“In Donny’s home, because neither parent could read nor write, the children grew up understanding that life did not include print. In fact, they did not understand that print existed as a meaningful semiotic system; it did not “mean,” did not function in their lives. And they lived full and interesting lives without it.”
This passage, as the whole article, really struck me. I had never thought about reading being a completely foreign concept. It’s just something we do. The analogy of the foreign student in driver’s education offered a perfect comparison. How can we expect students to understand literacy and reading if they have no foundation? A cultural deficit attributes students’ lack of educational success to characteristics rooted in their home and community environments. Although this deficit exists, it does not absolve a school from their responsibility to educate the student.
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This is a key argument in the article. Remember, what Purcell-Gates is trying to say is lack of experience with print based reading and writing is not an intellectual or moral deficit...it is a cultural difference.
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