In the reading, "The Theory behind the Dictionary: Cultural Literacy and Education," they had some great reasoning for their ideas. I liked the author’s whole explanation of someone may know how to read, but until they fully understand the whole background of what they are reading, they are not getting anything from the reading. The reader and the author are not "communicating." They also explain why reading ability measured in how well a person can understand diverse kinds of writing on numerous subjects. I feel that they could not be any more correct. How is someone supposed to learn if they only know a lot of, let us say, a couple subjects. They are not going to learn as much unless they know "a lot" of many subjects Hirsch's approached many directs such as logos, ethos and even a little pathos, but no vision, no interpretation, no invitation to the world of learning. Instead of reading short clips summarizing the great works of literature, should not students try to read the works themselves? The superficiality of Hirsch's approach is pervasive; students taught catch phrases to s...
Conley defined culture in many forms in chapter 3. Culture is utilized to rationalize many human behaviors and descriptions of all sorts of individuals and patterns. In other terms, Conley stated that culture can be considered a set of beliefs, traditions, and practices. It is also the sum total of the social categories and concepts we hold in addition to beliefs or viewpoints, practices, and behaviors. Based on my reflections on the various definitions of culture discussed by Conley, the one that makes sense the most is Material versus Nonmaterial culture. According to Conley culture is created by individuals and it is a way of life. It can be separated into Material culture and Nonmaterial culture. Material culture is basically everything
In the essay “Hidden Intellectualism” Gerald Graff expressed his views on education. He feels that teachers or professors only see traditional subjects or text as intellectually valuable even though, although as a professor himself, he disagrees with it. He feels that the spectrum should be broadened to be able to interact with the kids more and get them more interested in the reading that are taught in schools. He is speaking to teachers in an effort to get them to change from the mindset of teaching traditionally and get reading that students to relate to. He is also speaking to students to get them to feel better about not being able to relate certain readings, and to also see that not being able to relate to the readings is not a bad thing. Although Pop Culture reading is not considered as intellectual reading it should be.
While I student taught the classroom teachers were informed to take the reading block, which provided students to read a book for pure enjoyment and replace it to test prep. I believe that if the school system does not take action and get rid of these standardized test society is going to be composed of hollow minds. Yes, it is easy to memorize terms but to completely understand them and apply them to the real world takes skills. Reading is everything in the outside world and is a form of communication. As I read the book the author reencounters reading a book titled Come Back and how his perspective suddenly made him realized that feeling anger towards someone in his family for his sisters death was wrong and destructive. Perhaps, can someone who is not a reader realize what the author
As I read this article by John Guillory, I thought he sounded like a pompous, condescending know it all, but when I read the article again it made me begin to think about reading skills. In elementary school, we read books about faraway lands of make b...
Reading is on the decline and our reading skills are declining right along with the amount of reading we do. This is happening right across the board through both genders, all age groups and education levels, people are busy and they just do not have time to read books that they are not required to read for school or work. There are serious consequences to this neglect of reading that will continue to worsen if ignored. We need to take notice of what is happening to our culture and stop this situation from continuing, we must act to correct these issues that we are faced with. These things are discussed in the essay “Staying Awake’’ by Ursula K. Le Guin who uses the NEA essays “To Read or Not to Read’’ and “Reading at Risk’’ to support her argument that there is a decline in the amount of time that we are spending on reading and our ability to understand what it is that we are reading.
According to Stephen Duncombe in his Introduction to The Cultural Resistance Reader, cultural resistance is “A ‘haven in a heatless world,’ an escape from the world of politics and problems.” (123). Increased privatization of public space was a major form of cultural resistance in 1998. Looking at other forms of cultural resistance I noticed homeschooling and the resistance it generates. In the early 1980’s homeschooling in America increased due to speculations that public schools were teaching unconventional ethics. Since this period, an increase in the number of children home schooled has been recorded. 2.9 percent, or about 1.5 million kids of age to attend school were home schooled in 2007, an increase from previous years. But why this sudden increase when public and private school have been around for so long? Looking further into it, I saw that parents felt that with homeschooling they had more freedom, family time and less worry about what their kids were learning since they are the ones teaching them. After looking at each of these arguments praising homeschooling, I realized that these were not aspects benefiting the children and their futures. Homeschooling is a form of cultural resistance because it escapes reality by having each family deciding their own curriculum and isolating them from social interaction, but since it doesn't generate broader change to the education system, it is ineffective.
Textbooks are essential and informative, however it is not the main core value of education. If we truly depend on textbook, our world would be as naïve as natives in colonization era. Schopenhauer provides the difference between reading and thinking. “Reading forcibly imposes on the mind thoughts that are as foreign to its mood and direction” (Schopenhauer, pg. 89) Reading is an escape of reality. It penetrates the mind and alters thinking. “The mind is totally subjected to an external compulsion” (Schopenhauer, pg.89) although reading is prominent, it can impair personal thinking. “That the surest way of never having any thoughts of your own is to pickup a book every time you have a free moment.” (Schopenhauer, pg. 90) When it comes to reading college content, it has no originality. We are attaining our foreign thinking from a text that has been modified thus teach one purpose only and that is to provide facts. We cannot attain wisdom from textbooks. Universities provide textbooks that are a copy of another copy; that is to say, the information is the production of somebodies else’s idea following by, another mans ideas and so on. “All that has ever been taught is a critique of a words and fifty critiques of them as preserved side-by-side and intermingled” (Nietzsche, pg. 187) What can we obtain from a mixtures of words? Well criteria met. It is possible to have our own thoughts and ideas; if we only foreshadow on textbook we will become a textbook itself. “People who pass their lives in reading and acquire their wisdom from books are like those who learn about a country from travel description” (Schopenhauer, pg. 91) we have to obtain our wisdom from our own thoughts and not from what is editing in from of
Percival Everett’s “The Appropriation of Cultures” (2004), demonstrates the power of a symbol and the meanings that it can carry. In the story, Daniel Barkley is a highly accomplished African American man who graduated from Brown and frequently plays guitar near the campus of The University of South Carolina. From the beginning of the story, Barkley exposes a distinct independent personality that isn’t afraid to break stereotypes or labels. The first scene describes an instance in a bar where white fraternity boys were challenging Barkley to play ‘Dixie’ for them. Instead of refusing, like most would have done, he instead begins to play and take ownership of the song. Later in the story, Barkley decides to purchase a truck with a giant confederate flag decal in the back. Despite the strange stares and confusion
...ed by most, and how dyslexia can cause problems with reading comprehension. It also discussed ways that we can mitigate these problems for dyslexic people, but these skills can and should be used by all learners. Reading comprehension is a perishable skill, one that if you don’t work on increasing your reading ability by building your vocabulary, learn to read effectively, or using the correct reading strategies for the type of reading material being studied will diminish. Even with the largest vocabulary, if the words are not understood literacy cannot be achieved. Literacy is the key to comprehensive reading. It also gave some of the tools for reading and understanding different types of literature and how to get the important information out of each one. Edmund Burk said “To read without reflecting is like eating without digesting” (Gallagher, 2003, p. 11).
Andrew Solomon has some valid arguments in his article, and he tries to persuade the readers through logos, pathos, and ethos. Solomon wants the readers to understand the importance of reading, and how its decline can be harmful to the nation. To reinforce his arguments, Solomon shares a variety of examples, for instance, he mentions that reading helps improve memory and concentration, and the decline of reading is causing mental “atrophy.” He also calls upon the readers to take some sort of action to raise reading rates and help the society. This can grant the readers a form of power and control over the crisis that will lead to an em...
He too quickly dismisses the idea of reading on your own to find meaning and think critically about a book. For him, Graff states that “It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug.” (26) While this may have worked for Graff, not all students will “experience a personal reaction” (27) through the use of critical discussion. The solution to this seems to be neither giving away answers or lazily doing assigned reading in order to find meaning within the text.
Throughout this paper I will be discuss and describe these three articles about Stuart Hall cultural studies theory the Cultural Studies: Two Paradigms from Media, Culture and Society, then the Cultural Studies in the Future tense and Sexing the Self: Gendered Positions in Cultural Studies theory.
reading across the curriculum. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen. Eleventh Edition. Longman, 2011. 248-250. Print.
I strongly believe that you cannot know an experience until you have felt it yourself. The same can be said for reading. You can describe the magic of reading to a child but they might never see it and be frustrated that they are missing it. The joy of reading has to come from an individual being captivated by the book, not by someone else telling him or her how great reading the book is. That is why I believe self-choice is absolutely necessary when picking a book. Recommendations can certainly guide readers in the right direction, but if the student lacks interest in the book from the start, it will be a struggle for them to make time to read it and finish it. That being said, I think my philosophy of reading would fit somewhere between a constructivism and sociolinguistics theory.
In Clyde Kluckhohn's passage, adapted from his book, Mirror for Man, we are given an illumination of anthropology on the concept of culture. He explains that culture is not only derived by "the way we are brought up," but also personal past experiences and the biological properties of the people concerned. As humans we have learned to adapt to our own personal surroundings and have conditioned ourselves and our life styles to revolve around such surroundings by the most comfortable means possible.