Literacy with an Attitude

Overview

Literacy with an Attitude, written by Patrick J. Finn, attempts to redefine literacy as the term exists within the education field. It outlines the differences between 'domesticating' and 'liberating' education, and proposes advice on how to fix the discrepancy between upper and lower class schools. Finn references studies conducted by other published authors within the field of education, including Jean Anyon and James Gee.

In his professional life, Finn served as an Associate Professor Emeritus of the Graduate School of Education from the University of Buffalo and co-chairs a committee of Urban Education through Buffalo University that helps provide support for the schools and school districts in Buffalo, NY.

Synopsis

Chapters 1-2

The beginning of the novel, Finn writes about his history with schooling, lessons he has learned, and the inspiration of the book. In Chapter 2, Finn outlines different socioeconomic levels at which schools exist, and dissects the educational practices that are common for each. These types of schools include executive elite, affluent professional, middle class, and working class schools. Working class schools are characterized by work being seen as a procedure, with the dominant theme as resistance. Middle class schools are characterized by work as getting the right answer, with a dominant theme of possibility. Affluent professional schools are characterized by work being carried out as creative activity carried out independently, with a dominant theme of individualism with a minor theme of humanitarianism. Executive elite schools are characterized by the dominant theme of excellence.

Chapters 3-6

Chapter three describes traditional American education, in which students in a one room school house memorized information to avoid being beaten by the teacher. The older boys would often try to resist such beatings and beat the teacher back, if possible. Finn claims that in the 1890's, American schools began switching to progressive education, in which instruction is differentiated to account for the differences in children and children are taught a curriculum that pertains to their lives. Finn says that though progressive education has existed for more than a century, eighty percent of schools today still practice traditional education, minus the switch and paddle. He claims that only the schools attended by the very wealthiest students provide a truly progressive education.

Just as students resisted their teacher in the one room school house, Finn argues in chapter four that many students in modern working class schools do the same. He describes "involuntary minorities," those whose ancestors became Americans when the United States took their land from them, or took them from their land. Such groups include African Americans, Native Americans, and Puerto Ricans. Finn says these groups feel that other Americans see them as inferior. This causes "oppositional identities," in which students resist aspects they deem to belong to the dominant culture, because they believe that this culture does not value their own. This results in resistance to traditional schooling.

Chapter five provides an example of students with oppositional identities. They are from working class families whose parents have factory jobs. They expect to have factory jobs themselves one day, and so feel opposed to the academic culture that they experience at school as it does not seem useful to them. As a result, they try to slow down classroom instruction as much as possible. Finn suggests that while teachers find this frustrating, the boys are actually becoming well qualified to join unions and slow down production if they are not given suitable working conditions in the factory.

While this may have worked tolerably for these particular boys, chapter six explores a scenario in which it does not. It focuses on a town where the factory is shutting down. People whose families had worked there for generations are suddenly needing an education that qualifies them for something else. Though they desired it, parents nor students did anything to advocate for it. In another scenario, affluent and well educated families moved into a lower income area. They quickly used leverage to advocate for the best education for their own children, getting results but leaving out the other children in the school. Finn says this shows that those who are more affluent and educated understand how to self-advocate while those who are less so do not.

Chapters 11-12

Chapter eleven reviews the history of schooling in America. After reviewing the beginnings of the educational system, Finn explains that Corresponding Societies questioned authority and exercised power to learn, discuss, evaluate, conclude, formulate, and exchange. This is more like literacy “with an attitude” than a defeated form of literacy expressed earlier in the book. The chapter continues by going through the history of Corresponding Societies until settling on that this ultimately became an education for domestication.

In chapter twelve, Finn discusses New Literacies by giving an example of a classroom that uses it. In New Literacies, communication is indistinct and expression is emphasized over correctness. "Gatekeeping" is a mode of correctness that often deters from the content of what the student is trying to communicate. Finn argues then that the approach of New Literacies could help this problem. Finn then discusses ways that New Literacies is difficult to employ in the classroom. An ideal classroom to promote democracy would be similar to that of New Literacies.

Chapters 13-20

From chapters thirteen to twenty, Finn offers solutions to the problem he poses in the text’s earlier chapters. He bases much of his proposed solution on the work of Paulo Freire. Friere suggests that problems should be diagnosed and eliminated through activism (Freire Institute). Based upon this, Finn recommends Frieian motivation in the classroom, or the idea of teachers teaching students to stand up for themselves.

Reception

Literacy with an Attitude has been accepted by others in the education field, including Donna E. Alvermann, a professor of Literacy at the Georgia, who has served as the director of the National Reading Research Center, and has published extensively on literacy and popular culture. Alvermann referenced Finn’s discussion of “domesticating education” in her article “Reading adolescents’ reading identities: Looking back to see ahead,” to point out the flaws of the “deprivation approach” an approach to literacy that suggests struggling readers are disadvantaged. She says that when students are thought of this way, they often receive domesticating education and social inequality. For that reason, the label “struggling reader” should be avoided.

Rosalie Romano, an education professor at Western Washington University, explained in her review that Finn's argument on teaching powerful literacy as a matter of justice is significant to societal challenges to "our environment, to our infrastructure, to our social systems, and to our public institutions". The approach to literacy that she approaches in response to "Literacy with an Attitude" is one of engagement and purpose in a demoratic society.

Critiques of Literacy with an Attitude come from Whiting in his outline of the book; he states that although Finn has a well put together argument, he does not provide readers with practical and applicable solutions to enact.

John M. Watkins writes that Literacy with an Attitude is "passionate" and "urgent". He says that Finn does not present himself at a distance from the subject. Instead, Watkins states that this book should be read by those who are worried about the failure of schools in their attempts to "Educate all our citizens into a powerful democratic discourse". However, Watkins believes that we will not be able to utilize Finn's advice. He states that he does not believe that we have the will and that we will not be able to "help working-class children develop literacy with an attitude".

Throughout his review, Watkins repeatedly mentions his "discomfort" that occured while reading Literacy with an Attitude. Watkins attributes this "discomfort" to the direct nature of Finn's writing. Watkins states that the most uncomfortable moment was Finn's personal anecdote of "his own painful realizations of the extent to which public education has betrayed him".

Influence on the Education Community

Finn’s book also influenced the research for the novel Urban Education with an Attitude. This novel seeks to empower and reform the individuals that are ingrained in urban education curriculum. The authors use the basic principles of Finn’s Literacy with an Attitude to model their solutions for the problems that circulate in urban education. His research on working class schools and their deficiencies is often cited and referred to in the education community.