Dialectic Journal

Dialectic Journal – Deborah Brandt, “Sponsors of Literacy”

Quotes

“Sponsors, as I have come to think of them, are any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy – and gain advantage by it in some way.” (334)

-          The concept of a sponsor is any person who has something to do with another’s literacy learning.

“Literacy learning throughout history has always required permission, sanction, assistance, coercion, or, at minimum, contact with existing trade routes.” (334)

-          No one goes through literacy learning on his or her own; somehow, other people or organizations are connected.

“Most of the time, however, literacy takes its shape from the interests of its sponsors.”(335)

-          The sponsor’s influence usually guides the learner and transfers the same ideas onto that person.

“Literacy, like land, is a valued commodity in this economy, a key resource in gaining profit and edge.” (336)

-          Without literacy, it is highly unlikely for a person to be successful in society.

“A statistical correlation between high literacy achievement and high socioeconomic, majority-race status routinely shows up in results of national tests of reading and writing performance.” (336-337)

-          The higher you are ranked in society, chances are that you are a literate person, compared to lower ranked, poorer people.

“Economic and political forces . . . affect people’s day-to-day ability to seek out and practice literacy.” (339)

-          Depending on a person’s struggles, it may be harder for that person to become literate.

“As a result of wins, losses, or compromises, institutions undergo change, affecting the kinds of literacy they promulgate and the status that such literacy has in the larger society.” (343)

-          Institutions change as time passes and because institutions affect the literacy of some people, the people have to change as well.

“Where once the same sponsoring arrangements could maintain value across a generation or more, forms of literacy and their sponsors can now rise and recede many times within a single life span.” (344)

-          Times are changing faster in today’s society, which makes sponsoring strategies adapt quicker as well.