Deborah Brandt's Essay 'Sponsors Of Literacy'

The image that comes to mind when someone says education is an old brick building covered in vines. This is a place meant to facilitate learning and literacy. In Deborah Brandt’s essay “Sponsors of Literacy,” Brandt describes the process of how people become literate and the effect of their economic and family backgrounds on their learning. Sherman Alexie’s essay “Superman and Me” provides an example of the process of becoming literate. Alexie’s essay is the story of Alexie’s first encounter with reading and learning on the reservation. Literacy is an opportunity provided through economic ability, other’s influence, and an innate desire to learn for self-improvement.
The term that Brandt uses frequently to describe those who have a profound