The Ethnography of Literacy

            “Literacy would appear to be one of the few elements of education that everyone agrees to be a necessity of modernity.  The capacity to read and write is casually associated with earning a living, achieving expanded horizons of personal enlightenment and enjoyment, maintaining a stable and democratic society, and, historically, with the rise of civilization itself.”  I believe that literacy is very important as Szwed has stated; I could not even imagine not knowing how to read or write.  Every day you encounter reading and writing whether it is at school, billboards, television, texting, personal notes, or a simple grocery list.  Being illiterate in this day in age would definitely be a hardship.  Szwed goes on to explain how, “In contemporary complex societies we are well aware of the negative correlation of skills in literacy with lower socioeconomic standing.”  This shows how people who are less fortunate have fewer opportunities to learn how to read and write compared to those who are wealthier.  Szwed also explains how children who are not read to at home have trouble learning how to read, which I found surprising.  Szwed states, “what a school may define as reading may not take account of what students read in various contexts other than the classroom.”  I agree with Szwed, reading should not just consist of the schools standards but should include social context as well.  Children read different things based on their context and their interest in the subject.  For example, I would prefer to read The Hunger Games rather than my school textbooks.  Szwed explains how there are different styles of reading: silent reading, reading aloud, and speed reading.  I found this interesting because during high school one of my teachers emphasized the benefits of speed reading.  We would read the text and highlight a key word for every sentence and then go back and summarize the reading by reading the key words.  I found this technique to be very beneficial.  I was able to remember the material well and not get bored by reading because I was still being active.  Overall, reading and writing is an essential part of our educational system today.