If you wished to explore Greece,
you started with Homer's epics and worked your way up to the
most recent novel by a contemporary Greek writer.
The problem is that drugs, AIDS, millions of attractions, the
need to find one's way in a world less settled and less patient,
do not fit in the neat scheme of literacy. The language of
genetics and the language of personality constitution are better
articulated through means other than books. Heroes, teachers,
parents, priests, and activists are no longer icons, even if
they are portrayed to be better than they were in reality. Bart
Simpson, the underachiever, "mediocre and proud of it," is a
model for everyone who is told that what really counts is to
feel good, period.
Still, some young people go to school or college full of
enthusiasm, hoping to get an education that will guarantee
self-fulfillment. All that is studied, over a long period of
time and at great financial sacrifice, comes not even close to
what they will face. Tehy might learn how to spell and how to
add. But they soon discover that in real life skills other than
spelling and arithmetic are expected. What bigger disappointment
is there than discovering that years of pursing a promise bring
no result? If, after all this, we still want both literacy and
competence for experiences which literacy does not support, and
often inhibits, we would have to invest beyond what society is
willing and able to spend.
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