"Mass education, mass literacy, etc. necessarily involves a cheapening or debasing of culture, language, and literature...We must come to terms with the lives of people without patronizing them or falling into what can become a sociology of pathos"(Szwed 427).
This quote resonated with me the most and seemed to summarize the author's opinion/central theme within the essay. It is pretty difficult to try and construct a universal definition of the term "literacy" the author offers a few general descriptions such as; possessing education (ability to read and write) and a persons knowledge of a particular subject. When thinking about the title "The ethnography of literacy" however, this seems to be an obvious yet rarely spoken of definition of what literacy is and how it is expressed in our daily lives. The author discusses how language and literacy are deeply engrained in our culture through advertisements, street signs, menus, etc. I also thought it was interesting that the author introduced this sort of hierarchal structure of "smart/intellectual" reading which is "scholarly discourse" textbook/informational" reading verses "entertainment/junk reading" such as magazines, sports statistics, etc. This subliminal hierarchy reinforces why success on standardized tests seems to determine a persons intellectual capability which therefore suggests that it is more important to expand vocabularies and theorize about the world from a distant standpoint instead of actually articulating our own experiences and sharing those with each other. In my opinion I think literacy is undefineable and it simply cannot define/measure someone’s level of comprehension and intellectual capabilities. I also think that instead of looking for a universal definition it is important to allow fluidity within the concept and that that may enrich our appreciation for all forms of communication, expression, and expansion of knowledge and experiences.
