Literacy And Ideology Essay, Research Paper

The fate of the world is in the hands of literacy. Literacy has a relation to many parts of society s existence, including individual cultures, the ideology of those cultures and the spoken word of the people. In addition, proposing standards for good English could affect literacy.

Literacy is the skill to understand, respect, and seek out knowledge. Those whose are literate have a higher capacity for happiness and pleasure because they can comprehend the preciousness of a beautiful thing and appreciate it. A literate person would welcome arguments and views contrasting to their own in order to uncover the truth. Literacy is a tool with which one may become wise and find true happiness.

I do not believe that there should be standards for good English. Standards, if set by the public, would be crude, widely varied and difficult to learn and understand by foreigners. Some may suggest that standards set by the masses would be more logical, however I believe they would only be more chaotic. If English had standards set by so-called grammar authorities, our language would become more rigid, complicated and nonsensical, and children would have to waste much more time learning grammar in school. The spoken language would become less creative and colourful, and therefore individuals will have less of a personal style of speech. If standards were eliminated, language would be exciting and new all the time, with all the mutations and styles that could emerge. Language would become a living entity, reflective of the ethos of the people. In addition, the existence of standards is contradictory to the notion that literacy entails being open-minded. If one was open-minded then one would not be judgmental of new and different language styles.

Literacy also is related to culture and a culture s ideology. Culture dictates the levels of literacy for one in that culture to aspire to. It also helps specify the criteria for becoming a wise, literate person in the society and the complexity of language and ideas to be understood. A person s ability to communicate within and outside of a community can be hindered by a culture s influences on spoken language, or the dialect. The ideology of a culture affects the importance of literacy within that culture. Ideology influences and possibly limits what a literate person can discover, and even how one learns. The ideology may or may not place emphasis on good reading and writing which leads to better comprehension, the exploration of academic possibilities and ultimately success.

Many things in the soul of a culture are influenced by literacy. Literacy affects the language, the ideology and the success of a culture. The presence of standards in language has an effect on society as well. I believe that literacy is like a town s drinking water. In other places the water may taste different or even make you sick, but it is water nonetheless and it is everywhere and we all need it to survive.