Brandt

When I think of a sponsor typically what comes to mind are institutions and persons who financially back other persons and institutions in need. I often associate such sponsored relationships as commercial sponsors and television and radio programs or large corporations and athletic events. However, sponsors as Brandt describes them are people, institutions, materials, and motivations which enable, support, teach, model, as well as conversely regulate, suppress and withhold literacy. “intuitively, sponsors seemed a fitting term for the figures who turned up most typically in people’s memories of literacy learning: older relatives, teachers, priest, supervisors, military officers, editors, influential authors,” (Brandt, 557).

When I recall the countless people and figures in my life who severed as sponsors for my literacy the most significant were my grade school Urban Day, my fifth grade teacher Ms. Stillman, and author and poet Maya Angelou. However the most significant sponsor in accordance with Brandt’s description is Wisconsin’s School Choice program. “The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is a tax-payer funded voucher program for low-income students to attend City of Milwaukee private schools, including religiously-affiliated programs,” (www.schoolchoicewi.org). This form of sponsorship is an explicit political one, as it is mostly supported by republican officials. Highly controversial as it is debated as to whether it perpetuates inequities in school funding, a claim which aligns with Brandt’s ideology that “despite ostensible democracy in educational chances, stratification of opportunity continues to organize access and reward in literacy learning,” (Brandt, 559).

For me sponsorship from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program afforded me the opportunity to study with highly qualified teachers, in a comfortable learning environment and with the latest in learning technologies and tools. For students of Milwaukee Public Schools it meant cutbacks, increase class sizes, lack of access to basic necessities. In high school my brother and I choose different paths for school, I stuck with Choice Program and choose to attend Messmer High School, my brother instead choose to attend our neighborhood school Custer High School. The differences were literarily night and day, his schools expectations for literacy were low compared to the high demands of Messmer. His course work was always a grade level behind and due to lack of funding there weren’t enough textbooks available for him to bring his textbooks home. In this situation although my sponsorship afford me quality education and great opportunities, at the same time it weakened the opportunities of others.