Sponsors of Literacy an Answer to Economic Disparities and Educational Inequality

Page Number                  Topic

Page 1                             Cover Page

Page 2                             Table of Contents

Page 3                             Introduction

Page 4-5                          Background

Page 6-12 Page 12         Research

Page 13 Page 14            Comments

Page 15-16                      Works Cited

Introduction

Deborah Brandt’s “Sponsors of Literacy,” argues that there are many different sponsors that affect what we read and how. Brandt defines sponsors as "any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy—and gain an advantage by it in some way... who or what underwrites occasions of literacy learning and use" (166). Essentially, a sponsor is loose to term for an influencer who teaches us how to become literate and can range from ideas, teachers, institutions, etc. We become literate under a societal hierarchy that uses its influencers to control the accessibility and capacity of what we can read. Whether it is a parent, preacher, or government member, sponsors are influencers who administer direct or indirect control over a population of learners. They utilize their position of power to affect our literacy and our access to it.

For this paper, I will first discuss my motivation for promoting educational success in local communities. I will examine the issue of economic disparities and educational inequality and discuss methods that implement sponsorship in literacy to investigate if sponsorship helps in mending the educational gap. I will then include personal experience and commentary of the topic through the work from the nonprofit I am involved and researched, and how they serve as sponsors.