Sponsers of Literacy

Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy." Literacy: A Critical Sourcebook. Cushman, Ellen. et al.
New York: Bedford/ St. Martins, 2001.

"Sponsors of Literacy by Brandt is a summary of an investigation she did "tracing sponsors of literacy across the twentieth century as they appeared in the accounts of ordinary Americans recalling how they learned to write and read" (557). She did about 100 interviews on people who were born between 1900 and 1980. When she uses the word "sponsors," she means people who are "any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy- and again gain advantage by it in some way" (556).
In these interviews, people explored their memories of how they learned to read and write, why they learned to read and write, and who was involved in "helping" them (for example, parents, teachers, employers, etc...).
I found this quote in her article to be most interesting to me: "Literacy, like land, is a valued commodity in this economy, a key resource in gaining profit and edge" (558). This is so true. For instance, All we ever hear is "get an education; you'll make more money." And it seems that for some reason educated people are more respected, (whether you think this statement is right or wrong, it can be true) which gives them an "edge." This statement also supports the reason why slave owners strongly opposed their slaves learning to read and write. If they kept them "dumb," they'd always have that "edge."
To sum it up, Brandt says "the ideological pressure of sponsors affects many private aspects of writing processes as well as public aspects of finished texts. Where ones sponsors are multiple or even at odds, they can make writing maddening. Where they are absent, they make writing unlikely" (571).