Being Literate

There are many different forms of literacy or being literate. From the main ones, reading and writing to playing an instrument, being good at a certain sport, being fluent in two or more languages, working on automobiles, and a billion more. Literacy allows people to possess power. In Silvia Scribner s Literacy in Three Metaphors, she says that the literacy!as!power metaphor emphasi"es a relationship between literacy and group or community advancement #Scribner $$%. Being literate can improve the individual and help them move up in social status. &ot only does literacy give someone a sense of self empowerment and self!worth, it can have the power to cause social and political change. In the past being literate allowed 'ings and (ueens to rule over people and do the decision making. Being literate allowed nations to rule over other nations. Being literate was and still to this day is a tool in having power over other people and putting people in a higher category than others who are not literate. For e)ample, Barack *bama, the first biracial president, has been the president of the +nited States since ,--. and possesses an e)tent of literacy and therefore power. From /rticle two, Section two, clause one of the +nited States 0onstitution, *bama is the 0ommander in 0hief of the /rmy and &avy of the +nited States. From /rticle two, Section two, clause , of the +nited States 0onstitution *bama is granted power to appoint /mbassadors, other public 1inisters and 2udges of the Supreme 0ourt. This goes to show that *bama has some form of literacy and therefore has many different powers. /side from having the power of *bama, being literate allows teachers to teach students, police officers to enforce the law, bank tellers to handle citi"ens money, chefs to cook appeti"ing meals, and so forth. 3owever, despite

the good that being literate can do and the power it has to socially propel people, there are problems that go along with it. There are issues surrounding the power aspect of literacy. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph there are many, many different forms of literacy, not 4ust one or two. The definition of literacy and the criteria of being literate changes and does not stay the same. The definition of being literate to president *bama may be completely different to a senior in high school. /nother incredible e)ample would be to ask a certain state of the +nited States, maybe 0alifornia, and an /frican tribe of /frica what they thought the definition of being literate was, and two completely different opinions would arise. Being literate is a ma4or factor in social and political events. It takes people who have a certain e)tent of knowledge to understand and bring about these events. Barack *bama didn t become president 4ust because. 3e possesses knowledge, the power to read and write, the power of public speaking, the power of cooperating with people which has made him the president of the +nited States.