Welcome to Sponge Wars, a blog who's name will make more sense after you read the accompanying link. Therefore, in order to understand the insanely, unfunny sarcasm and bad humor that will appear on the rest of this site, it is highly recommended that you be a sponge and absorb it. If you have not yet evolved to even being a sponge and are not inclined to make the effort to click on the supplied link, then read on!
What is the desirable function that a sponge performs? Does it raise children? Perhaps it has dinner ready for us after a hard day's work? Or, maybe it tucks us in at night? Nay! Any putz could tell you that sponges absorb liquids. A useful function to be sure, but only in the correct context.
The complimentary saying of the past used to be that a person "soaked up knowledge/information like a ____________" (fill in the blank, people). Certainly, ascribing the possession of retentive memory to someone is not bad. However, if the person cannot do something with the information, then what is the use? If a person cannot relate, analyze, compare, and synthesize the information with what has already happened in their own lives, then what good is it serving them? Even Rainman's (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095953/) unparalleled power of recollection served him little use.
As a teacher, an about-to-be uncle, a citizen, a lone human among other human beans, I strive to cast off any personal similarities to the sponge. In turn, in as much as the capacity of my job allows, I attempt to dissuade developing young adults from devolving into sponge status. Particulary, these young adults must not become sponges in the realm of literacy. In a small sense, literacy solely constitutes the media that confronts them - books, magazines, newspaper, the telly, advertisements, etceteras. In a larger sense, literacy encompasses how a person "reads" their world. Ever thought of how you make sense of your own world and life? In every aspect of your existence, you may or may not consciously analyze why things are as they are and how that impacts you. You may be that analytical, aware, not-going-to-take-it-sitting-down citizen. This is what critical literacy can mean, and it is what should be daily practiced by the populace.
In close, the old compliment that compared a person with a sponge should be viewed as an insult. Who wants to be only a container, a vessel? Or, would not you rather be able to use what's in your head as you wish? Would you rather be a "yes-woman" or a "yes-man"? Or, would you not rather have the chutzpa that the practice of critical literacy brings? This blog has declared that we are at war. Join the ranks. Post!
