"Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought"

Walter J. Ong writes about how literacy tends to begin to take on the form of supreme power by simply attaching to itself [literacy] the human expression and thought. Ong has argued that the term "illiterate" suggests that people belong to the class of deviants, based on the simple fact that they lack something most others have gained, literacy. Deviants in regards to normative/normal world tend to be thought of as a group comprised of individuals lacking a simple mechanical skill.

The quote that stuck out to me was when Plato Socrates explains that "writing destroys the memory" (page 21, Writing is a Technology that Restructures Thought, By Walter J. Ong). Socrates goes on to explain that though the use of external sources (e.g. computers, calculator, etc.) individuals have failed to rely heavily on their internal resources. This simple fact proved that writing has weakened the mind. Showing that we have become slave to the machine in society. We no longer find it necessary to stimulate and expand or internal resources (the mind) because so much emphasis now has been placed on the fact that machines have taken over and reduced the human ability to want to think. Machines, I believe take the drive, energy, and ambition away making the mind become complacent.

The critical term that is essential to the text is the word simply put "writing" (page 19, Writing is a technology that Restructures Thought", By Walter J. Ong). This term appears at various points throughout the text in how writing is compared to a mechanical skill, like tying a shoelace that one must master in order to become fully literate. Writing can take on many forms, existences, feelings such as inhuman, artificial, or a manufactured product. In this essay Ong places a huge emphasis on how writing has changed and will change the human mind either for the bad or good of society.

Overall, Ong described that writing and literacy are somewhat co-related relying on the fact that writing has become an essential tool to the human mind residing in the fact that it contributes to a richer, fuller, interior, human potentials. Ong discusses some critical elements that writing causes separation. Separation has begun to reveal itself as a divider of all sorts of things at all sorts of levels.

Finally, Ong compares writing to the everyday computer comparing it to the fact that writing is self-corrective to a certain degree. Print and electronics have started to separate know er from known more then writing does. Print has the effect on the human mind by placing a strain on the know er and known stages of writing in the context of complex structures of material. Writing has become a double-edged sword to some degrees it can benefit certain people however it can also hinder other people while at the same time taking on new shapes and forms throughout it's usage.

"Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention"

In this essay about how in today's society computers are becoming a more important tool in the everyday classroom. In today's world we like to have the best of both worlds and this is the case in the everyday classroom that we will encounter in the future. With having access to computers we will be able to have them available for our own studies, for support in our classes and profession, but to a negative aspect we have begun to regard these technologies into the background of our teaching lives.

The quote that is important is that during the Clinton-Gore administration is when they published a document called the "Getting America's Children Ready for the Twenty-First Century" in which they announced that their was a program underway to expand technological literacy. One of the quotes that was harvested from the text was that "they wanted the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity and performance" (page 416, Technology and Literacy, By Cynthia L. Selfe). The purpose of this program was to make sure that students are technology literate in which this refers to meaning that to use computers not only for it's rudimentary purposes but also for reading, writing, and communicating.

The term that is essential to this article is the word "technology" (page 412, Technology and Literacy, By Cynthia L. Selfe). The reason that this term is essential to this article is because this resource is becoming ever more important in today's classroom setting. Their has been a direct correlation between technology and literacy. One of the key components is that 70% of the jobs out their are now requiring a B.A. degree or further along with requirements for using computers. 89% of teachers and the public believe that the Internet (technology) adds to the value and learning that students will receive. Finally, 86% of parents believe that computer (technology) is one of the greatest investments that you can afford a child.

One of the main issues with this article however has to deal with the fact that schools that have served students of color have less than sophisticated computer equipment than do the schools that primarily are serving more affluent and white students. Students of color and poor students continue to have less availability to Internet, less multimedia equipment, less access to CD-ROM equipment, local area networks, and video disc technology.

By the above statement it shows that without these available technologies that students of color and of less affluent make-up aren't afforded the same opportunity to gain an education that is enriched with technology, thus giving these students the privilege of being able to gain access to technology rich jobs and economic prosperity after they graduate.