Unit 5 straight A illiteracy(2)

Book 6 Unit 5

2 The scene is my office, and I am at work, doing what must be done if one is to assist in the cure of a disease that, over the years, I have come to call straight-A illiteracy. I am interrogating, I am cross-examining, I am prying and probing for the meaning of a student's paper. The student is a college senior with a straight-A average, an extremely bright, highly articulate student who has just been awarded a coveted fellowship to one of the nation's outstanding graduate schools. He and I have been at this, have been going over his paper sentence by sentence, word by word, for an hour. \from his paper, \pause to catch my breath. \that statement,\I address the student — whom I shall call, allegorically, Mr. Bright — \his brow furrowed, tries mightily. Finally, with both of us combining our linguistic and imaginative resources, finally, after what seems another hour, we decode it. We decide exactly what it is that Mr. Bright is trying to say, what he really wants to say, which is: \demand.\

3 Over the past decade or so, I have known many students like him, many college seniors suffering from Bright's disease. It attacks the best minds, and gradually destroys the critical faculties, making it impossible for the sufferer to detect gibberish in his own writing or in that of others. During the years of higher education it grows worse, reaching its terminal stage, typically, when its victim receives his Ph.D. Obviously, the victim of Bright's disease is no ordinary illiterate. He would never turn in a paper with misspellings or errors in punctuation; he would never use a double negative or the word \incapable of saying, in writing, simply and clearly, what he means. The ordinary illiterate — perhaps providentially protected from college and graduate school — might say: \down at the shop better stock up on what our customers need, or we ain't gonna be in business long.\and professional journals that are the major sources of his affliction, he writes: \focus of concentration must rest upon objectives centered around the knowledge of customer areas so that a sophisticated awareness of those areas can serve as an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant to future commitments.\straight As on his papers (both samples quoted above were taken from papers that received As), and the opportunity to move, inexorably, toward his fellowship and eventual Ph.D.

4 As I have suggested, the major cause of such illiteracy is the stuff — the textbooks and professional journals — the straight-A illiterate is forced to read during his years of higher education. He learns to write gibberish by reading it, and by being taught to admire it as profundity. If he is majoring in sociology, he must grapple with such journals as the American Sociological Review, journals bulging with barbarous jargon, such as \integrative action orientation\actor\(the latter of which monstrous phrases represents, to quote Malcolm Cowley, the sociologist's way of saying \things are never described as being \They are \homologous\or \Nor are things simply \allotropic.\They \dichotomize\bifurcate\

Words and Phrases

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Book 6 Unit 5

1. plight n. a sad or unfortunate situation

e.g. The plight of the disabled children moved her to tears.

2. as often as not: quite frequently; at least half the time

e.g. As often as not, he would go to the old woman's home and help her clean up the place.

3. articulate adj. able to express thoughts and feelings clearly and effectively

e.g. She is among the few articulate children in the nursery.

4. coveted adj. eagerly wished for or desired

e.g. She won the coveted first prize at the speech contest, much to our surprise.

5. decode v. change a coded message into intelligible language

e.g. Straight-A illiterates' writings are like coded messages difficult to decode.

6. affliction n. 1) (in this context) trouble

2) (literal meaning) sth. that causes pain or suffering e.g. A feeling of isolation is his chief affliction.

7. inexorably adv. inescapably

e.g. New technology marches on inexorably.

8. profundity n. profoundness; great depth of knowledge or thought

e.g. We didn't realize that the modest and unassuming man who talked to us a while ago was a scholar of great profundity.

9. grapple with: try hard to deal with; solve a difficult problem

e.g. As he will soon graduate from college, he is now grappling with the problem of whether to find a job or to pursue further studies.

10. monstrous adj. frightening, shocking

e.g. How could he ever have told such a monstrous lie!

11. homologous adj. 1) a biological term meaning \

not necessarily in function\

2) having the same or a similar relation

12. allotropic adj. being of several forms of a chemical element in the same state but with

different physical or chemical properties

13. dichotomize v. divide or separate into two parts

14. bifurcate v. divide into two branches

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Book 6 Unit 5

Notes

1. the current fuss and bother: the present-day worry and anxiety

fuss — a show of unnecessary anger, anxiety, excitement, interest, etc. e.g. Don't make a fuss over that careless spelling mistake. Why did you make such a fuss about a small matter like that?

2. to give him equal time with his widely publicized counterpart: to give as much attention as

has been paid to those illiterates like him, who are widely known to the public publicize — bring to public notice

e.g. The scientist does not want to have his experiment publicized before it is completed. The new dictionary sold quite well even though it was not publicized.

3. I am interrogating, I am cross-examining, I am prying and probing for the meaning of a

student's paper.: I am asking questions thoroughly, for a long time, and in detail; I am trying very hard to find out the meaning of a student's paper. Note how the author uses four different verbs to express the same idea forcefully.

interrogate — question formally for a special purpose, esp. for a long time and sometimes with the use of threat

e.g. The police interrogated the suspect for hours on end.

cross-examine — question sb. about the evidence he has already given in order to find out whether it is true or not

e.g. John was cross-examined on what he knew about the bribery scandal.

pry and probe — ask questions inquisitively and try to uncover some information e.g. It is objectionable to pry and probe into others' personal affairs.

4. \

derivations of certain multiple correlation coefficients.\: According to the author, this sentence is gibberish and its meaning is: \the sentence that the subject \choice ... multi-colinearity\corresponds to demand, the verb phrase \contingent upon\means \dependent on\and the noun phrase after upon \derivations ... coefficients\corresponds to supply. We must guard against this kind of gibberish in our own writing.

5. his brow furrowed: A more usual way of saying this is \knitted his brows\or \

frowned\

6. Bright's disease: There is actually a disease by this name, but the term here has no relation to

that disease at all. Here, the term refers only to \

7. the critical faculties: the natural mental power that makes sound judgment

8. irregardless: Regardless is sometimes misspelt as irregardless, a double negative that is

incorrect.

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Book 6 Unit 5

9. providentially protected from college and graduate school: kept safe from college and

graduate school by divine interference

This is an example of irony. It is actually unfortunate for the ordinary illiterate to be kept out of institutions of higher learning.

providentially — involving divine interference; fortunately. Providential is the adjective form of providence, a divine force.

10. \

gonna be in business long.\: \people in the shop had better stock enough goods to meet the need of us customers; otherwise we are not going there to buy things any longer.\This is an example of ungrammatical English used by the ordinary illiterate.

11. Taking his cue from years of higher education: Following the examples or advice he has

been given for many years at college

take one's cue from ... — follow the advice or example of ...

e.g. Tom remained quiet at the discussion, and his sister took her cue from him.

12. \: This is the straight-A illiterate's

version of what an ordinary illiterate might say about stocking goods as shown in the preceding quotation. To put it in simple English, the sentence may read: \shopkeeper must know what the customers need so that he can tell what they really want from what they don't want when getting new supplies of goods.\

an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant — a commercial device to tell what is suitable from what is unsuitable

future commitments — what the shopkeeper has to do in future, i.e. stocking goods

13. the stuff: This word has a derogatory tone, referring here to \

14. journals bulging with barbarous jargon: journals filled with outrageously unintelligible or

meaningless writing

bulge with — be so full of sth. as to swell in size e.g. His briefcase bulged with confidential documents.

15. orientation toward improvement of the gratificational deprivation balance of the actor:

make adjustment to improve the balance between satisfaction and dispossession

Questions

1. What is the purpose of Degnan's writing?

Key: To find the cause of straight-A illiteracy.

2. Why does Degnan say that a straight-A illiterate is more influential? (para. 1)

Key: He is usually one who occupies a position at the top of the academic hierarchy; the way he writes is considered exemplary, and his judgment of what is appropriate is directive.

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Book 6 Unit 5

3. Do you think Degnan's comparison of straight-A illiteracy to a disease is appropriate? Explain.

(para. 3)

Key: Yes. Like a disease, it victimizes healthy persons; it has its symptoms, and its agent.

4. What rhetorical and linguistic devices does Degnan use in para. 2 to highlight the extreme

difficulty in understanding Mr. Bright's paper?

Key: Repetition of the same structure: \emphasize the difficulty of the task; use of a periodical sentence: \we decode it.%use of cleft-sentence structure: \decide what exactly it is that ...\italicizing the word \

5. Why does Degnan insert the word \

Bright\

Key: The student given the name of Mr. Bright thus becomes a symbol.

6. Make complete the elliptical sentence \

Key: \and with it Degnan turns back from one type to the other.

7. What does Degnan's choice of the word \

Key: An attitude of contempt and disapproval.

8. Try to explain why the following pairs of sentences are the same in meaning. (para. 2)

a. The choice of exogenous variables in relation to multi-colinearity is contingent upon the derivations of certain multiple correlation coefficients. b. Supply determines demand.

Key: As intended by the student, \while \the derivations ... coefficients\corresponds to \This is a very abstruse sentence to unravel.

9. Reword the following sentences so that they are more easily understood. (para. 3)

a. The focus of concentration must rest upon objectives centered around the knowledge of

customer areas so that a sophisticated awareness of those areas can serve as an entrepreneurial filter to screen what is relevant from what is irrelevant to future commitments.

b. Them people down at the shop better stock up on what our customers need, or we ain't

gonna be in business long.

Key: a. You must focus your attention on what your customers need so that you are able to tell what is necessary from what is unnecessary when you replenish your stock.

b. The shop assistants had better have in stock what our customers need, or we won't be in business long.

10. Compare briefly the two types of illiteracy. Which type in your opinion presents a graver

problem to society?

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