If illiteracy is an epidemic, it's one I've only read about. Countless articles, studies, and essays address the mounting deficiency of literacy's dispersion to American students. When I read these, I cannot help but wonder if they are true, for I have never experienced the traditional method of public education. If public schools are not effectively teaching the skills of literacy, I would have no way of knowing. The reason for this is simple, I lived at my school. The story of my literacy is ultimately indivisible from the story of my homeschool education.
There are many types of homeschoolers. Some are almost militant in their discipline. Others are more relaxed, stressing freedom and a creative environment. My family falls somewhere in between these two extremes. From the earliest age, my mother stressed literacy skills above all else. Which, when I stop to recall that I did not start reading independently until I was seven, is an ironic fact. One of the greatest advantages of homeschool education is that learning moves at the speed of the student's personal needs. There is no classroom full of students that need to "move on," no curricular deadlines, and, at least in the case of my family, no spring or summer breaks. This may sound like an atmosphere that might engender laziness in the absence of expectations, but instead, this atmosphere promoted a more personal connection to my learning. My schoolwork went wherever I did. Instead of schoolwork being something that I had to do in between recreation, recreation was something that was to be done in between school. School was not something I simply did, it was something I lived. Literary marination is probably the best way to describe my educational experience growing up.
Thankfully, my mother made learning as fun as possible for me and my siblings. I said she promoted literacy in every area of my education. What I meant by that is she showed how a love of learning, and subsequently writing, made the rest of my academic experience easier and more enjoyable. I still cannot decide whether the love of words is hereditary or contagious. I suppose it has to be both, which would explain my enthrallment with books and words. My mother is an avid reader. She not only taught me to read, she also taught me to love reading. Books in our home were not just something to be skimmed for the purpose of writing reports, they were recreation. Even before I myself could read, my mother spent a summer reading all three installments of Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings to me, my brother, and sister. Books became escape, not labor.
As I grow older, and far busier, I have increasingly less time to read for leisure. In this absence, I have turned to writing. I suppose it makes sense that after all the consumption–or I might say devouring–of books I have done, that I would want to create something with words. Writing, creative or not, requires a lot of time to do well, and the same goes for reading. The difference, however, is that one can write anywhere, with anything. Good writers are simply individuals who are able to organize their thoughts clearly on paper. Sadly, I could do with some improvement in the organizational aspect, but I still enjoy the ability to partake in one of my favorite activities wherever I am.
Nonetheless, this class will be a distinct challenge for me, literarily, because I'm not really used to writing for other people. I suppose one of the drawbacks of being homeschooled can be a somewhat limited grasp of cultural literacy. This is not to say homeschooling leads to social reclusion or eccentricities. Alternatively, it helped me to be very aware of cultural issues, specifically regarding educational matters. Despite this, my knowledge and, frankly, interest of things that are "hip" is extremely narrow. The goal of being culturally literate is to better understand my peers, and thereby better serve them. Hopefully being forced to submit my literary work to a greater and more critical audience will assist me as I continue this pursuit.
Assessing my own level of literacy requires no small amount of humility. Because the pursuit of literacy has to be a continual quest, stopping to say how literate I am would defeat the purpose. True literacy is something that I must continually maintain; therefore, any step not in the direction of its augmentation is a step towards its deterioration. I am thankful for the opportunity I have to attend college, a place designed for the furtherance of literacy. Persistent literacy may help me get good grades, yes, and it may also help me get a good job, but these things are miniscule in comparison to the level of mental harmony that literacy can imbue. I am thankful for the assistance I've received that has gotten me to where I am: a college student with innumerable opportunities before me, yet I know that the journey to a literary finale is nowhere on my horizon.
Herein lies literacy's great struggle. It does not matter how I was educated, or how I was raised. Ultimately, it's up to me to press myself to greater heights. Everyone has different needs intellectually, and only I can know what those needs are. I'm thankful that I grew up in an environment where self-awareness was stressed. Because in the end, complacency is the enemy. Laziness is most often the root of ignorance. If ignorance is another form of illiteracy, then an active mind must be the root of literacy. That's a truth for everyone, regardless of whether they were homeschooled or not. For me to meet the challenges before me, I will continue to need literacy.
Josiah Bell, Teen Blogger