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Literacy Definition Essay

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The standardized definition of literacy has always been the ability to read and write, but the cultural definition of literacy has always managed to change its shape based on the socioeconomic state of a community. A child is first raised by their community and through such connection they are molded by their community’s standards of life. A community, whether it is rich or poor, holds the ability to create/shape its own perception of literacy and therefor place a value on the importance of it. If education is only expressed in an institutional form, a child will clearly feel a disconnect between what they have learned at home and what has been taught in the classroom. Literacy in most neighborhoods, including mine, took shape in writing on …show more content…

My first interaction with literacy began with a piece of chalk and the sidewalk. Drawing and writing quick quips with my friends allowed me to develop a friendly relationship with words, word play and the the classic” roses are red, violets are blue” stanza structure. When it grew cold outside and the snow covered the streets, indoor games reigned supreme. The alphabet game inspired competition amongst the kids and cheating using the knowledge of the adults around us. Writing at the age of nine encompassed my world and my password journal housed all of my stories both real and fake. I wrote about my day, my family, my problems, my insecurities, my imaginary friends, made up worlds, and everything else that came to my mind. Writing in my journal became almost therapeutic, it provided me with a best friend that I could confine in without the fear of judgment or rejection. Keeping my journal to myself allowed me to create my own world that I was able to escape into at whim. This idea of privacy within literacy remained close within me, until one day I lost my journal in church. When the next Sunday came and it was time to claim my journal, I realized that though no one knew whose journal it was, everyone knew what was in the journal. Horrified, I left my journal unclaimed and began my distrustful relationship with writing. Though I …show more content…

The dog is a live free thinking being that has limited room to roam because it is always on a leash. Sometimes the leash might get loose and allow the dog to roam further, but the fact that the dog is on a leash does not change. The question then arises, what if the dog breaks free? What if the dog steals away in the middle of the night and runaways into the woods? This new found freedom is exciting and thrilling at first, but sooner rather than later the dog realizes it does not know how to survive on its own. That being said, the great thing about a young dog is that, it can still learn new tricks. College is a completely new territory where writing prompts are extremely vague and your paper is what you decide. This new found freedom is strange and with less restrictions I find myself exploring forms of literacy that utilize both standardized and cultural reading and writing. The standardized definition of literacy is set by the ruling political power and it describes what politicians imagine the country should be, completely disregarding the melting pot we have become. The cultural definition of literacy reflects the true state of our country and it depicts a multitude of children’s standards of living. When you combine the two you gain new developments in the world of literacy and you annihilate the single

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