What is literacy? Lionel Yaceczko on "How to Read a Book"

Ray Bradbury once remarked that, to destroy a culture, burning books is not necessary; all that is needed is to convince people to stop reading them. And, of course, the easiest way to sway people from reading is to keep them illiterate. Indeed, this is also the best way to rob them of their liberty.  Frederick Doublas once remarked that “once you learn to read you will forever be free.” 

Now, it may be true that more people are literate today than ever before. Some statistics indicate that around eighty-six percent of adults in the world can read and write at a basic level. Compare this statistic to data from the early nineteenth century, when only twelve percent of people in the world could read, and there is indeed much to celebrate. 

But, what about other forms of literacy? Are people more culturally literate now? Can they read deeply, for understanding and not merely for a surface-level comprehension? What does it even mean to be literate? As educators--and particularly educators drawing from and adding to the liberal arts tradition--it is paramount that we consider such questions.

Here to talk about reading and its many forms is Dr. Lionel Yaceczko, lover of languages and teacher of Classics at The Heights School. In this episode, Dr. Yaceczko sits down for a discussion of Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book. Using Adler’s book as a springboard, we first run through the three kinds of reading, specified by the end to which they aim: 

Reading for information  Reading for entertainment  Reading for understanding

Second, Dr. Yaceczko helps us tackle what he calls the perennial problems that can make reading difficult, namely vocabulary and syntax, as well as some of the stumbling blocks that are particular to contemporary readers.  Third, we consider Adler’s four levels of reading:

Elementary  Inspectional Analytical  Syntopical

In particular, Dr. Yaceczko delves into the third level of reading--analytical--the preparation for which Adler argues ought to be the goal of a liberal arts education at the secondary school level. 

To be sure, the development of the capacity for analytical reading is no small task, but it is well worth the effort; for the difficulty of the endeavor comes from the loftiness of the goal. Despite the ardor of the task, rest assured: with patience our sons--and ourselves--may little-by-little grow into better readers. After all, the attainment of any goal, no matter how lofty, begins with small steps; it is from the valley that one ascends to the heights. 

Show Highlights 

What is the most controversial thing we teach at The Heights?  How Classics are the most egalitarian form of elitism What is literacy?  The three kinds of reading and what this means for literacy  Why is reading great books so difficult? Two perennial problems for readers Adler’s four levels of reading  Syntopical and Collocative reading  What Analytical reading is and why liberal arts high schools should foster it  How reading and writing inform each other  What makes a work of literature beautiful? Can true beauty be popularized? The three steps to reading deeply What parents can do to help their sons overcome the challenges of analytical reading Love: the strongest motivator

Suggested Reading 

How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren

Aristotle for Everybody by Mortimer J. Adler

Also on the Forum 

Forming Deep Workers with Cal Newport

Eulexia: The Goal of Deep Reading by Lional Yaceczko 

Summer Reading with a Purpose with Tom Longano 

How to Master the Art of Reading Outside by Tom Longano  

Dr. Mehan on Children’s Literature and Human Flourishing: Introducing the Handsome Little Cygnet 

Mentioned in the Episode 

A Crack in Creation by Jennifer Doudna and Samuel H. Sternberg

Timaeus by Plato 

Great Expectations by Jane Austin

Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis