In both of this week’s articles, I noticed a common idea that children can “read the world” before they are truly literate, with Marti and the other students in Delpit’s article “reading” verbal and behavioral shifts in their teacher, and with Eli Jr. in Fishman’s article, with Eli “reading” with the rest of the family and becoming involved in all the literate activities they partake in. I can even remember instances of my own when I “read the world”, all of these memories from when I was much younger. For example, my mother used to work as a fundraising and development director in the city’s museum of art. I would go to her work sometimes and tag along on the tours she would give to potential donors, and while I couldn’t read the signs telling me not to touch or how far away to stand, I picked up on these behaviors from watching her and the potential benefactors. Additionally, I knew that when she began speaking to people in a different way (with larger words and a slower cadence), that it would be expected that I would try and speak “politely”, when spoken to.
Still, these memories are only from when I was younger. Do we lose the ability to read the world as we become “literate” in the literal reading and writing sense? Or do we stop noticing these moments of subtle literacy because we are more capable of understanding our surroundings now? When was the last time you “read the world”?
Can you read the world by reading other people’s body language? If yes, then I read the world just now on my way to the Cathedral of Learning. I was almost hit by a bus and the lovely Port Authority man yelled some combination of profanities and Spanish at me. While I do not really know what this man was saying to me, I was able to “read” that he was rather ticked off by me and was not in the mood to deal with pedestrians even though he is in the wrong line of work if he hates people that walk across the street that much.
It is tough to say if we stop “reading the world”. I would argue, that once we learn to actually read and pass a certain level of education, more is expected of us. However, when encountering a new situation, I would also argue that you do read the world. Think back to the beginning of college, when you knew nobody. You “read” the people around you and tried to learn what way to act. When in a new place we take one of two routes. The bold attempt to discover the proper way to do everything while the less bold ask for directions. In this respect, we are all still able to read the world. The thing is that you may now just be less aware of it.