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Final Paper

Zackery Smith

English 101.002

Ms. Angela Kennedy

12/7/10

Literacy in the World

Literacy has always been an important ingredient needed to advance knowledge. As

Literacy evolved, so did society, creating advanced ways to use reading and writing and different

literacies overall. Growing up, the only definition of literacy that I knew was reading and

writing. I didn’t know that something like a football coach’s knowledge of the game or a taxi

driver’s ability to maneuver through a city, could be categorized as a literacy. After this class, I

have become aware that most of our society, though it is built around literacy and the ability to

write, is not aware of the importance of these things. Many believe that literacy is declining and

not many people write anymore. Once I learned that so many literacies exist, I began to believe

that everyone writes. Whether it is a student jotting down notes during a lecture or a police

officer creating a report after a tough day on the job, writing takes place in most every situation

thinkable. Through analyzing my writing process, observing the effect of technology on literacy

and researching the different views of literacy and writing in society, I have developed a certain

respect towards the word “literacy” and will do my best to inform others of the major importance

of literacy and writing that still exist today.

At the beginning of this class I already really enjoyed writing. I have been writing short

funny stories of my own ever since I was seven or eight. In high school, I competed in creative

writing and learned how to develop a unique writing process that would best generate my ideas

into my paper. Throughout this class, with each writing assignment, I was able to pick up a few
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tips that helped shape my writing process, making it more effective and improving the quality of

my paper. The peer review process, allowed me to review the writing and style of the other

writers in my class. I saw several different techniques and advanced details, that I felt I could

somehow incorporate into my process, in order to achieve the best final product possible. I’m

sure that the improvements in my writing process that I achieved this semester, will prove to help

me excel in my upcoming endeavors as a CPA. Since public accountants must frequently submit

letters to the IRS, U.S. Treasury, and other institutions, it is important that I develop an

impressive writing style, and I am confident that the skills I acquired in this class have allowed

me take a step in the right direction.

As I mentioned, many careers today involve good writing skills. Many of these careers

require a college education, where people usually develop the most important writing trades,

devoted to the career world. Once people make it into the careers of their choice, they start to

develop certain literacies involved in their line of work. For example, a secretary at a lawyer’s

office must keep clean organized records for the attorney to review with ease. This secretary will

develop overtime a certain procedure that is most effective in managing her job requirements.

Also, the secretary must be literate in customer service, and handling business calls in an

appropriate and professional manner. When one takes into account just how many jobs require

employees to engage in some activity involving writing, it is clear that there is still plenty of

writing going on. Of course the workplace isn’t the only source of writing still found today. In

schools all over the world, children and young adults are given the recipe to become a successful

writer. When I say “Successful Writer”, I’m not necessarily talking about a Pulitzer prize

winning author, I simply mean that students are being taught the writing skills that will help

them succeed in future careers, everyday activities and even legal matters. When it all boils
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down to it, writing can be found everywhere you look. Where would we be if a teacher didn’t

write down our grades for a semester, and just relied on their memory? Well that most likely

depends on the teacher. Also, what if maps didn’t have anything on them but a bunch of colorful,

squiggly lines? Writing will always be important. It doesn’t matter what or how it is being

written, people will always look to it for guidance, information, or a way to get a point across.

One major factor that is affecting both literacy and writing today is technology. Growing

up, my parents were very old fashioned. They did almost everything as their parents taught them

to. My father is an accountant and his father was an accountant. My dad still tells me stories

about his father teaching him how to crunch numbers, post to ledgers, and figure tax returns all

by hand. In the mid 90’s my parents finally invested in a computer, because they had been urged

by their friends and customers to try using one, saying it would make the process a lot more

simple. My dad soon found that they were right. The computer programs could keep track of

accounts, automatically crunch numbers, and provide tax forms that only required the entry of

information, and it did the rest. Needless to say, I had developed this same attitude towards

technology until I was junior in high school. I had a desktop computer that I mainly just used for

class work, and a cell phone that I only used to make emergency phone calls. My friends urged

me to start using text messaging, but I wouldn’t bite. I couldn’t see what the big deal was about

in sending a paragraph of text to my friends, when I could just as easily enjoy a conversation

with them through a phone call. I finally broke down and started texting and even decided to

create my very own facebook page. My views toward technology haven’t been the same ever

since. I now believe that text messaging could be used to send a short piece of information or a

brief question, without the bother of having to engage in a full fledged conversation, and social

networking sites help to keep track of my friends from high school and also conveniently
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exchange information to people who have busy schedules. Also, e-mail has become the

backbone of communication in business, school, and personal business. Technology has made

the exchange of information very convenient and easier for us all. In this age of technology, it is

important to develop certain writing skills and literacies involved in recording data and

communicating using electronic devices. I have learned through several business courses I have

taken that using e-mail, social networking sites, and other electronic communication, requires a

certain etiquette and professionalism when using outside of personal use. After engaging in this

type of communication and also using electronic devices to record data for about four or five

years, I feel that I now right more than I ever did before I discovered this use of technology. This

makes me think that our society as a whole, writes more than ever before. Look back to around

one hundred years ago. There were plenty of books, newspapers and journals being written.

Also, many people would write poems for fun or maybe short stories or analyses of a book they

read. Now, all of that still happens, just more efficiently. Instead of trudging down to the local

pharmacy to browse the shelves for the most recent periodical, we can simply login to an online

data base, search for an article we find interesting and we are done. Also, we have tons of

devices at our fingertips filled with applications used for important daily activities from creating

a daily agenda to submitting a financial report analysis to a superior in a corporation for further

review. Though the way we do it may be very advanced, writing is very much involved in the

daily routine of almost every individual on this planet.

In this class, we were asked to analyze a video from the viewpoint of people who “hate

writing”. The video included interviews of people, who provided reasons why they despised the

process and purposes of writing. I noticed that much of these people’s hatred for writing, stems

from writing assignments in school, or certain work assignments. The fact that these people
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hated writing just because of a simple flaw in their writing process, or even an overly demanding

teacher who may have asked for a little much. For those who think that “no on writes anymore”,

this may be a good reason why. I have friends who are always griping about essays or research

papers that are “ridiculous”. There was a time when I would have just chimed in with them.

Honestly, this class has changed the way I feel about writing, even for a school assignment. It

doesn’t matter the difficulty of an assignment, or how stubborn a teacher may be, the more one

writes or experiences with writing, the better ones skill will be. Though I understand why some

people may become discouraged about some writing assignments, I feel that they shouldn’t hate

or despise writing. Also, even if a person despises writing and exclaims that they aren’t a writer,

they still write, whether it be working out a math problem or writing a letter to their sweety, it’s

still writing. In one of my other writing assignments for this class, I was required to interview

people to find their views on literacy, writing and the like. I also performed some interviews for

my research I used in developing this paper. In several of the interviews that I conducted, many

of those interviewed responded similarly to the question “Do you consider yourself a writer?”

The most common response was no. The subject would go on to explain that they didn’t write

very often or didn’t care much for writing. But, when I would ask the subjects the question “Is

writing a part of your job or daily routine?” the interviewees would seem confounded and

respond with a yes and go on to explain how writing is involved in their job and daily routine

This said to me, that most of us “average” people view writing as an activity reserved for artists

or those involved in big business. I am glad that I have learned that even a fourth grader writing a

story about a fishing with his Grandpa, could be considered as much of a writer as a big name

author.
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Through my experiences in this class I have found several helpful articles and internet

databases that are pushing for our society to become aware of the presence of writing still today.

The NCoW is a great source for articles, videos and other submissions that provide news and

information about the concern on literacy today and also the ability to write in school children

and some adults. One article that I found was very helpful in my research. This article was an

interview submitted by a student at Purdue University. This student had performed an interview

similar to the ones that I had conducted for my fourth writing assignment. The reason why I

found this so valuable was the responses from the person that was interviewed. The interview

included questions that were similar to the ones that I used in my interview process. One of these

questions was “Do you consider yourself a writer?”. The person interviewed responded that they

did consider themselves a writer, not just because of school work, but also all the writing

included in her daily activities(Yang, pg.1). I was pleased to find this, because this is exactly

how I feel about writing. The interview also included the question “How do you feel about

writing?” The person interviewed that writing was one way to vent out feelings and create

something beautiful, by transferring her thoughts to a piece of paper(Yang, Pg.3). Her responses

provide evidence for my thesis that literacy is still strong and that many people still write.

Even though it is almost evident that technology, job and school requirements, and

everyday activities keep all of us busy writing. Yet some still exclaim that there is an absence in

writing and a decline in literacy of young adults and even working adults across the U.S. A

documentary entitled “Who Said Johnny can’t Write” is a video discussing the Great American

Literacy Crisis in 1970’s and what was being done about it. The focus on the video was a news

article entitled “Why Johnny Can’t Write”, that discussed the fact that young man who had

graduated from college couldn’t write in a clear easy to understand manner(Who Said Johnny
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Can’t Write). What the video was most concerned about was that the news article didn’t really

answer the question “why”. The video gave evidence that several students who were close to

graduating high school, had very poor writing skills, even after 10 to 11 years of education. This

can be tied back into the video I mentioned earlier. When a student develops a negative attitude

towards their writing ability, or what they are writing, they start lose focus on the subject. If the

teachers and parents don’t keep close watch on the child’s progress in school, they will most

likely slip right through school without developing the desired level of writing skills. After

thinking this through I decided to research a few of the big name learning centers, and after

school programs to learn about what is now being done to ensure students maintain focus and

sculpt their writing ability enough to best function in society. I found on Sylvan’s website that

each student that comes in for help, receives extensive training and coaching, working with the

kids in a way that will foster a positive view towards writing, and the child’s ability to

write(Sylvan, Webpage). An after school program that I found, Scholastic Learning Program

also works with kid’s to increase their self confidence in writing and strengthen writing

skills(Scholastic, Webpage). With these programs doing their best to make sure children and

young adults have as much assistance in learning as possible, and a fairly strong public education

system to provide plenty of resources to young writers, literacy should be at an all time high and

writing should be viewed as more common than ever.

After conducting interviews and performing my own research on the subjects of writing, I

decided to research statistics and try to find data concerning literacy rates and writing skills of

Americans. I figured I could use these statistics to best show just how people feel about writing

in the USA. U.S. adults ranked 12th among 20 high income countries in several different
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categories of literacy ( such as document or prose)(The Literacy Company). Also found that

there has been a recent surge in elementary grade learning. I did find negative aspects of literacy

in America including: Over one million children drop out of school each year, and Children who

have not developed some basic literacy skills by the time they enter school are 3 - 4 times more

likely to drop out in later years(The Literacy Company, Webpage). This information leads me to

conclude that students aren’t taking in all the material being taught them in school. This doesn’t

mean that people aren’t writing anymore. I believe that if a person doesn’t show the desired level

of writing skills, they still write and are literate in all sorts of other activities. When looking at

literacy from a “reading and writing” stand point it may seem that the quality of writing has

decreased and literacy rates are dropping. This class has taught me to look beyond the reading

and writing tests, and to drop the old definition of literacy. I now see that people of all ages and

demographics are literate in some way.

Before this class, I knew literacy as the ability to read or write. I thought of people who

couldn’t read or write as illiterate. I also viewed writing as just a school assignment or a way to

pass time. When I heard the word “writer” I thought of Stephen King or a sports analyst

reporting the Dallas Morning News. Now, everywhere I look, I notice all kinds of literacies and

people writing so many different types of texts. I can’t walk into a grocery store without noticing

an employee in the bakery section decorating a cake, and thinking of that person as being literate

in cakes decorating and creating in her very own text including flowers made of icing and images

of cartoon characters designed with sugar sprinkles and colored cake frosting. When viewing

society from this perspective, it is easy to declare that everyone is a writer in their own unique

way. You can’t expect this to mean that every person in the United States is cranking out
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bestseller novels, but simply that we all create our own texts and engage in certain literacies that

we have developed over time. From what I have learned, I will never use the word illiterate

again. literacy is a strong word, very hard to define. I believe that the more definitions that can

be associated with literacy, the better. I know that most of the members of my class’s views on

literacy and writing has been changed forever and hopefully, we will be able to spread the

message.

Works Cited

1. Yang, Brian. Who is a Writer. NCoW Archive 2009. Oct 27, 2010
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http://dmc.tamu-commerce.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?

2. The Literacy Company Webpage. Reading, Literacy, and Education Statisitics. 2010.
12/5/2010
http://www.readfaster.com/education_stats.asp#literacystatistics

3. Sylvan Webpage. Why Sylvan Works. 23 Nov. 2010. 5 Dec. 2010

http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/sylvan_tutoring_service_advantage.cfm

4. Scholastic Webpage. After School Learning.. 1 Dec. 2010. 7 Dec. 2010

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/afterschoollearning/aboutprogram.htm

5. Who Said Johnny Can’t Write. NcoW Archive. 17 June 2009. 28 Nov.2010
http://ncow.org/features/feature_1-2_09.htm

6. Smith, Billy. Interview with Billy Smith. 24 Oct 2010

7. Melvin, Jennifer. Interview with Jennifer Melvin. 23 Oct 2010

8. Norcross, Joseph. Interview with Joseph Norcross. 23 Oct. 2010