We write more.....fact!

Literacy is definitely a hard thing to define, but I believe the purposes of being literate are what define it. I think back to my literacy learning throughout my life, and it has been to accomplish one thing: to move on to something more. Literacy for me was taught to accomplish something, and then I learn perpetually as the challenges become…..more challenging. This continues until you feel you have learned enough to function well in society. I find it interesting how each of the authors define literacy in a different way. Scribner seems to associate literacy to its function or purpose whether that is attaining power, adapting to society, or acquiring grace. Lundsford merely describes literacy as the ability to read and write, and she states that literacy it on the rise among youth. It may not be in the traditional sense, but with texting, email, and social networking people are writing more than they ever have before. This is quite positive compared to the writings of Carr and Hedges. Their writings are about how the internet is affecting our literacy. Hedges is quite ruthless when saying that Americans are more illiterate now than they have been in past. He even uses many facts in regards to the vocabulary used in presidential debates now compared to the past. I would have to say I disagree. Americans are not becoming illiterate; we are simply adapting to a new age a literacy. The fact is, profound or not, we are writing more than ever before, and the biggest concern is how this will affect our writing and the way we think. The truth is that we do not know, though I am excited to see how even basic education changes because of purposes for writing in this ever-expanding world of knowledge.