Sorry I wasn't clear. As usual I assumed the context would be clear
from the thread of previous posts, and it was not. And I get upset
at others when I can't remember the topic of conversation and it isn't
provided.
In some of the earlier posts, Rhetnetters were saying that one of the
keys to being able to write well is to have read well. I know that
my being able to write decently comes from having been engrossed in
reading since I was about 7 or 8. The style and conventions of correctness
I follow come almost subconsciously out of a feel for what looks and
sounds right. When I said "the literacy problem we're all recognizing,"
I meant the problem we have as writing teachers when many if not most
of our students have not read enough to internalize the conventions we
find come to us effortlessly. Perhaps my use of the term "literacy"
in this context was inappropriate.
Simply put, my only thought on how to deal with this problem of not
having read enough is to find ways to get students excited about writing
and reading at early ages. That's why I mentioned the possibilities^H
for "neo-epistolary" culture through Email.
Michael
,