Lacking Literacy
Lacking Literacy “Life without education becomes a progressive shrinking away from the most positive and exacting dreams of Man” (Leipzig). Today, the standard of literacy is rising over time. ... We accept literacy as being the outcome of a history of education and schooling. ... Hirsch defines cultural literacy as “the background information, stored in their minds, that enables them to take up a newspaper and read it with an adequate level of comprehension, getting the point, grasping the implications, relating what they read to the unstated context which alone gives meaning to what they read.” When I think of “cultural literacy,” I think of cultures as being not American, but around the world. ... Hirsch asks, “why is literacy so important in the modern world?” It goes back to the same interpretation of cultural literacy meaning that we have an understanding of the world around us. ... I do think that cultural literacy is important because it symbolizes survival in todays fast past economy. ... A lot of times, people call this cultural literacy “common sense. ... Another area of cultural literacy can be classified as social literacy.