Cultural Literacy Essay

Cultural literacy is a somewhat transparent concept that has been around for long time. This means that people from all over the world have used this form of literacy and not been aware of it. Cultural literacy is simply defined as having common everyday knowledge about another culture or your own. Some examples of common cultural knowledge would be who the current president is, what a famous landmark is commemorating, or even what is the best song out at the moment. Being culturally literate can help a person in getting a certain job and in making social connections. However, cultural literacy is not always helpful to the people not belonging to that particular culture. Depending on the educational or social opportunities available, he or

This established form of literacy can range from someone knowing who wrote the Declaration of Independence to knowing how many delegates signed it. In general, a person’s cultural literacy all depends on how in touch they are with the world or in this case, what he or she was taught. It can be argued that a person’s cultural literacy truly emerges in college. In college a person can be exposed to diverse variations of people and of cultures. On both sides, the skill of cultural literacy is essential in college. For example, if a college student from an area where their culture is dominant wanted to communicate or network with someone from a different culture, they would need to know how to do so

Take people from different countries immigrating to the United States for example. More often than not, these people come from a completely different culture than that of the United States. They also tend to speak different languages. Many aspects of their culture may not coincide with your average American. As a result, they become more alienated from the culture and from America. If they are not able to adapt to the culture in the states they are residing, they can miss out on opportunities. “If we are serious about equal opportunity, we must ensure that all youngsters acquire essential cultural literacy… (Finch, Ravitch 24)” Cultural literacy is also problematic when it comes to choosing what and how to educate. “The idea of cultural literacy does not embrace the whole of education (Hirsch 11).” When thinking of educating immigrants, one has to decide exactly what they should know. This idea is controversial because, potentially, the information people choose not to share may be they very things that immigrants need to know. There is also the idea that if they are overloaded with too much of our culture, they will begin to lose their own or feel that their ways are being threatened. However it is important to remember that in order to become versatile, one must be willing to step outside of the norm. To further explain this point, one can refer back to college students; more