Militant Literacy: Response to Reading of March 1

William Mayo system of literacy I am very sure that contemporary parents and individuals will appreciate it were now. It is very interesting to know that his philosophy actually worked for him because he was able to inculcate his own system of literacy acquisition into some of those students in Mayo College as at that time. One of his beliefs that I really love is what he referred to as “Normal method” which he wrote in the college catalogue “Do not make the students a mere passive recipient for the learning of others, but put him to thinking and telling his thoughts for himself” (128). According to Gold, it is also very interesting to know that Mayor despised students who just sit in the class and recite what they had been thought. He called that “Parrot” and said that students should be active in the class. Even though teachers are meant to assist and guide, the students must get involved in the classroom actively to actualized real learning. Classroom according to Mayor, is a “place that pupils learn to exercise their own powers and if the teacher unsurps this, he is the meanest of tyrant¬ - and¬¬ tyrant over human souls” (128).

However, there are so many criticisms about Mayor’s system of literacy. He was compared to other educators like Harvard president, Charles Eliot and Adams Smith Hill. Of course Mayor failed in some aspects but also succeeded because some of his students were hard workers.