I'm not saying that literacy will automatically ensure protection against
ideological violence, but what I _am_ saying is that the ruling class have
historically enjoyed the priviliges of literacy, which is a communication
and therefore an organisational technology (ie a technology of control for
_them_ . Therefore it matters not in the least to the ruler whether the
ruled are literate or not). Critical literacy is a different matter.
Critical literacy can _definitely_ protect people; illiteracy cannot and
will not. That's why critical literacies are largely shunned throughout the
world.
I think the question "what are schools for?" is the question that needs to
be answered; not whether we ensure (or at least strive for) equal access
for all to the very best of education.
Smashing public education will do more damage than it is possible to
imagine. Thanks for the refs, I'll read them with interest.
Phil
At 17:56 18-05-99 -0200, you wrote:
>You wrote:
>"An illiterate society will be no more well equipped to protect itself
>from the violence of ideologues than will a literate one. To argue to
>the contrary is crazy."
>
>Well,
>Recently I give a look in a book published under Valsiner and Oliveira
>responsability in with there are very interesting articles on Literacy.
>The book name is LITERACY IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT, by Ablex Publishing
>Corp., Stamford, Connecticut and London, England, 1998.
>
>The articles "Schooling, Literacy, and Social Change: Elements for a
>Critical Approach to the Study of Literacy" by Angela Kleiman (pgs.
>183-225)and "Conceptual Organization and Schooling" by Marta Kohl de
>Oliveira (pgs. 227-245)sign "larger and more complex structures, and
>cultural differences" - and not so stable relations between Literacy and
>one's awareness/consciousness of ideologies violence action.
>
>
>Ricardo.
>
>
Phil Graham
p.graham who-is-at qut.edu.au
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/8314/index.html
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"Another damned fat book, eh, Mr Gibbon? Scribble, scribble, scribble, eh,
Mr Gibbon?" - The Duke of Gloucester to Edward Gibbon upon the publication
of "Decline and Fall".
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