The Civilization of Illiteracy | Page 9

books churning
prophecies, nor had companies made fortunes in multimedia when the
ideas that go into this book were discussed with students, presented in
public lectures, outlined to policy-makers (including administrators in
higher education), and printed in scholarly journals. On starting this
book, I wanted it to be not only a presentation of events and trends, but
a program for practical action. This is why, after examination of what
could be called the theoretical aspects, the focus shifts to the applied.
The book ends with suggestions for practical measures to be considered
as alternatives to the beaten path of the bandage method that only puts
off radical treatment, even when its inevitability is acknowledged. Yes,
I like to see my ideas tested and applied, even taken over and
developed further (credit given or not!). I would rather put up with a
negative outcome in discussions following publication of this book,
than have it go unnoticed.

Book one The Chasm Between Yesterday and Tomorrow
Contrasting characters
The information produced in our time, in one day, exceeds that of the
last 300 years. What this means can be more easily understood by
giving some life to this dry evaluation originating from people in the

business of quantifying data processing.
Zizi, the hairdresser, and her companions exemplify today's literate
population. Portrayed by Hans Magnus Enzensberger, she is contrasted
to Pascal, who at the age of sixteen had already published his work on
conic sections, to Hugo Grotius, who graduated from college at fifteen,
and to Melanchton, who at the age of twelve was a student at the once
famous Heidelberg University. Zizi knows how to get around. She is
like a living address on the Internet at its current stage of development:
more links than content, perennially under construction. She
continuously starts on new avenues, never pursuing any to the end. Her
well-being is supported by public money as she lives off all the social
benefits society affords. Zizi's conversations are about her taxes, and
characters she reads about in magazines, sees on television, or meets on
vacation. As superficial as such conversations can be, they are full of
catch phrases associated or not with the celebrations of the day. Her
boyfriend, 34-year-old Bruno G., graduated with a degree in political
economy, drives a taxi cab, and still wonders what he wants to do in
life. He knows the name of every soccer team that has won the
championship since 1936; he knows by heart the names of the players,
which coach was fired when, and every game score.
Melanchton studied reading, writing, Latin, Greek, and theology. He
knew by heart many fragments from the classical writers and from the
Bible. The world he lived in was small. To explain its workings, one
did not need to master mathematics or physics, but philosophy. Since
Melanchton can no longer be subjected to multiple choice or to IQ tests,
we will never know if he could make it into college today. The question
posed about all the characters introduced is a simple one: Who is more
ignorant, Melanchton or Zizi?
Enzensberger's examples are from Germany, but the phenomena he
brings to his readers' attention transcend national boundaries. He
himself-writer, poet, publisher-is far from being an Internet buff,
although he might be as informed about it as his characters are. As
opposed to many other writers on literacy and education, Enzensberger
confirms that the efficiency reached in the civilization of illiteracy (he

does not call it that) makes it possible to extend adolescence well into
what used to be the more productive time in the life of past generations.
Everyone goes to college-in some countries college education is a right.
This means that over half of the young people enter some form of
higher education. After graduating, they find out that they still don't
know what they want. Or, worse yet, that what they know, or are
certified as knowing, is of no consequence to what they are expected to
do. They will live, like Zizi, from social benefits and will get extremely
angry at anyone questioning society's ability to provide them. For them,
efficiency of human practical experiences translate into the right to not
worry whether they will ever contribute to this efficiency. While still
students, they demand, and probably rightly so, that everything be to
the point. The problem is that neither they nor their teachers can define
what that means. What students get are more choices among less
significant subjects. That, at least, is how it looks. They probably never
finish a book from cover to cover. Assignments are given to them in
small portions, and usually with photocopied pages, which they are
expected to read. A question-and-answer sheet is conveniently attached,
with the hope that the students will read the pages to find