Response on literacy to Brandt reading

Genna May, compared to her grandson Michael May, shows how different and relevant literacy was to their own lives in different generations. For Genna, her greatest accomplishments were receiving a certificate at the University level for learning typing and penmanship. There never seemed to be a stress in her family to write or read much more than what was needed for work. As a child, Genna was not influenced by her parents to read or write, even commenting that paper and books were not in abundance at her household. Even though she progressed to the University level, Genna was using her skills late in life to “record recipes, balance her checkbook, and send holiday…greetings to family members,” (73).

She is shown in contrast to her grandson, just a few years old at the same time Genna was described doing these tasks, learning with magnetic letters under the care of his parents. Genna’s grandson was involved with writing to community leaders (even when in elementary school) and eventually worked on a home computer, being taught how to messages on it. Their story talks about the differences between Genna growing up in a rural community where it was more important to work than be well rounded to the next generation living in the suburbs and acquiring different skills. They both used skills in communication, while Michael was brought up to learn in new forms (such as the letter magnets, computers, and in social situations), Genna only had a few resources to work from (assignments from teachers, some typing, practical/household use).

This contrast helped to show that learning a variety of skills, at a younger age, helps to advance literacy skills. The BabyBoomers and older have trouble adapting to technology as fast as their children because we are used to a new idea and playing with it. We have so many inventions and ways to communicate now that the older generation never played with growing up. Brandt’s studies do examine socioeconomic differences as well as generational differences, but it comes down to what advances have been made in the field, more particularly inventions and accessibility to those new gadgets, and how quickly society can adapt them to our own use.