want to help in some way. I don't usually think about the fact that there are so many people that are not able to read, and this may have to do with the type of community that I grew up in.