How They See Me

I’m illiterate. Well, that is according to the 1965 Alabama Literacy Test. Personally, I consider someone literate if they can read and write. However, to be considered literate in the state of Alabama at this time you would need to be able to answer questions like, “A U.S. senator elected at the general election in November takes office the following year on what date?”  To be able to answer questions like these it requires a lot of prior knowledge, not just being literate.

To be able to vote in Alabama, you could only incorrectly answer seven out of sixty-eight questions. Every single person in my American Studies class was considered illiterate by the time we got to question twenty-four. However in Alabama, not everyone had to take this test in order to vote. If your grandfather voted than you were “Grandfathered In” and you could vote without taking this test. This was done to keep African Americans from being able to vote when the laws technically said they could. These people were being judged off of factors they couldn’t control, but doesn’t that still happen today?

I think one example where you are also judged off of appearances is when you apply to college. First of all, they see your grades and the classes you take. From this they can judge whether or not your challenging yourself in the classes you take and how hard you’re working. However, I took a class last year that was considered a lower level than some of my other classes, but I still thought it was my hardest class. So can a college really tell how hard I’m working or how much I’m challenging myself by looking at my grades and classes? They also judge you off of your ethnicity, whether or not you have a family member who attended that school before you, and whether or not you live in the same state as the school you’re applying to. Many of these things a student can’t control either, so is it fair to be judged off of them?