Howard Gardner's theory of multiple
intelligences (formerly known as aptitudes) seems to be ignored
by educators who still insist that everyone learn to read and
write-better said, conform to the conventions of literacy-as
though these were the only ways to comprehend others and to
function in life. There are few commentaries that contradict this
attitude. William Burroughs thought that "Language is a virus
from outer space." Probably it feels better to perceive language
like this in view of the many abuses to which language is
subjected, but also in view of the way people use it to deceive.
A more direct criticism states: "The current high profile of
literacy is symptomatic of a speedy, ruthless transition from an
industrial to an information-based economy. [...] Literacy, to
be sure, is a powerful, unique technology. Yet literacy remains
a human invention contained by social contract, and the
maintenance of that contract in education betrays our ideas of
humanity as surely as our use of literacy enforces them" (cf.
Elsbeth Stuckey)
American experience shows that the imposition of a sole model of
higher education, based on literacy, has economic, social, and
cultural consequences. It is very costly. It levels instead of
addressing and encouraging diversity. It introduces expectations
of cultural homogeneity in a context that thrives on
heterogeneity. The literate model of education with which the
country flirted, and which still seems so attractive, negates
one of America's sources of vitality-openness to alternatives,
itself made possible by the stubborn refusal of centralism and
hierarchy.
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