Deborah Brandt’s book, Literacy in American Lives, portrays the
changes of literacy and learning for Americans over the course of almost one
hundred years. Chapter six, “The Means of Production,” stakes the claim that
literacy causes separation in social classes along economic lines in America,
and as “the rich get richer, the literate get more literate.” Brandt argues
that literacy has transformed into a raw material, labor power, instrument of
production, and a product, which is accountable for the “intensifying pressure
for literacy achievement at the start of the twenty-first century.”
Brandt utilizes two individuals’
accounts of how their literacy changed and developed over their lifetimes. Raymond
Branch, whose father was a professor, was surrounded by computers his entire
life. Those around him did not only encourage his study of the literacy of
computers, but computers themselves were easily accessible throughout the
course of his life. Brandt attributes this to his demographic status as a white
male, and that it provided “essential stimulation” in the consumer market. The
second individual that Brandt interviews, Dora Lopez, pursued the study of the
Spanish language throughout her life. Unlike Branch, she had to drive over 70
miles to find a Spanish grocery store, and although her parents were fluent in
Spanish, they did not teach her how to read or write in this language. In addition, Lopez’s status as a Hispanic female
disenfranchised her learning.
By using the accounts of Branch and
Lopez’s pursuit of a second kind of literacy, Brandt comes to the conclusion that
Branch’s literacy was “actualized to a full capacity; it enjoyed a broad
legitimacy,” while Lopez’s fluency in Spanish had “no equivalent market to
amplify her learning.” Branch’s fluency in computer literacy was applicable to
jobs and therefore helped him to earn more money, while Spanish did not help
Lopez nearly as much economically. In the Midwestern city that Branch and Lopez
lived, Spanish-English biliteracy was confined to nonprofit social serve
agencies and government programs. Brandt concludes that although Lopez was
literate in a second language, she was not able to use this literacy as an
instrument of production. Brandt calls for schools to make special efforts to
teach minorities the kinds of literacies that are relevant in the consumer
market.
Brandt’s call to action is supported
by her extensive research in the field of literacy. She is a professor of
English here at UW-Madison, and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses
for almost thirty years. The classes she teaches include literacy studies,
contemporary writing theory, and research methodology. In addition to the award
winning Literacy in American Lives,
Brandt has written countless articles for other publications and has most
recently had a fellowship with the Guggenheim Foundation. Her claims written in
“The Means of Production” are legitimized by not only the evidence she
provides, but her immense background on the impact of literacy.
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