BP #1

James Paul Gee, Orality and Literacy: From The Savage Mind to Ways With Words is an overview of orality. Gee mentions different dichotomies in his article, such as primitive vs. modern. A passage that particularly piqued my interest in this article was:

“We should not fool ourselves into thinking that access to essay-text literacy automatically ensures equality and social success or erases racism or minority disenfranchisement. But, nonetheless, English teachers are gatekeepers: Short of radical social change, there is no access to power in the society without control over the discourse practices in thought, speech, and writing of essay-text literacy and its attendant worldview.”

Gee concludes his work by stating that “English teachers are gatekeepers.” We as individuals should not rely solely on essay-text literacy as the only form of literacy. This form of literacy does not establish equality or dissolve racism. Hence the reason why English teachers are considered the gatekeepers. Gee states in the article that English teachers are teaching “a set of discourse practices, oral and written, connected with the standard dialect of English.” This particular type of literacy lacks access to power in our society. English teachers don’t teach us a connection to worldly issues. Instead, they view English as a form of communication. This passage makes me question the standards of education that are put in place now. It can be a bit mind-boggling to think that the system in our current society can be flawed. English teachers are taught to have students follow a rubric, and students are forced to follow guidelines when writing. This is only one form of literacy emphasized in English education. As a writer, I feel that the author has put together his information in an orderly manner. He uses a variety of references to conclude his point. I noticed his usage of dichotomies throughout his passage to emphasize the division that lives in our world of orality and literacy.

The Judgement of Thamus by Neil Postman uses Plato’s story, Phaedrus, to tell the story of Thamus. Postman states:

“I begin my book with this legend because in Thamus’ response there are several sound principles from which we may begin to learn how to think with wise circumspection about a technological society. In fact, there is even one error in the judgment of Thamus, from which we may also learn something of importance. The error is not in his claim that writing will damage memory and create false wisdom. It is demonstrable that writing has had such an effect. Thamus’ error is in his believing that writing will be a burden to society and nothing but a burden. For all his wisdom, he fails to imagine what writing’s benefits might be, which, as we know, have been considerable.

Postman alludes to the reference of Thamus because his principles can give the reader an insight into how technological society impacts us as individuals. However, Postman states an error in Thamus’ judgment. Thamus believes writing will burden society due to their lack of “real” wisdom. On the other hand, Postman believes that writing will be “nothing but a burden.” I can deem some of Thamus’ points valid in the modern world of information overload, where false wisdom exists. However, I agree with Postman that this was an error in Thamus’ judgment. Without the advancement of literacy and writing, the human race would not have been able to advance in such ways that we have now. Writing was essential for the development of science, history, art, and so forth. I appreciated how the author expressed his statement with the legend of Thamus. This story gave him an example of how a technological society would impact us while also pointing out fears that existed in ancient times that even now exist in modern society; The idea of information overload and what information is considered good information and what is not.