Literacy with an Attitude

 Finn's piece Literacy with an Attitude left me speechless. It also gave me this sense of being some sort of imprisoned within my own education system. It is tough to read a piece that so strongly argues that you like a chess pawn have been played within your education system throughout life to ultimately lose. Finn's argument is so convincible, his facts and examples proving his point we are set in a literacy path path from the more privileged to seek compliance not justice. Based on your class you were either taught critical thinking, rich literature filled with roles of leadership and skills to rise above or rules, compliance and functional literature. I can't help but feel like I was tricked and honestly this piece makes the power and privilege piece look like a cupcake.
There was a few points that stood out to me that id like to speak on
"Students also valued educational achievement without valuing the knowledge it brought"
This really stands out to me and is something I have thought about before. We live in a world were absolutely everything we could ever want to know about 6absolutely anything is just a click away... but how often do we take advantage of that? Is it that we are not encouraged to? Should we have to be? We could not be any more blessed when it comes to seeking knowledge and yet we don't. This is completing to me why do you think this is?

On the infant language piece I personally couldn't agree more I do believe that the are connecting a thought a want or need with a sound and it is important to encourage that.

On the stages of literacy this really stood out to me because in my student tutoring my third grade students are all grouped and segregated according to their STARR testing reading levels. It is based on this scored "Ability" that they are then taught in groups three times a week for an hour. The way I read that was if you tested low you were tought pass poor literacy and  restricted from literacy that was actually worth something. I you were lucky enough to I don't know lets say fed that day, slept that night, clothed properly and scored high enough you would be privileged to read a literacy that was rich. When my teacher gets her high scoring students for her hour she beams. She looked at me and said "look at how well these students do compared to the other students these kids excel and are learning things my other students can't understand for the life of them".

I really loved his emphasis on the equality of literacy and dialogue. I always do a section in my career planning curriculum that puts emphasis on language skills. I allow my students to play with strong language in resume adlibs. It allows them to visually see the massive difference strong language can make and then I continue with how people are often judged on their intelligence based on their language. I also loved how Finn used photos/artwork to bring his powerful message alive.

http://demonocracy:info/infographics/usa/usa_debt/us_debt.html