Is change really that bad?

First I’m going to talk about Andrea Lunsford’s article, “Our Semi-literature Youth? Not so Fast.” I really loved her article and her opinion. Her thoughts are very similar to mine on the issue of literacy.  Sylvia Scribner lost me most of the time. She had a good opinion for a while in her article “Literacy in Three Metaphors”, but her long article eventually lost me. Now on to the big question, “What is literacy?” After reading these articles, I still am not set on a definition. In Scribner’s article, I found it interesting how no one is set. “At least one attempt has been made to put forward an ‘umbrella definition.’ Each of these efforts has identified important parameters of literacy, but none has yet won consensual agreement.” People are still debating what it is. But, Scribner’s take on literacy was rather interesting.  She talked a lot about literacy by using the metaphors of adaptation, power, and grace. She also brought in the concepts of social and the individual. My favorite quote in the article was towards the beginning. “They aim to describe constituents of literacy in terms of individual abilities. But the single most compelling fact about literacy is that it is a social achievement.” It made me question my own definition. I never saw literacy as a social achievement. But, it easily could be. Lunsford’s article was fabulous. I loved how she conducted a study on college student’s writing before giving an opinion. She did not think that my generation is becoming illiterate, just different. “But rather than leading to a new illiteracy, these activities seemed to help them develop a range or repertoire of writing styles, tones, and formats along with a range of abilities.” I liked how she saw nothing wrong with change, and neither do I. My generation knows when is the appropriate time to do formal writing and when it is appropriate not to. When I am speaking informally, like in my blog, I am speaking using my emotions. When I am typing formally, I am using my head and previous knowledge. Scribner’s style of writing is very similar to Carr’s. I believe they have similar ideas. I liked how Lunsford answered the Google question Carr was asking. Lunsford and Hedges would probably get into a debate about this subject. They seemed to be on opposite ends of each other. In conclusion, I do not think that literacy will ever have a set definition.