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Rhetorical Response - Literacy

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A well-known essayist and writer Deborah Brandt, in Sponsors of literacy essay; describes how literacy for individuals is related to the economics of literacy. The author approaches this relationship by explaining the role of “sponsors of literacy”. Brandt’s purpose is to communicate to readers the idea that how an economic situation can affect the good or bad development of the literacy of an individual. She uses a concise tone, which is the result of the accuracy given by the information obtained in her interviews. Interviews were useful for Brandt’s work because they provided a better comprehension of people thoughts and experiences; but the use of surveys could make more precise her arguments. Brandt began in the first part of her essay (Sponsorship and access) by acknowledging that “A statistical correlation between high literacy achievement and high socioeconomic, majority-race status shows up in the results of national test of reading and writing performance. These findings captured yet their shorthand way, obscure unequal conditions of literacy that lie behind differential outcomes in academic performance” (170). This claim shows clearly how accurate her argument is and I agree with her thoughts, in fact they're not only thoughts, they're a reality. The socioeconomic status may delimit our development of literacy; but I also think that sometimes it may depends on the individual. For example according to Brandt two individuals Dora Lopez and Raymond Branch born at the same time, but grew up in very different circumstances. Branch was the son of highly educated parents and he had access to academic connections, technology and of course his parents support. While Lopez, daughter of non-educated parents, had access to the mail room, the bookstore, second hand technology and again we see parent support. Even when both succeed, I believe that Dora Lopez biliteracy skills are more valuable. This woman did not have the same

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