The disappearance of freedom in adolescents’ literacy
To adolescents, school is often thought of as a second home. They spend seven to eight hours a day, five days a week in school with their peers and teachers. However, while they spend so much time in this establishment most of what they do at home is kept separate from school. While it still may be a second home, there is often a clear division for students between the two. Many students are sure to keep their love for novels or writing poems secret and hidden from their peers and teachers in school. High school is a crucial time for adolescents to develop their identity and make friends, and will do anything to avoid looking like a “nerd”. For some students, the fear of appearing like a “nerd” keeps them from trying their best and putting all their effort into class assignments. School sanctioned literacy has always had emphasis on strictly reading and writing and leaves very little room for any alternative forms of literacy. There are many rules in place that require students to read and write a certain way regardless if they are explicitly stated. These rules and underlying ideas of literacy have lead to the limit of expression in adolescents. School sanctioned literacy is actually hindering the development and expansion of literacy in adolescents.
In the book Just Girls: Hidden literacies and life in junior high by Margaret Finders (1997), one girl, Cleo, from a group termed the “tough cookies” writes poems but doesn’t share them during class due to a fear of appearing vulnerable (p. 112). One language arts teacher invites students to write whatever they choose, however Cleo believes that there is still a hidden expectation of what each student should write and because of this she only writes fictional pieces instead of opinion pieces because “it’s what you’re supposed to write” (p. 113). The expectations of schools and teachers when it comes to literacy have become so limited and narrow minded that it affects the students freedom of expression. Margaret Finders goes on to address that there is a myth to the term “free choice.” The myth is the “assumption that students’ choices can be choices free from sociopolitical tangles” (p. 120). Students are constantly thinking of how their choices in reading and writing portray themselves in front of their peers and teachers.
Ken Robinson (2006) further discusses this concern of students to follow the rules of school-sanctioned literacy and do what you’re supposed to do as expressed by Cleo in Finder’s book. Ken agrees by saying that we’re afraid of being wrong and the education system emphasizes that mistakes are bad and the result is that “we are educating people out of their creative capacities.” Schools sanction literacy in a way that makes there a right and wrong answer. For example, there are certain texts that a student must read and there are specific essay prompts that students must write about. This type of formatting hinders the creativity and imagination of adolescents. Robinson describes a situation of where a mother was concerned over the learning ability of her child because her child was not able to focus during class. After discussing the issue with a doctor, the doctor leaves the child in a room alone with music playing and the child begins to dance. The doctor tells the mother that her child isn’t sick; she just needs to take her daughter to a dance school. This girl is Gillian Lynne, a famous ballerina. Nowadays when situations like Gillian’s arise we prescribe ADD medication and hope that the student can focus better and complete their assigned work. However, we can see that not all students learn the same way and following school sanctioned literacy rules can be more difficult for some students compared to others.
Margaret Finders describes the phrase “literate underlife” as the literate events that students participate in daily, but are not acknowledged by schools as literacy practices (p. 24). These include passing notes, reading magazines, and writing poems in the privacy of home. However, teachers ignore these literate events and disregard them as opportunities to better engage students within the classroom. Dr. Christopher Emdin (2014), an associate professor at Columbia University, has developed HipHopEd as a way to integrate the hip-hop culture among black students with education. By allowing students to create their own raps for various educational concepts, he creates a learning environment that students are comfortable in and can relate to.
As teachers, we should be focused on eliminating rules to literacy and integrate creativity and arts. By doing this we can incorporate the forms of hidden literacy that students use in their everyday lives and are comfortable using. This can lead to the disappearance of the fear of appearing like a “nerd” and open up room for free expression among groups of students within the classroom.
Emdin, C. (2014, January 1). 5 new approaches to teaching and learning: The next frontier [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-emdin/5-new-approaches-to-teaching-strategies_b_4697731.html
Finders, M. J. (1997). Just girls: Hidden literacies and life in junior high. New York, NY. Teachers College Press.
Robinson, K. (2006, Feburary). Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en#t-691166
