Brandt

The article, “Sponsors of Literacy “, was written by Deborah Brandt who is a English Professor at the University of Wisconsin. The purpose of the article was to convey the fact that writing has changed since the past and how it has impacted writing today. The article also explains the common misconceptions about literacy sponsors. She goes into detail on what affects literacy sponsors, how it makes people unique, and how much access there is to literacy sponsors.

Overall I thought the article was very thought provoking. I sometimes had to stop reading and think about the information she presented I never knew how much of an impact literacy sponsors had on us. It was almost a wake up call of how they can hold you back. I did although find some parts of the article confusing and hard to comprehend. I had to re-read the beginning because I wasn’t quit sure what she meant about literacy sponsors. After I finally got a grasp of what literacy sponsors were I had a very hard time trying to figure out what literacy sponsorships were. It was hard for me to answer some of the questions because all of the information was a bit unclear to me. The piece I really did connect with and was little more enjoyable to read was the section about Branch and Lopez. I found it very interesting that they both grew up in the same area and same time but both had different access to literacy sponsors. I know its somewhat of a basic concept, the fact that race and economic status does play a huge role in our society today. I just thought it was interesting how even Lopez had so much literacy sponsors around her she was limited. I believe I was able to relate to some of the literacies and it made me think twice about how I became literate and how it could’ve been different.

1.    Literacy sponsors help us to understand how we gained and became literate. Literacy sponsors guide and group people together by certain literacies. Literacy sponsors also narrow in on what’s most important rather making it easier for a person to find exclusive literacies to them. Although literacy sponsors may seem very helpful, sometimes they can limit a person.

2.       Sponsors always have something to gain when they provide sponsorship to     individuals. In our society, it is expected that after providing a service to an individual or a group of individuals you should be rewarded for the work you have done. For example, a teacher is a sponsor to a student. They provide a service to a child, giving them the knowledge they need to succeed in life. The teacher in fact makes an income but is also recognized for the “shaping the future of America.” My aunt is an alcoholic and she frequently meets up with her sponsor to go to AA meetings and to also guide her onto a new path away form her addiction. My aunts’ sponsor does not get paid but she does live with the satisfaction of helping my aunt get through her disease one day at a time. She also gains experience under her belt for new  “patients”.

       5.  I  agree with Brandt’s’ claim that race and class play a role in how much access an individual can receive from literacy sponsorships. Branch and Lopez were both growing up in the same town at the same time. Branch was an American with educated parents while Lopez’s parents were Mexican and went to technical school to receive low paying jobs. Lopez was exposed to computers for the first time at age thirteen while Branch grew up with playing computer games. Branch had a much larger access to things around him. He was surrounded by a fantastic educational environment and was able to access it whenever he needed. Lopez found it difficult to find the money to help her major of biliteracy. Her parents tried to get money from anywhere they could, while many agents helped Branch with his future were sponsoring Branch. This comparison shows how much race and social economic status plays a huge part in literacy sponsorship. Also how it can be easier for some people to access sponsorship rather than others.

2.     Growing up I went quality schools that offered me a great education. In all of my English classes we were forced to read novels that I know I would never want to read for fun. I never really said anything or went against what my teachers had asked of me because I know that the book was important for that particular class. As I got older the teachers gave us more independence letting us pick our own books that we wanted to read that were on a certain list. The teachers always gave us the option to find a different book that was on the list as long as it fit the criteria. After reading this article, I am happy I was given the choice of what books I wanted to read and wasn’t banned books.