Social Class Literacy

In the reading The Elements of Literacy it briefly talked about how literacy can be defined with social classes. Meaning that the high class was the most literate, and the low class was the least literate with the middle falling somewhere in between. I completely disagree and feel like this is stereotyping social classes. It kind of makes me sick that someone thinks that they are more literate than your just because they are looked higher upon in society. Think to yourself, is Paris Hilton more literate than you just because she is of a higher class than you? No one wants to be told they are illiterate, so why even base part of the definition of literacy on class? Also, the  reading says that to define literacy is like defining the word love. With that in mind can one even define literacy as being classed based? If you were to use social class "love" in replace of social class "literacy", would that even make sense?

I remember my Economics teacher in high school sharing a story about a student he had that e-mailed him about how he had got accepted into Harvard law after attending UNC-Chapel Hill on a full-ride academic scholarship. He told my class that the kid in high school was always picked on because it was obvious his family struggled to make ends meet. At the time, I thought about what a great story and left it at that. After reading the class based part of the Elements of Literacy, I realized that according to the that definition this kid wasn't very literate. That just isn't true. The kid had to be exceptional literate for Chapel Hill to think highly enough about him to grant him a scholarship and to be accepted into Harvard law.

Yes, I know there are plenty of examples that fight for and against my argument. I think that in order to say how literate someone is based on social class there would have to be a separate social class that was just based on literacy. It would have to have very clear guidelines on how to measure literacy if that is even possible.

Book 17, Chapter 8 of My Life.

With the baseball season approaching I’ve realized how much I miss the sport, the competition, the team and the brotherhood we formed. I have been reminiscing of the memories I made with my team on and off the field.  One such memory sticks out.

We were heading home from losing in the second round of state by a walk off homerun. It was a three hour bus ride back to school. We were all disappointed in the result, knowing that we were one out away from beating the top seed. For the first 45 minutes to an hour no one said a word. Than when we stopped for dinner at Cici’s the mood changed. It had hit all six seniors, including me, that we just played our last high school baseball game. We had already lost and we didn’t want to sit on a quiet bus for two more hours. We decided to start the fun at Cici’s.

We went to the arcade area and made sure no employee was looking. We tilted this bouncy ball machine and dumped out about 40 bouncy balls. After we stuffed our pockets we got a few more teammates and went outside. Across the parking lot was a Wal-Mart. We decided to throw the balls at the Wal-Mart door and try and get some bouncy balls into the store. It was a lot more difficult than it sounds. You had to time the throw so that someone was walking through the automatic doors the same time your ball was too. We had thrown maybe 15 balls and made two through the door. A few throws later my teammate threw his second ball. It looked like the third ball was to land inside Wal-Mart. We weren’t sure if it made it through the doors but no one expected what was going to happen. The ball was thrown a little shorter than expected but it got two lucky bounces. The first bounce was off the hood of a Tahoe and then off that bounce it hit a gentleman walking into the store on the head. We all stopped, looked at each, and ran right back into Cici’s.

This event lead to jokes and a much better, relaxed feel on the ride back home. Little things like that were what defined my high school baseball team. This story might not seem amusing to some but it means a lot to me because even with losing my last baseball game, my teammates and I were able to look past that and spend the last two hours of the season the only way we knew how. 

The Odd Future Other

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All, also known as OFWGKTA or Odd Future, is a hip-hop/rap group based out California that has exponentially gained popularity within the last year. They are known for their "I don't give a damn" attitude, which is flawlessly transferred to their music. If someone has heard of Odd Future they usually know about the most popular member/ group leader Tyler the Creator. Bigger fans know about Earl Sweatshirt and Hodgy Beats. All three members wake up every morning wondering what new trouble they can get into today. I have no problem with what they do but many people feel their loud, rambunctious, and sometimes criminal activities should be immediately stopped. Odd Future's lifestyle is just as responsible as their music to their rise in the music industry. But one member, Frank Ocean, chooses to focus on his music more than his publicity. The little known Odd Future member's music falls more under the rhythm and blues (R&B) genre than hip-hop/rap. He doesn't sing about violence and controversial subjects like his counterpart. His music is stemmed from his life experiences that have made him stronger and about life that he questions. One of my favorite songs he has written is "American Wedding". In this song he describes how the weddings don't seem real anymore and it's about what the spouses get from each other if they were to divorce. Another one of my favorite songs is "We All Try". He shows his personality very well in this song by stating what he believes and what he doesn't believe. Frank Ocean balances out Odd Future with his harmonious and peaceful approach to his music and life. Below I have attached both "American Wedding" and "We All Try"

"American Wedding" - Frank Ocean

 Click play at the very top of the page. 

http://currenthiphop.com/FrankOcean/mixtapes/NostalgiaUltra/songs/americanwedding/uhzco4

"We All Try" - Frank Ocean