Construction of Cultural Disability: Intelligence Comes in Many Different Shapes

Blog #1 for Module 5: Analytical Response to the Reading, "Reading Adolescents' Reading Identities: Looking Back to Get Ahead" by Donna Alverman

      "Largely through the writings of a cross-disciplinary group of scholars, reading educators around the world are being exposed to the idea that literacy education is less about skill development and more about access to cultural resources and to understandings of how schools that promote certain normative ways of reading texts may be DISABLING some of the very students they are trying to help." - Donna Alverman 

     This quotation by Donna Alverman prefaces her concerns with a few problematic issues. One being based on how the normative ways of reading are "losing their usefulness (and validity) in the wake of new technologies and changing literacies", and another being how the struggling reader is not only the one to blame for his or her individual reading level. I thought this was rather intriguing. Alverman emphasized how the "construction of cultural disability is all inclusive", in that the school, the teachers, the parents, and most importantly,  the curriculum along with testers determine a student's performance and understanding of subject material. In this, I think Alverman brings up an excellent point that is not often discussed or considered as credible. I feel students who have been identified as struggling readers from a very young age are frequently labeled with disabilities, and as a result, do more poorly within the classroom setting because they feel as if they are not capable of reading or learning in a way that which other students are. When in reality, it is important to look at the greater picture, in that, it is not the student's fault that he or she is deemed with the label of a struggling reader, but the surrounding elements that have major impacts on the student's learning and success.

     

      It is evident that not every student learns in the same manner or is capable of the same skills as other students. With that being said, mandatory state tests that determine the comprehension levels of students, I feel, are unfair. This is  because intelligence is not strictly confined to academic subject matter. Each individual possesses a different kind of intelligence. Furthermore, Sally may read perfectly, and thus, perform highly on a state reading-comprehension test. Whereas Nico, an identified "struggling reader", does poorly on the test, but, had the test been based on his cello skills, he would have flawlessly passed the exam because of his intelligence with music.