Closing The Gap

 Why is something like this considered normal(opposed to disturbing, concerning, problematic, etc. anything but NORMAL)?

It is more than just the Economy; it is Critical Literacy( "a response to injustice and the production of illiteracy"(Tuck, 20011) as the answer to closing the gap:   The framework of critical literacy is to provide the door used to close The Gap. The ever-looming gap between the middle class Whites population and the Black, Latina/o and poor White population. A gap in everything from median net worth, academic achievement, incarceration rate (a Caucasian male born today has a one and twenty chance of spending time in jail while a black male born today has a one in four chance of spending time in jail (Moses, 2001) unemployment rate, teen pregnancy, to the drop out rate. The list goes on and on, and MUST be closed (but currently is widening). Many of today’s school practices, “Projecting an absolute ignorance onto others, a characteristic of the ideology of oppression, negates education and knowledge as process of inquiry. The teacher presents himself to his students as their necessary opposite; by considering their ignorance absolute, he justifies his own existence”(Freire, 1997), mirror the oppressive and institutional racist practices of society as a whole. Civil rights advocate, Robert Moses raises many questions about today’s educational system and advocates for, “the students at the bottom”. Asking, “How do young people at the bottom get into the mix” and, “Are we going to have a society where only a small group of people are prepared for the future, where there’s a huge knowledge gap” (Moses)? So how is critical literacy an answer to this question, and how is it a means to not only bridging the gap, but also closing the gap?

First we have to look at what is literacy and how we, as educators, view it? According to Gatto (2007),“Literacy is a practice, something that gets DONE, not skills to be learned for use at a later date…. literacy is “shorthand for social practices of reading and writing”(Street, 1995). My approach is to provide experiences and problems that engage students in expanding their existing literacy practices in order to construct and use new ones”(Gatto). It acts as a means for, “Targeted young people finding their voice” Moses suggest opposed to telling them what their voice is, how it should be, and what it sounds like. When we look at literacy critically it is much more than just reading and writing skills, it begins to be an agent for social change.

So, how do we use critical literacy to create change? First, we must change, “the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students”(Freire). Education has the potential to be the great equalizer used to, “Foster students’ identities as learners and their sense of agency as participants which, position the teacher as a co-collaborator in an inquiry classroom” (Allington, 2007). Helping the marginalized students work towards achieving, “Authentic liberation-the process of humanization”(Freire) in which,  “Liberation is a praxis; the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it”(Freire). This role reversal of teacher as student and student as teacher in combination with their reflection of themselves on the world is a fundamental principal in effective critical literacy.

We have to challenge the authority that exist within a system built on power over instead of power with, “Authority must be on the side of freedom, not against it”(Freire). We have to assess the, “dichotomy between human beings and the world” (Freire), and inspire a shift in thinking and actions of students and teachers from the roles that exist today, towards the new ones listed below:

(1)-Being for oneself not others (Freire). (2) Being with the world versus merely in the world (Freire).

(3) Being a spectator, versus a re-creator (Freire).

(4) Turning passive learners into active learners (Moses)

Critical literacy inspires students to change the world not adapt to it. The distinction is essential to forward progress. As Freire states,” Any situation in which some individuals prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence. The means used are not important; to alienate human beings from their own decision-making is to change then into objects”(Freire). And I believe that no teacher should have the power to commit such acts of violence.

We have to confront these practices, and bring new breath into the system. We have to show administrators and educators alike that, “We believe our students to be literate before they enter classrooms. We have to use their experiences, interest, history, culture, language and literacy practices to develop to the literacy ”(Gatto). Instill, faith in our students, faith that they can feel, and know, “If you say you love your students, then you can be sure that they will test that protestation of affection”(Kohl, 2007). Let them test and prove that we are right, we care, and we care immensely. Show the power in creating, “Real conversation requiring that participants have ideas, that they articulate those ideas, and that they bring them to the group, decide how to address them, and then engage with one another”(Probst, 2007). Lets bring value to our students through respect in the classroom. Lets support Freire’s problem-posing education, “affirming men and women as being in the process of becoming- as unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality”. Our mission as educators is to bread change and, “Scripted lessons mandating Tuesday’s writing be the same for each student in every school are guaranteeing mediocrity”(Rief, 2007). The world deserves more!