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“The school system, custodian of print culture, has no place for the rugged individual. It is, indeed, the homogenizing hopper into which we toss our integral tots for processing.” - MM. |
“Literacy: The Medium and the Message” Ideas, Feb 1 & 8, 1988?Read Section 3– Pg. 17 – 25 and work through the following probes:
1. “Texts themselves are extensions of oral discourse”(17) Explain what David Olsen meant when he said this.
2. “Illiteracy” has been branded as a negative thing. What arguments have individuals like Dr. deCastell and David Patanayak challenged this notion? Cite quotes (and pg. number references) to support your views.
3. What are the different purposes for which literacy is used?
4. Literacy is not a thing, it’s a relationship that always occurs in a context. Explain.
5. What is sophistry?
6. For years, textbooks have been looked at as the keepers of knowledge. Why does de Castell take issue with this notion?
7. What advantages does Jan Sweringen see coming from oral based schooling?
8. Swerengen proposed that standard written forms erode the variety of spoken forms. What are the pros and cons of this point of view?
9. What is the cybernetic dream?
10. According to Sanders, what are the implications of a computerised education? How does de Kerckhove counter this argument? In the context of tetrads, what connection has deKerchove made?
11. Find other connections to tetrads in this article. What enhancements, obsolescences, retrievals and reversals are outlined in section 3?