In his recent work, "The New Literacy," Clive Thompson speaks of his assessment that newer generations are improving on our current age of literacy through the daily use of multiple mediums of text writing, most surprisingly of them-emails, blog posts, forums, chat rooms and text messaging. Thompson’s claim is contrary to popular belief that the new age of keyboards and monitors is making the youth of today in to a sad mock up of past generations. In his essay Thompson cites a study conducted by Andrea Lunsford, Professor of Writing and Rhetoric at Stanford University, to support his claim. From 2001 to 2006 Lunsford and her team assessed 14,672 student writing samples, mediums include; in-class assignments, blog posts, journal entries, and chat sessions just to name a few. The results they found are quite a juxtapose to what youth today are used to hearing about the negative effects of sitting on their computers. Newer generations are writing more than any generation before them, 38 percent of writing samples collected for the study took place out of the classroom, while past generations may have never composed a paragraph after high school unless it was career orientated, young adults and teens today can be found writing concise structured text on a daily basis. Another surprising conclusion found in Lunsford's study was that the students in their study were "remarkably adept at what rhetoricians call kairos-assessing their audience and adapting their tone and technique to best get their point across." Students today are almost always writing for an audience and are highly attuned to this aspect of writing, another thing not so commonly found in past generations.
Interestingly enough, Lunsford's study also sheds light on a close relation between the types of writing seen today and traditional Greek argument. The idea that an argumentative structure could resurface between such a time gap is fascinating. Lunsford states that even the simplest of text is valued for its persuasion and intellect-Students in her study defined good writing as something that had an effect on the world. To me this shows the eagerness of current generations to leave behind the kids table and join their fellow adults in real debate. In an age where each contestant is armed and ready with intellect, style and infinite amounts of resources it's hard to imagine their elders not having to put up a fight, but who could expect anything less?
This refreshing article reminds us that just because the comfort of familiarity feels safe, doesn’t mean there aren’t benefits to the new ways of things. Scientific discoveries are made every day and the applications of these discoveries will continue to reshape life as we know it, it is important of current generations to remain open to the new practices and tools that will be presented in the future. The ease of newer technology has helped predict weather patterns of major storms and saved thousands of lives, knowing this, who is to say that new technology can’t help boost this new age of literacy after all? Maybe it’s about time to say a not-so-tearful goodbye to age of the pen and paper and take welcome step forward in to the new walk of life.
534 words, Microsoft Word
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