Historically, the concept of literacy has acted as a way to further the prospect of societal progress for some while acting as a limiting factor for others. Even more interesting are the ways in which societies have enforced or aided limitations on literacy for marginalized groups while ensuring the presence of it for favored groups. When considering the case of standardized testing, the importance placed upon schools meeting the standards, and the consequences faced by schools when the standards, as set forth by the government, are not met, it is impossible not to wonder whether the logic of the literacy tests of yesteryear has reared its ugly head under the auspices of ensuring that every student and schools “meets the standard”.
In Chicago, countless schools have been closed, lost funding, and/or have been replaced with Charter schools. The magic formula behind deciding whether a school should be left to either fend for itself or be closed has, for a while, been to gauge the school’s worth by examining whether or not the students perform well on standardized testing. Many believe that there exists a telltale sign of whether a school will fail to perform – the level of poverty and segregation of the school. The schools closed, left unfunded, or replaced with Charter schools are disproportionately majority segregated schools in impoverished neighborhoods of people of color.
The cycle is brutal. Fund schools with property taxes which leads to inequitable funding, then punish the schools that have less funding by drastically reducing or taking away funding. Who loses? Those already marginalized by society as a whole.
Literacy still exists as a double-edged sword.
