Understanding key to literacy<\/p>\n
By John Phillips<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In honor of Indonesia's recent Literacy Day
\ncelebrations, this newspaper printed several articles about the
\ntrue nature of literacy. First, readers were reminded that
\nliteracy means not only the ability to read, but the ability to
\nwrite. Second, readers learned about the expanded meaning of
\nliteracy -- that the term includes cultural literacy, or the
\nability to read and write about one's culture, and computer
\nliteracy, the ability to use technology.<\/p>\n
But an even more important element of literacy was ignored:
\nUnderstanding. Being able to read means being able to understand
\ntext, while being able to write implies being able to communicate
\nthrough producing text.<\/p>\n
Literacy, then, is the ability to communicate or understand
\nthrough interaction with text. But not all interaction with text
\nis sufficient. For example, when I was very young and had poor
\neyesight, I thought that my first pair of glasses would give me
\nthe ability to read because I would be able to see. Distinctions
\nbetween reading and understanding and writing and communicating
\nare important if one believes that the primary purpose of
\nlearning how to read and write is to foster better communication
\nand understanding.<\/p>\n
Reading is not simply seeing, and writing is not simply
\nscribbling. Even more important is what kind of understanding and
\nwhat kind of communication?<\/p>\n
I read somewhere that some 40,000 copies of Hitler's
\nautobiography Mein Kampf are sold illegally in Germany each year.
\nWhen Mao was alive his little red book had the largest
\npublication and widest circulation of any modern book and may
\nhave even rivaled the Bible for \"popularity\".<\/p>\n
Finally, as was the case elsewhere in the world with
\ncolonialists and the colonized before World War II, during the
\napartheid era in South Africa, white South Africans had a much
\nhigher rate of literacy than did black South Africans (in part
\nbecause blacks were not allowed much education).<\/p>\n
As these examples show, literacy can be easily misused to
\nfoster oppression and tyranny, particularly when reading and
\nwriting are divorced from true understanding and communication.
\nRecall that the job of the \"hero\" in George Orwell's anti-
\ntotalitarian book 1984 was to rewrite history to reflect the
\nparty line, \"newspeak\".<\/p>\n
Literacy is potentially the most liberating of all human
\nskills, for literacy skills are essential to the building of a
\ntruly democratic society. The notion that \"majority rules\" is
\npremised on assumption that majority is literate. Initially,
\n\"literacy laws\" in the United States were not intended to deny
\nthe right to vote to particular groups of people based on racial
\nor ethnic background, but to insure that the voters could read
\nand write, and thus, understand the issues and candidates on
\nwhich they cast votes. Although these laws were eventually
\nsubverted to keep minorities from having access to power, the
\nbasic idea remains that an educated, literate populous is the
\nreal strength of a democratic country.<\/p>\n
In short, a literate population is an educated population, and
\nthe definition of literacy must include the ability to understand
\nliterally and symbolically. But there is even more to the concept
\nof literacy.<\/p>\n
Some statistician once calculated that if 100 monkeys typed on
\n100 typewriters for a zillion or so years, they would produce one
\nShakespeare play by random chance. These mental gymnastics prove
\nthat random combinations of letters can produce greatness, and
\nthis experiment could be duplicated by 100 human beings who also
\ncould eventually hit the magic combination of words that produce
\ngreat meaning. But Shakespeare was a genius and his work is of
\ngreater intrinsic value than that of the monkeys or the humans
\nbecause he conceived of ideas and developed them in writing. That
\nis, the ability to communicate in writing is the highest literacy
\nskill of all.<\/p>\n
People who write say that writing is not just about
\ncommunicating with others, but about communicating with
\nthemselves to more fully understand ideas. The act of writing
\nforces propels the writer beyond surface understanding into the
\ndeeper levels of the conscious and unconscious mind. It is the
\nwriter's discussion with himself about what he knows and
\nunderstands of the world, and how it works. With his pen he is
\nable to explore his ideas, beliefs and dreams. The writer re-
\nemerges with greater clarity of ideas and a sheet of paper to
\nprove it.<\/p>\n
The act of writing and the act of reading impose a duty on all
\nof us to seek communication and understanding in the light, not
\nin the darkness of one's mind. That is, we have a duty in society
\nto use our literacy skills to seek truth and with its knowledge,
\nnot to spread lies, believe falsehoods, create misunderstanding
\nand foster hatred. Ultimately, true literacy is not a privilege
\nfor the few, or even a choice for the many, but a responsibility
\nfor us all.<\/p>\n
The writer is a visiting lecturer at Sanata Dharma University,
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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