Critical Literacy and Capitalism in the Classroom

 

Critical Literacy and Capitalism in the Classroom

            Critical literacy is an essential aspect of Language Arts instruction in today’s schools. It provides all students a lens through which to see themselves within the context of their education. “Critical literacy offers the tools to investigate language constructions, including silence, through the assumption that anything that has been constructed through language is saturated with perspective or ideological beliefs and therefore can be deconstructed and better understood. Such constructions could take infinite forms including a social interaction, and internet website, a children’s book, a television commercial, a sitcom, an email, or a newspaper article.”  (Jones 1) Exposing students to the practice of critical literacy is giving them permission and license to react honestly to the world they live in, to recognize injustice, and attempt to make a change within the framework of a capitalist society by helping them better understand the root causes of societal problems.

            Helping students understand how and why there is innate injustice ingrained into the fabric of capitalism is an important aspect of critical literacy. “Capitalism comes about when a particular kind of class structure is created- in which there is a small group on one side called capitalists, who control the basic means of production: and another group, the vast majority, on the other side who don’t have any choice but to seek employment from these capitalists,” (Chibber 12). Far too often, students don’t see the relevance of the instruction they receive in school “in the real world” and don’t understand how their instruction will help them to become successful. Without a working understanding of capitalism, students too often fail to consider what they can do to better themselves in order to set themselves apart from their peers when they enter the labor market, and without the lens of critical literacy, students too often fail to see the causes for the inequality inherent within our society.



    Critical literacy isn’t a program or strategy, but rather a philosophy that requires readers to consider the power, perspective, and positioning of the author in order to gain perspective. “These tools offer the opportunity to dig deeper into an issue such as police-community relations, that for so long seemed cut-and-dry and grounded exclusively in racism.” (Jones 5) By helping our students develop a deeper understanding of the complexities of societal problems, we give them the opportunity to make societal changes that might otherwise seem unchangeable.

            One text that would be a valuable tool in this aim is Jason Reynold’s Stamped, and it would be the first text that I would teach in a high school Language Arts classroom. In Stamped, Reynolds provides a historic timeline of the history of racism. His writing style is easily accessible for most high school students, and is organized in a manner that makes it easy to follow. Tracing the history of racism and antiracism, Stamped is not only an amazing piece of American history, it is also deeply rooted in critical theory, helping to students come to understand many of the historic events that gave rise to many of the injustices facing so many Americans today. By beginning the school year studying this text, I would be laying the groundwork for the work in critical literacy that we will engage in over the course of the year.

 


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D6Ge1VXySo&t=3s

 

           

 

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