Daniel Stuart

June 13, 2012

Is Literacy Enough?

Input from the various immigrant narratives in recent lessons, Carnegie, Equiano, and Douglass among them, have pointed to literacy as a common denominator for forward mobility and success within the modern world. Indeed, common rationale dictates that the ability to read and write as well as the ability to think coherently about the written word enables all individuals the capacity to better interpret their surroundings. And obviously there are proven indicators that being well-grounded in the basic fundamentals of language learning aids one in further study, educational advancement and ultimate career opportunities. But is literacy really enough? Is being able to read, an ability to write eloquently, to decipher critical points within a text a viable avenue towards success, and specifically, the type of success that elucidates the American Dream?

Without elaborating on the often abstract connotations involved in this particular concept, it is perhaps in the best interest to define the American Dream within commonly associated parameters—namely, an independent economic prosperity allocated to those whose merits warrant it. For the likes of Carnegie and Franklin, great proponents of literacy itself—Franklin was a founder of the original lending library in Philadelphia (Library), the cultivation of an individual’s self-sufficiency through reading and acquiring knowledge is in direct correlation to a person’s overall well-being. For men like this, ones who lived at a time when education was limited, the necessity to make education available to all was vital. Everyone, and most especially those who could not by their own resources attain it, should have access to the tools to learn not only how to read and write, but to extend that knowledge base to their own personalized skill-level. However, neither man could have foreseen the overabundance at which knowledge and the sheer volume of resources have been made available within the information age. Certainly, if they could have witnessed the way in which knowledge is now distributed through digitization, and with such accommodating means, they may have also reached a conclusion regarding the degree to which those dwelling in the lower rungs of society, immigrants among them, would currently be prospering.

Yet stories like Carnegie’s and Equiano’s and Douglass’s, not to mention the likes of Phyllis Wheatley or Toussaint Louverture and countless others, while all having one thing in common—mainly that we know about them—fail to come to grips with a larger reality: reading and writing English are no longer viewed as marketable skills (Brown). And while this trend mirrors the shifting paradigms associated with globalization and a new world order, it still warrants a different look at the “literacy” question. Immigrants who can read and write English may have an advantage in that they’re fluent in more than one language are still at a disadvantage even if they are educated. Assimilation is not the problem. Even those ambitious about the American ethos, who bring talents only of “being educated,” can hope for little more than medium-waged jobs in the US. Being a skilled laborer, knowing a trade or vocation, almost offers more mobility than a college or professional degree can.

The goal of course, for immigrants at present as well as those in the past, is to make a better life for their children, to establish roots in America so that future generations can get that piece of the pie. Within the “American Dream” context, much of this has to do with placing your children in the right school so they can get the proper accreditation, the approved-of licensing and finally the real job. And yet now, in decades previous as well as within the current economic predicament, intergenerational income-based social mobility is lower in the America than it has ever been. In fact the gap between what a parent makes to what their child is likely to make has been estimated as being higher in Canada and elsewhere than in the US. That goes for certain lesser literate countries like China and India as well. Escaping from the very bottom rung seems an even more ominous task. “It’s becoming conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not have as much mobility as most other advanced countries,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue with that.” (DeParle).

So is literacy still the answer? Yes, and No. Even hardened economists like the one above say that without the necessary qualifications, ones in which English literacy is obligatory, will say that education through language learning and development is a premium. But is it enough? Is the availability of free libraries, internet access to low-income communities, educational incentives for minorities and non-English speakers really going to bridge the gap from immigrant’s hope to the fulfillment of the American Dream? Things, it seems, have changed a little since Franklin and even Carnegie a century later promoted the formula.

Works Cited

Brown, Wesley, and Amy Ling. Imagining America: stories from the promised land. New York: Persea Books, 1991. Print.

DeParle, Jason. “Harder For Americans To Rise From the Lower Rungs.” New York Times 4 Jan 2012, 3, NY Times Archives. Web. 13 June 2012.

The Library Company. The Electric Ben Franklin. http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/philadelphia/library.htm