Although most English majors and academic scholars know or have heard about literacy sponsors, the rest of the world is left wondering who and what a literacy sponsor is and what duties they perform. Deborah Brandt, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has written multiple books and articles about literacy and is the scholar responsible for the creation of literacy sponsorship. Using research gathered while writing her book Literacy in American Lives, Brandt concluded literacy is sponsored by people, institutions, and life circumstances which all allow or prevent uneducated people from becoming literate. Formulated using these conclusions, Brandt’s article “Sponsors of Literacy” was written and later published in an academic journal from 1998 titled “College Composition and Communication”. In the twenty page article, Brandt defines literacy sponsors as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy -- and gain advantage by it in some way,” (336).
Deborah Brandt defines literacy sponsors in her article “Sponsors of Literacy”, but it may be confusing to some readers. In general, literacy sponsors may be viewed as the medium uneducated people must pass through to reach literacy. Sponsors can either help or inhibit the learner and gain an advantage from it in some way, whether it is money, power, or relations with said person. To understand the definition of a sponsor of literacy, it helps to remember the circumstances in which literacy was taught. If a child grows up wealthy in a large city, literacy sponsors will be plentiful, but only a fraction of those sponsors would be available to a poor child who grew up outside suburbia. Standardized testing has generally proven the rich child raised in the city would become more literate than the poor country child. Brandt later stated “affluent people from high-caste racial groups have multiple and redundant contacts with powerful literacy sponsors as a routine part of their economic and political privileges. Poor people and those from low-caste racial groups have less consistent, less politically secured access to literacy sponsors--especially to the ones that can grease their way to academic and economic success,” (337). Not only do wealth and location affect literacy, though. Characteristics such as race, religion, politics, and family views all the way down to subtle issues such as bus routes and sports teams can alter the literacy sponsorship of a person.
Another point Brandt addresses is the growing need for literacy and training in the English language. From her research, Brandt came across a person who witnessed the growth first hand. Dwayne Lowery was the first person who gave concrete proof of the shift in literacy. During his days as a union representative, he handled grievances and contract negotiations for his company, until he was forced to pursue an early retirement after being replaced by a young, college graduate with a master’s degree. His job experience is proof for every person who is considering skipping college and proceeding straight into the workforce to be careful, because a higher dependence on reading and writing skills is taking effect in America. This is due to literacy sponsors fighting for control of literacy. When a single sponsor has command of the literacy of a group of people, they have complete control over the people. Literacy in today’s society is distinct because as certain issues arise, specifically trained people must combat specialized forms of escalating pressure. An example would be lawsuits. A normal civilian would not be able to understand legal terms, but a lawyer could communicate in the most effective way possible to come to an agreement with the opposing side. From this example, it is clear an exemplary education is helpful to succeed in the workforce. Nowadays, it is rare if a person with a high-income salary did not have any college degree. As competition for jobs gets higher, literacy becomes a deciding factor in determining the right candidate.
After reading Brandt’s article, a few key things can be pulled from it. First, the article was printed in a respectable publication that is generally used by college professors and some college students. This builds the credibility of Brandt’s article because all articles placed into the publication must be correct and have research to back up the findings. Because the article was published in the College Composition and Communication, Brandt’s article would most likely be used as textual support for professors arguing about literacy and the history of literacy in a person’s lifetime. From the article, a couple main points can be picked out. Primarily, sponsors of literacy shape the literacy of others and have a profound effect on reading and writing. They determine which parts of reading and writing seem important to the writer, and have an impact upon the actual writing and reading skills of individuals.
From this article, Brandt is hoping to show the general public how to become better readers and writers. When a person can look back through their own history of literacy and figure out who their sponsors of literacy were, they are better at evaluating their own writing because they have the ability to trace their thoughts and correct mistakes. The goal of the article is to define sponsors of literacy and get people thinking about their own literacy sponsors. When people read the article, they are thrust into an old world filled with bad memories of evil English teachers and failed papers that have haunted them for years. Once thinking about their sponsors of literacy, people can view the progression of their reading and writing skills and directly relate it to a specific sponsor’s role in their education. After the reader is thinking about sponsors and has identified who he/she believes is a sponsor, the reader can better analyze how they have grown as a reader and writer and why they have the trends in reading and writing they do. Looking back at past sponsors is beneficial because it helps clarify the source of certain habits, good and bad.
This article was written to make college professors and students think about their literacy history and to help professors teach the concept of sponsors of literacy to a class, much like this Writ 101 class does. When people think about their history, they can make connections with their old and new writing and reading skills and see how progression has taken place throughout the years. Brandt wrote this article for another specific reason; she wants to place more emphasis on where literacy comes from and hope to improve people’s reading and writing habits by allowing people to find respectable sponsors to aid in the development as a writer.
From Brandt’s article, a sponsor of literacy is defined and although the definition is most likely intended for college professors and students, a useful meaning can be pulled from the somewhat confusing definition. In general, a sponsor is seen as the medium in which people must pass through to become literate. These sponsors directly influence reading and writing trends, and are the reason people write how they do. Deborah Brandt’s article “Sponsors of Literacy” explains literacy sponsors in a way which is beneficial to students and professors when talking about literacy and where it came from. It is clear from Brandt researching and writing an article about literacy sponsors that literacy is becoming a huge part of our society, and she wants the public to be ready for a society where literacy equals power.
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