Sponsor's of Literacy brainstorming journal!

This is a journal entry for my Composition 2 class at the University of Central Florida. This specific article, "Sponsors of Literacy", was written by Deborah Brandt. Brandt is basically discussing her view point of literary sponsors, their characteristics, and she gives examples. In my entry I have answered the following questions about the article.

1) How does Brandt define a literacy sponsor? What are several particular characteristics of a literacy sponsor she offers throughout the article?
2) Why does Brandt claim that sponsors always have something to gain from their sponsorship? What does this motivation have to do with Brandt’s finding that the sponsored sometimes “misappropriate” their literacy lessons?
3) Offer at least two examples of how literacy sponsors can gain from their sponsorship, and then develop at least two examples from your own experience.

Entry 1:

            Brandt herself defines a literary sponsor 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 advantage by it in some way". According to Brandt literacy sponsors have characteristics such as compliance, loyalty, assistance, influence, power, and are knowledgeable.

            In the article Brandt suggests that sponsors are powerful, leaders, usually wealthy, and more knowledgeable than average. Brandt points out that literary sponsors are always looking to gain something from their sponsorship. Brandt states “sponsors deliver the ideological freight that must be borne for access to what they have”. She is basically saying that the reason people sponsor is so that they can gain some sort of reward, or compensation, and usually this compensation they seek is not monetary, most of the time they seek social credibility, or opportunities to excel.  The reason for this yearning for gaining something from sponsorship is because it is what keeps the sponsor successful, or helps their success. In her research, Brandt discovered a linking to this “motivation”, surprisingly, in religion. She gave the example that Protestant schools offered free reading instruction to the children, as a part of their evangelical duty, however this backfired on them. The parents of the children receiving the free instruction soon started demanding more of the church, they now wanted writing, and math instruction for their children as well. This example shows that the Protestant church was offering this free instruction because it was their evangelical duty, not because they wanted to, but because they would present themselves as good Christians.

            Literacy sponsors can gain a lot from their sponsorship. Brandt points out the patron-client relationship. Services such as, loaning land, money, and other favors allows powerful people to exploit their services to other clients. She also points out that the client’s trade their labor for access to opportunities for themselves, and their children. From my own personal experience, I have sponsored numerous volunteer services for community service hours for scholarships, and college applications. I also volunteered at Shand’s Hospital to gain more knowledge in the medical field, and to gain hands-on experience in the field. I assume the moral of this article is that even though we don’t always mean to, we as humans are always looking for some sort of compensation in everything we do.