Assignment #3 Part II--Cultural Literacy

I really enjoyed this weeks videos! It was interesting to think about all the ways we stay/become culturally literate without even realizing what we're doing.


One of the biggest resources for improving one's cultural literacy is obviously the internet. Since I don't often watch the news on TV or read the paper, I started setting my homepage to CNN.com a few years back to keep myself up to date with current affairs. If I ever don't understand something I'm reading or want to know more on the subject, I "wiki" it. Hopefully this confession won't backfire as I glanced ahead in the readings and I'm pretty sure the next one is about Google "making us stupid", but I think Wikipedia is awesome. It's really taught me so much.


Another way I have become culturally literate is through my education. "As a consequence of the fact that we learn most easily when we attach the new to the old, people who already know a lot tend to learn new things faster and more easily than people who do not know very much." This sentence from the Hirsch excerpt really stuck with me because it reinforces the need for education and how important learning is in all aspects of life.


In my opinion, travel and experience is always the best way to educate yourself. Like a lot of people, I learn much better hands-on and retain the knowledge waaay longer than if I just read about it in a book or am "talked at" during a lecture. Take my french for example. I took french in high school and a few semesters when I first got to Clemson, but I basically had to start from the beginning when I got here! Pretty embarrassing to admit, but I think it's just because I didn't practice enough...or the language part of my brain just doesn't work (I'm starting to lean towards this theory). 


I think the language barrier is definitely the biggest obstacle to me becoming culturally literate in France. Unfortunately, I'm not able to practice here as much as I'd like since the main point of me being an au pair for my family is to teach the kids english. However, my french host family is still my greatest resource for cultural knowledge and I am asking new questions every day.

In this lesson I learned that cultural literacy can be highly valuable to anyone engaging in any kind of social interaction. Carrying on conversations with peers, catching onto cultural references in class, reading the newspaper, etc, are all examples of this. Understanding what is going on in the world around you enhances your ability to communicate and create bonds with people, thereby opening doors and opportunities and gaining you respect in the community.