Finn: "Literacy with an Attitude"

Finn: Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest

     In "Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest," Finn asserts that education should focus on a hegemonic literacy--a literacy with an attitude--that allows impoverished and middle-class students to comprehend and maintain their civic and societal rights. In the excerpt, Finn mentions several academics who have embarked on an pedagogical journey to ensure the right to literacy with an attitude. In addition to Paolo Freire, Finn includes Shirley Brice Heath and John Ogbu. Greatly influenced by Finn's presentation of Freire who was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist, I was inclined to investigate the aforementioned theorists. Who are they? How have they influenced literacy and social ideology? Does their research provide further insight into Finn's "Literacy with an Attitude" or the additional writers covered in class? Equipped with inquiries, I took to the Internet to provide answers and supplemental resources for the class.

     A "transforming intellectual" (Finn, 156) or critic of social inequities, Shirley Brice Heath wrote Ways with Words: Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms. The text is a study of children's use of language at school and at home in two communities in the Southeast. Heath's 'Roadville' is a white working-class community who livelihood is dependent on textile miles, while 'Trackton' is an African-American working community whose elders worked in agriculture and the current generation works in the mills. Functioning as an ethnographer and social historian, Heath reveals the cultural differences of the divergent communities, and the nature of language development with its effect on social class. Stunning the academic world with her findings, Heath concluded that the African-American youth demonstrated a more proficient grasp on language than their white counterparts. Due to their home socialization and 'culture,' African-American children were accustomed to talking in "planful" language--if I want this to happen, I must say this! Remind anyone of Delpit's explicit directives Thus, avoid "veiled commands" (Delpit, 34) in order to get what you want! For further information on Shirley Brice Heath and her examination of linguistic skills, please refer to the following interview: http://sparkaction.org/content/arts-are-basic-achievement-interview-shirl.
　
     Like Freire and Heath, Dr. John Ogbu contributed to education with his cultural-ecological theory, or an elucidation of low minority group achievement in education due to a cultural mismatch. Echoing Johnson's proverbial 'elephant' in the room of "the existence of privilege and the lopsided distribution of power that keeps it going" (Johnson, 15) in 'Privilege, Power, and Difference, Ogbu's cultural mismatch suggests that minority students experience low academic achievement because some aspects of their cultures—language, dialect, perception of time and space, attitude toward collectivism and individualism—do not match the school culture. This mismatch puts them at a disadvantage compared to students who share cultural background with school teachers, text books authors, and standardized test writers. In order to connect Ogbu to Finn, please view the following YouTube video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AonVz9XFk8, on The U.S. Black/White Test-Score Gap.

 

The cartoon video is lengthy, however, it provides an interesting perspective on the achievement gap that is based upon race--a gap that effects school and later the workplace (think Finn!). Furthermore, Ogbu distinguished voluntary and involuntary minorities. Voluntary minorities are those who come to a society of their own choice through immigration; involuntary minorities are those who come to a society through enslavement, conquest, or colonization. Does this tie into Johnson's power and privilege, and Delpit's "culture of power" (24)? I would say yes!　

     More theory for those "out there in the trenches" (Finn, 7)! Nevertheless, I leave you with Finn's question: "How would it work in my classroom" (Finn, 7)? Hope the resources help!