After writing my last post I began to think about the concept of functional literacy and began to wonder what it would be like to be trained to merely function. Not long after beginning to ponder this question, my experience being taught two foreign languages popped into my head. I began to think of the beginning of the courses when the instructors beat words into the heads of the students that would allow for the smooth running of the classroom and provide the student with the ability to make the most basic of requests or excuse oneself when needed.
Following learning basic “survival skills”, we began to learn how to put together words to form ideas, not necessarily sentences, but ideas. After learning how to string together words to form a semblance of an idea, we finally began to learn to form sentences, to utilize grammar, etc.
The point of my revisiting my experience with being taught foreign languages is that I believe the beginning of learning another language to be much like the idea of functional literacy, or being trained to function. The frustration of not being able to voice or understand thoughts or questions because of the fact that the level of literacy needed is nonexistent can push a person to give up completely.
I could not imagine being trained to merely function in society.
