Feb
6
Dickinson Literacy, Skills and Lingo
February 6, 2013 | | 2 Comments
To me being literate at Dickinson has two parts.The first part involves being able to successfully read emails and understand how to employ research tools to their fullest. It is something that is taught to us as a part of our useful liberal education to prepare us for the post college world. I think that this form of Dickinson literacy is a great boon to us and it has taught me many skills that I did really use when I was High School. Sure I knew how email worked but it was something I used for recreational purposes and not as a means of serious communication. Research was something that we only thought we did in High School but once I got to college and learned what the research here was like I knew that I had never actually researched anything in High School.
The second aspect of Dickinson Literacy is the lingo we use as students and staff here. Terms like the Snar and the Cushies and the various locations KW, the Quads, etc. I remember first arriving here and not really knowing what all of it meant and it took me the first year or semester or so to master it all. It was very interesting to me to see all the freshman football players are camp asking where the HUB was and what the SNAR was just like I did back when I was freshman. The lingo we have here I think exists everywhere and it is a way in which we establish ourselves as students at Dickinson.
Comments
2 Comments so far
Taylor, which of these two kinds of literacy is more important in your / students’ day-to-day life on campus? Which do you think give students a greater sense of accomplishment and/or belonging? The first paragraph of your post is talking about some of the big aims of your useful education, the second about units of lingo, but it does seem like your prose is more energized in the second section. I’d like to hear more about how you rank (or if you think we have to rank) these two “kinds” of Dickinson literacy.
Nice post. Do proofread!
Taylor, I think it is interesting to note that while you identify two main facets of the meaning of Dickinson literacy, it is the specialized Dickinson lingo that you identify as the “way in which we establish ourselves as students at Dickinson.” I think that this, whether done with or without this specific purpose, speaks to Professor Bowen’s questions about how you would rank or value these two separate components of Dickinson Literacy.