Chris Hayes

76100o Argument

Prof. Geoff Sauer

4/22/97

Literacy Within Racial Groups

Scholars have written numerous reports and papers dealing with the discrepancies between the literacy rates of different races and proposing many solutions to the problem. Many authors disagree over what definition to use for illiteracy, and others argue about how to close the gap between the dominant race and the minorities. Illiteracy affects whites, blacks, Spanish, Mexicans, Asian-Americans, and all other ethnic groups, but is predominantly a crisis of the lower socioeconomic class. (Juel 437) A problem arises when the "professionals" try to solve illiteracy for an entire ethnic group as a whole. Attempting to associate and group blacks from Los Angeles, California with blacks from Birmingham, Alabama is similar to comparing apples and oranges. The only attribute shared by many would be the color of their skin. In order to solve the illiteracy problem it is necessary to initially look at the different ethnic groups not as wholes, but as individuals with their own characteristics. After treating the children as individuals, it may be then necessary to try to slide the into groups fitting their culture and personalities.

Being literate doesn't only allow someone to read a newspaper or a book; it "provides an important medium through which we interact with the human environment."(Ferdman, 181) Literacy provides an avenue for one to learn about their own and other people's culture and to create an identity for themselves. Although it may be impossible to automatically assume two people have the same reasons for their deficiencies in reading because of their religion or ethnic, it still may be useful to look at their culture as a possible reason for their problems. (Ferdman, 195) It is possible that the text being taught may not have any pertinence to their culture, and thus, they have no interest in reading or learning it. (Ferdman 195) For young children starting school, a strong base of knowledge is a key element to later success in reading levels. Studies have shown that poor levels of reading comprehension, word recognition, and vocabulary in late elementary school can often be traced to poor phonetic skills in first grade. (Juel 441). A deciding factor in the child's ultimate literacy level may not be one's race, but if he or she grew up in a learning environment before schooling. (Juel 440)

A major concern over the high illiteracy rates in America is that as a society we are becoming more diverse, but our upper management positions are mainly being held by white males(Blandin 182). Many of the statistics on illiteracy rates group all blacks together and all Hispanics together, and tell the gruesome story about how "a black male in California is three times more likely to be murdered as he is to be admitted to the University of California."(Blandin 182) By hearing and believing ideas similar to the aforementioned, the public is ignoring the fact that within minority groups there is extraordinary diversity. (Blandin 182) Solving illiteracy through treating minority groups as a unit is a very difficult route to follow. Instead it is necessary to find out the problem within each neighborhood or home and treat each case individually.

A study of 54 children, grades 1-4, conducted by Connie Juel focused on finding a relationship between early reading and writing levels and how they are correlated with the levels at the end of her study(Juel 437). Her subjects consisted of children from low socioeconomic households and from many different ethnic backgrounds. The trend discovered by her study was not one of racial significance, but one which points to the idea that children who have poor word recognition entering the 1st grade fall significantly behind by 4th grade. What is more revealing about the way children learn is their attitudes about themselves and their learning relative to their peers as they age. By the second grade "poor readers" show significantly less desire to read voluntarily than "good readers". (Juel 442) A quote from a second-grader shows how discouraged one can get about reading if they fall behind, "I'd rather clean the mold around the bathtub than read." (Juel 442) This indicates how instrumental the task of finding enjoyable subjects for the children to read is to their learning. Selecting texts that highlight the individual child's culture may divert a kid who is headed for poor reading levels to acquire an interest in reading.

Since cultures differ in what they consider to be their "texts" and in the values they attach to these, they will also differ in what they view as literate behavior. An illiterate person is someone who cannot access (or produce) texts that are seen as significant within a given culture.(Ferdman 186)

This quote from Bernardo M. Ferdman shows his view on how illiteracy differs with the individual's culture. A learned scholar from Japan may come to the United States and not be able to read a single word of English. He would be considered illiterate because he cannot read street signs or the local newspaper. But to group him with another person of Japanese decent who has lived in the United States for his entire life but is still illiterate would make little sense. This may seem like an obvious example, but when newspapers or scholarly journals report on low illiteracy through the use of statistics, they are doing precisely the same thing. When the recent Japanese immigrant takes a written test in English, his low score would indicate he or she is illiterate. Within an ethnic group, there will be sub-groups who differ in the degree to which they feel they belong to their ethnic ties.(Ferdman 191) One sub-group may feel it more important to study their ancient religion than to learn about American History. These distinctions will mold the young children's cultural identity, which includes internalized views of their culture, their values, and the priority they put on their culture's beliefs. (Ferdman 193) As a young child's cultural identity is being built, he or she is very susceptible to the influences of his or her peers. Ferdman believes that literacy and cultural identity are closely linked: "When a child perceives a writing task as belonging to his or her cultural identity, it is more likely that he or she will become engaged" in the activity. (Ferdman 195) If this is the case it stands to reason that he or she will also, eventually, become more educated and literate if the majority of the tasks pertain to his or her culture.

Another problem Ferdman discusses in "Literacy and Cultural Identity" is when students partake in activities which lower their chances to be successful in school in order to maintain their identity. (197) He cites a study by Matute-Bianchi on a group of Mexican-Americans in California, who he names Chicanos. For them to make any outward effort to succeed in school, their efforts would be "viewed as derisively, condescendingly, and mockingly by other Chicanos." (Matute-Bianchi in Ferdman 197) Although this attitude does not exist within all Mexican groups, it must exist within other cultural identities, including white Americans. With this attitude in school, the students face a very difficult decision. Eventually, in the example above, the students may have to decide what they value more: being a successful student, or being a Chicano. Cultural identity does not only shape a person's acquisition of literacy, but education also molds a student's cultural identity. (Ferdman 198) After increasing one's illiteracy, it is probable that he or she will expand the social and cultural environment in which he or she participates. Eventually all of the new knowledge and self-confidence the student attains will move him or her to strengthen or change his or her cultural beliefs. (Ferdman 198)

Ferdman cites an example of how a person's cultural identity may hurt him or her when it comes to their education. "I was struck by a New York Times picture showing newly arrived Vietnamese immigrant children in school dressed as pilgrims and Indians "celebrating" Thanksgiving." (198) If these children were asked to do research or reading on our Thanksgiving, the majority of them would find it boring and not pertinent to them. This obviously will cause a gap in the learning between Americans, who hold Thanksgiving as a significant holiday, and foreigners who consider their own holidays more attractive. As the students grow and age they will probably become curious about cultures other than their own, but by that time they may have slipped through our schools. A compounding problem with literacy is that the more you fall behind in your grade, the fewer words you will read compared to your peers. In Connie Juel's study she found that after first grade her "good readers" read, on the average, almost twice as many words as her "poor readers". (445) These same students undoubtedly fall into a cycle which piles on to itself at the beginning of every new year. This leads to a problem with the children's self-confidence, which in turn, cause the young students to be less likely to read on their own. "The average good reader in fourth grade reported reading at home almost four times per week; the average poor reader reported reading at home about once a week." (Juel 445)

John U. Ogbu wrote his essay with the intent to find reasons why black Americans, on the average, fall behind when is comes to reading, writing, and computing. (Ogbu 130) His views about culture and illiteracy differ greatly from Ferdman's and he believes there has been sufficient data to indicate an oral culture does not affect black American's acquisition of reading skills. (Ogbu 130) It was a popular theory to explain black American's high failure rate in school through the idea that the oral culture they come from was hindering their learning. (Ogbu 130) A theory that became popular in the late 1970's was that black Americans were having more trouble, on the average, because of a mismatch in the children's language and the language being taught in school. (Simons in Ogbu 130-131) This theory was disproved when these same black Americans who were doing poorly on standardized tests also did poorly in tests administered in their "black dialect." (131) This black dialect is part of black Americans' culture, and this is the big difference between Ferdman and Ogbu. The latter rejects the idea that somehow the minorities, specifically black Americans, are at a disadvantage because they grew up with a different culture than their white peers. Ogbu points to the fact that the other minorities, such as Asian immigrants, who are also raised in households with different beliefs and values, achieve high levels of academic success. He writes that a reason why there is a disproportionate gap between the literacy levels of our dominant ethnicity and black Americans may be because of the way the two cultures view schooling. "Blacks have had to fight for almost every increase in their access to public school." (Ogbu 141) Blacks' history of schooling has placed an us-versus-them attitude among many black social circles. (Ogbu 140) This idea coupled with the theory that blacks do not have a trust for some of the white educators in the city, cause many black adults to become very skeptical. (144) This skepticism is seen by the children of these parents and causes them to become disenchanted with the whole education system. Often when this happens a cycle of discontent is created and a large mental obstruction is placed in the way of learning.

"As a group, Black and Hispanic students are well behind White students by grade 4, and the difference is not made up even for those who attend college." (Applebee 11) This is another opinion by an expert in the field of illiteracy who believes a persons final illiteracy rate is often affected by how well they initially read. Applebee continues in his report to discuss how the acquisition of literacy is not only a result of schooling done within our education system. (12)

Children and young adults whose parents have more education and those with access to more reading materials in the home read, write , and reason more proficiently than those from homes with less-well-educated parents and fewer reading materials. (Applebee 12)

This gives further support to the idea that the environment one grows up in can and often does affect his or her final reading level. Often the lifestyle and discipline in a home depends on the culture within the household. Many cultures stress knowledge in the written form and their houses are probably filled with books, newspapers, and magazines. On the other hand, some cultures stress more oral activities and consequently, have less material around the house for a young child to read. This affects the attitude the child will have to reading and also the willingness he or she is to read for pleasure.

A study done by the National Research Center on Literature Teaching and Learning had young students write stories about their family and heritage. (Zancanella 11) As the project progressed the students would recite the stories orally to their peers and ask each other critical questions. Eventually the young students became so enthused with the topic of their own culture that they began to revise and rewrite their stories up to 4 times. (11) These children were all recent immigrants from the Dominican Republic but they were able to be excited by this project because it interested them. These types of projects undoubtedly inspire these young children to read and write because they are able to tell and teach other people about their own culture. When a little child is able to be confident in his or her knowledge, it often leads to a new interest and enthusiasm to learning.

There is no quick easy plan to lower or eliminate illiteracy in any group, but a long arduous road to lower literacy levels is possible. Through recognizing that each individual possesses his or her own style of learning and attempting to implement structures to fit those need teachers may be the first line of defense against illiteracy. Within certain neighborhoods schools should decide to cater to the students interests and assign texts which will interest the children. We have to try an create an atmosphere where everybody is interested in what they are doing. I am not supporting changing the language taught in school, but only changing the subjects of what is being read. If teachers across the country can find a way to interest their youngest of students, the effect will be noticed ten years down the road. Hopefully it will cause students who would otherwise start school poorly, and possibly continue to drop-out, to gain an appreciation for the subject.

WORKS CITED