Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought

Thinking of writing as a technology is very weird for me. But if you really think about it, it's true. Being able to communicate with written word makes mot people's life much easier. Imagine having to use verbal communication for everything. What if there was never a written record of our history and everything was handed down verbally? Imagine how distorted some facts would become, not that they can't become distorted with written word either. But imagine if no one ever wrote down the Bible on paper. Would Christianity have spread as much as it has if there wasn't literature to be passed down to keep the stories intact? Walter J. Ong's essay "Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought" made me think and challenged me more than any other essay we read so far. Ong wrote, "A word is an event, a happening, not a thing, as letters make it appear to be. So is thought: "This is paper" is an occurrence, an event in time. We grasp truth articulately only in events. Articulated truth has no permanence. Full truth is deeper than articulation" (Ong 20). It is easier to believe what is written down more than it is to believe word of mouth. If there was no such thing as a letter or a word and everything was here-say, who would have the defining knowledge? I wonder how our world would be different.

Literacy and Individual Consciousness

Akinnaso's essay should yet another side of literacy. Literacy in foreign countries. Akinnaso wrote about how his father had his different uses for literacy whether it was in his religion or work and Akinnaso gives examples from his own life. He became quick to learn and love the English books that were given to him and that gave him some what of a pedestal in his village. Even though many of his fellow villagers respected him for his understanding of the English language, they kept it out of their religion. So it brings up another side of literacy in the fact that in some cultures and capacities, literacy is an unwanted or unneeded resource. Maybe some people feel that certain qualities that may come with literacy may change values, beliefs and traditions that have been set for years. Akinnaso's essay also coincides with essays such as "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by Gloria Anzaldua and "The Achievement of Desire" by Richard Rodriguez. These are all foreign born people that learned the English language, willingly or not, and dealt with the issue of losing their identity in the process of becoming "Americanized". Akinnaso's story was a bit different in the fact that the English language was brought to him in for form of colonization, but he still dealt with having to split himself into two different cultures. His homeland and blood, Nigerian, or the language he grew to love, English. Akinnaso saw literacy in such a different light. He wrote in his essay that "literacy had come to mean, for me, a way of life, a way of knowing, a way of talking, and a way of doing" (154). Literacy changed his entire outlook on life.

The Ethnography of Literacy

John F. Szwed's essay "The Ethnography of Literacy" didn't really get me thinking much besides one particular quote. Szwed states in his essay that "we need to look at reading and writing as activities having consequences in (an being affected by) family life, work patterns, economic conditions, patterns of leisure, and a complex of other factors" (427-8). It's common knowledge that not everybody likes to read, whether it is reading for educational purposes or reading in your free time. Just because someone doesn't like to read obviously doesn't make them illiterate. I love to read. It is something that I always enjoyed. However, as I get older and have to take on more responsibilities, my free time for any hobbies I have, especially reading, has gone down. I used to be able to read at least ten books a year, now I'm lucky if I even get one read a year. So it makes me wonder about people that have to work harder than me or have less than me. What if they enjoy getting lost in a book but don't have the chance to do it anymore? What if they never had the chance to even try? It's sad to me that many people feel that reading is a waste of time and are discourage early on by family, social situations, or even school. I have a little sister. I take her to the book store all the time because I want her to have that passion for reading just like I did when I was her age. However, I find that her schooling is deterring her from wanting to read outside of class and what she has for homework. Her teacher makes her read books that are below the intellectual level that she and many of her fellow classmates are at. It feels pointless and mundane to her. She is forced to read material that has no relevance in her life and that she can't relate to. However, when she gets to choose what she wants to read, she can fly through a book in a night or two. It scares me that the educational system is going to make her hate reading, just like it has done for so many other kids.

The Banking Concept of Education

I found what Paolo Freire had to say about the pros of problem posing education and the cons of banking education was very interesting. I never really thought about different ways of learning until know. Before, learning was just something everybody did. However, when I think about it there are certain ways that I do learn and retain things easier. It's hard for me to pay attention in big lectures because it is just the professor reciting the criteria and the students memorizing and taking notes. During smaller classes a discussions, I find it easier to learn because of the interpersonal communication between the teacher and students and students and students. I find that when I'm able to ask questions and bounce ideas off of other people, it's easier to come to conclusions and find understanding. Freire states in his essay that "problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality, thereby responding to the vocation of men as beings who are authentic only when engaged in inquiry and creative transformation" (Freire 82). Freire states that we are only actually human when we are challenged mentally and spiritually. I understand what his point is. If someone walks around their whole life just day to day and does not use the full potential of their brain, it's almost more animalistic. Sleep, work and eat. We've all been given the ability to speak and ask questions, so why not use it? To me it's the same as not taking full advantage of the right to vote. If you're giving all these tools, then why not use them?

A Kind Word for Bullshit

I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading “A Kind Word for Bullshit: A Problem of Academic Writing” by Phillip Eubanks and John D. Schaeffer much more than I enjoyed “On Bullshit” by Harry J. Frankfurt. We’ve been talking about authors caring about what they write in class and I felt nothing but frustration and some sort of mockery after reading Frankfurt’s essay. I felt as if every word of that 67-page book was complete bullshit. I kind of felt as if Frankfurt is laughing at everyone who read that because I have a feeling that he knows what he wrote is actual bullshit.

On the other hand, after reading Eubanks and Schaeffer’s response to “On Bullshit” I felt them caring about what was being said about their profession. They didn’t use extravagant words and definitions to try to get a point across. I felt them being real and trying to get their point across that what Frankfurt said is not entirely true. Neither Eubanks nor Schaeffer deny that their colleges and students use “academic bullshit”, they are trying to prove what they think bullshit is or isn’t.

Out of the whole essay, one quote stuck out to me.

“Even though some composition scholars have critiqued academic discourse as a form of Enlightenment-inspired hegemony, almost no one advocates completely abandoning academic styles and standards. If academic writing is bullshit, then bullshit is what we teach” (Schaeffer 374).

I believe that this is Eubanks and Schaeffer trying to say, “This is what we do, if you don’t like it, then so what.” At least that’s what I would say. Everyone uses bullshit from some time to another. I believe it is part of human nature. Everyone wants to look good to the people around them. If that means hyping up their story a little or even adding a few ten dollar words to their essay, then so what? It’s not the end of the world. Does bullshit deserve to have an essay written about it and another response essay in return? I don’t think so. Bullshit, in any form, has always been and will always be around as long as there are people to spew it out.