Ong's Paper Response

The general argument of this paper is that literacy is a powerful tool that should be expected from everyone as the norm. "the term "illiterate" itself suggests that persons belonging to the class it designates are deviants, defined by something they lack, namely literacy" This means that with illiteracy one may be labeled as an outlier, outside of the norm. Ong goes on to say that literacy is not the normal human condition because if it were, we would be born literate and not have to learn literacy. Ong also feels that everyone should not learn literacy and mechanical skills in the same way. Essentially, writing should not be taught the same way. “the influence of writing on our thoughts shows that we have interiorized the technology of writing so deeply that without tremendous effort we cannot separate it from ourselves or even recognize its presence and influence” This quote demonstrates how some have conformed to writing being just kind of there and not having an influential power over our lives. It is somewhat fading.