What Do Banana and Honey Sandwiches Have to Do with Literacy?
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Neil Postman made an argument in 1982 that childhood was disappearing because multi-media erased the boundary between what adults knew and what children knew.
In the same vein, he warned us, so is adulthood disappearing.
A pathetic statistic is that adult television shows cater to the mentality of a twelve-year-old child, according to Postman, who wrote the prescient book, The Disappearance of Childhood.
Isn’t that mortifying?!
The literate world of adults was the boundary that separated children from adults. With everyone plugged into the same immature television shows, and few people reading today, that boundary is disappearing.
Childhood / adulthood aren’t the only things at risk of becoming obsolete. We call ourselves a literate society, but are we, really?
When we declared ourselves a literate country, there was no television and, if you could read, you read at more sophisticated levels because it was pre-dumbed-down America.
This is no longer true. Writers who write for the average public intentionally use less vocabulary and shorter sentences to meet the demands of a populace of poor readers.
Yet, if we understand the mechanics of reading and writing at a basic level, we’re classified as literate even if we can’t do either well.
Someone who can barely run around the block, however, can hardly be called a runner. Someone who can barely hit the ball over the net can hardly be called a tennis player, someone who knows how to make a hotdog can hardly be called a cook.
We aren’t labeled a runner, a tennis player, or a cook until we can perform at an intermediate level, at least. Until then, we’re learning how to do said skill.
Out of curiosity, I looked up UNESCO's definition of literacy. Not surprisingly, the definition changed around the time institutionalized schooling took root.
UNESCO used to define literacy as an ability to read and write (presumably well) to the following mumbo jumbo:
Literacy is the ability to identify, understand, interpret, create, communicate and compute, using printed and written materials associated with varying contexts. Literacy involves a continuum of learning in enabling individuals to achieve their goals, to develop their knowledge and potential, and to participate fully in their community and wider society (UNESCO, 2004; 2017).
“You can teach children to hate reading, to do it poorly, and to hate themselves for not measuring up to the false premises of institutional reading practices–premises which provide the foundation of our multi-billion dollar reading industry.”
If we redefine literacy to include only those people who were proficient readers, and by proficient reader I mean someone who could read, discuss and write about a piece of work such as The Federalists Papers or The Iliad, we'd have to conclude that we're mostly an illiterate society.
Before you decide my suggestion is literacy ad absurdum, consider this:
Our standards for literacy are so low that if an adult can read a simple newspaper article and underline what the swimmer ate, we classify him as literate.
Lest you think I'm being facetious, here's a question, taken from a newspaper article, that was on the National Adult Literacy Test:
Q. Underline the sentence that tells what Ms. Chanin ate during the swim.
A. A spokesman for the swimmer, Roy Brunett, said Chanin had kept up her strength with "banana and honey sandwiches, hot chocolate, lots of water and granola bars."
As long as someone can make out the spelling of banana, which is not difficult to do, he can figure out that this is the correct sentence to underline.
But is this the right approach? Shouldn’t we raise the standards, so we educate our children to become adults who can tackle difficult reading material?
You probably have school-age children whose education you’re concerned about. These are the years when you want to put a lot of effort into training your children's minds.
You can train them to run intellectual circles around the rest of us, or you can train them to underline what a swimmer ate; the choice is yours.
Let me offer you a hand by sharing a few strategies you can use to keep the door of knowledge open for your children:
Make It Easy
With any bad habit we try to break, the first step is to get rid of the obstacles keeping us from adopting the new habit. In this case, we should start with our screens.
A movie on the weekends for older children is plenty, if they ask. Other than that, keep the screens tucked away someplace.
To take this step requires an understanding that if you want more for your child, if you want him to rise above the less-than-mediocre standards today, then you will need to make some sacrifices.
Let me ask you a question: do you have a television in your living room so you can watch the news every evening?
For many of us, keeping screens hidden is a burden because they're so much a part of our lives now. We depend upon them for many things such as answers to quick questions, the latest news, and frying our brains.
Speaking of frying our brains, the other day I went to a piano recital where my son was performing. The recitals are usually in a church, and so there's an unspoken understanding that it isn't a place for chitchat or smartphones. But this last recital was in the Steinway piano store.
We got there just before it started, so we had no choice but to sit in the back. It turned out that the back of the room was where all the parenting smartphone addicts sat. My God, the number of mothers glued to their phones was astounding.
The only time they looked up was when their own child performed.
They have no idea what they missed.
Anyhow books (nor piano recitals) can successfully compete with screen time. It's a known fact which anyone can easily test without leaving home.
Find Inspiring Friends
Find like-minded families to raise your children with; people who will support your values and your high standards rather than undermine them. (And be that family for someone else.)
Company matters.
If you can't find like-minded families, start talking about your concerns until someone will listen, but don't give up. Someone will eventually listen and be brave enough to do what Neil Postman advises us to do, go against the culture.
“There are parents who are committed to doing all of these things [no screens], who are in effect defying the directives of their cultures. Such parents are not only helping their children to have a childhood but are, at the same time, creating a sort of intellectual elite. ”
If our culture is producing mediocrity, then we can't do what everyone else is doing. We have to muster up the courage to go against the grain of society.
To become a truly rebellious spirit, line your walls with good books and start reading everyday to your children. If you aren't a reader yourself, have faith that you can become one.
Many people who weren’t formerly good readers chose to become good readers in adulthood, but it takes determination and perseverance.
You can do it. I know people who have.
Everything is in a state of flux; you are either flexing the noodle between your ears and making it stronger, or you aren't.
Create a culture of wonder and learning in your home. Have intelligent discussions with your children about the great ideas, history, science, literature, philosophy, and so forth.
Raising and educating children today takes a lot of work; it always did. We're used to delegating the task to the government with the consequence of getting a child who is not all that he or she could be.
Mediocre is not the same as excellent or, for that matter, even very good.
The brain is a phenomenal organ, and it grows with the right kind of stimulation. It houses the mind like the body houses the soul.
Let it be a great mind.
How to Raise a More Intelligent Child and an Excellent Reader, free guide and book list with over 80+ carefully chosen titles.
Join the Smart Homeschooler Academy to learn how to give your child an elite education at home.
Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach with 17 years experience working in children’s education. She has two successfully homeschooled children in college.
