The Literate Arts: What is the Purpose?
Macey Ford
Nicholas Crawford
English 103
10 September 2014
The Literate Arts: What is the Purpose?
As a student I have read several essays, all in different but connecting points of view that explore in depth the diverse ways of education, educating in the literate arts, learning, using the information, and applying it to life. In reading the controversial opinions expressed throughout these essays, the question, “What are the literate arts good for?” has crossed my mind more than a few times. Four authors that elaborate on the concept of determining the purpose of literate arts education are Paolo Freire in The Banking Concept of Education, Mary Louise Pratt in Arts of the Contact Zone, Richard Rodriquez in The Achievement of Desire, and Richard Miller in The Dark Knight of the Soul. Freire’s The Banking Concept of Education focuses not mainly on the purpose of the literate arts and education with the literate arts, but the fact that if it isn’t taught correctly, then it is useless. In detail he describes education as a dehumanizing action in today’s schools (323). He also challenges this concept with what he believes education should be as opposed to what it is. In his opinion, education should be a problem-posing way of teaching (327). Freire communicates that it should trigger a deeper, more critical way of thinking and a more prominent drive for inquisition in students’ learning strategies by saying “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (319). Rather than just reading to memorize, he expresses his belief that a student should be taught to challenge and elaborate on what they read. When I read Rodriguez’s The Achievement of Desire, I immediately saw a connection between his and Freire’s writing. Rodriquez writes about his personal educational experience. He refers to himself as “the scholarship boy”
Nicholas Crawford
English 103
10 September 2014
The Literate Arts: What is the Purpose?
As a student I have read several essays, all in different but connecting points of view that explore in depth the diverse ways of education, educating in the literate arts, learning, using the information, and applying it to life. In reading the controversial opinions expressed throughout these essays, the question, “What are the literate arts good for?” has crossed my mind more than a few times. Four authors that elaborate on the concept of determining the purpose of literate arts education are Paolo Freire in The Banking Concept of Education, Mary Louise Pratt in Arts of the Contact Zone, Richard Rodriquez in The Achievement of Desire, and Richard Miller in The Dark Knight of the Soul. Freire’s The Banking Concept of Education focuses not mainly on the purpose of the literate arts and education with the literate arts, but the fact that if it isn’t taught correctly, then it is useless. In detail he describes education as a dehumanizing action in today’s schools (323). He also challenges this concept with what he believes education should be as opposed to what it is. In his opinion, education should be a problem-posing way of teaching (327). Freire communicates that it should trigger a deeper, more critical way of thinking and a more prominent drive for inquisition in students’ learning strategies by saying “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other” (319). Rather than just reading to memorize, he expresses his belief that a student should be taught to challenge and elaborate on what they read. When I read Rodriguez’s The Achievement of Desire, I immediately saw a connection between his and Freire’s writing. Rodriquez writes about his personal educational experience. He refers to himself as “the scholarship boy”
Bibliography: Freire, Paolo. “The Banking Concept of Education.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 318-328. Print. Miller, Richard. “The Dark Knight of the Soul.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 420-444. Print. Pratt, Mary Louise. “Arts of the Contact Zone.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 485-498. Print. Rodriquez, Richard. “The Achievement of Desire.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae, Anthony Petrosky. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. 515-532. Print.