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From:
"Angus B. Grieve-Smith" Date: Mon May 7, 2001 10:43 am Subject: Re: SignWriting and Deaf culture | ||||||||||||
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There is a legitimate point in what people are telling Denise. I can't tell from here if those particular Deaf people in Arizona are going overboard with it, but it's something worth saying. One thing that undermines many literacy efforts is when the students see writing as something that "those rich/fancy/intellectual/white/European/hearing people" do, and not relevant to their own lives. If all they see are books that they can't imagine themselves writing, then that's what they think. Because of this, stories that take a perspective a student can relate to (not just being about people like that student) are valuable, even essential. It's not that they should read ONLY stories like that, but they should be aware that such stories exist. Of course kids will enjoy and benefit from northern European fairy tales, stories about rich white people, stories about conquistadors and generals, and the rest. What's essential is that they be able to read at least one piece of literature and say "I could write something like this some day." -- -Angus B. Grieve-Smith Linguistics Department University of New Mexico | ||||||||||||
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