The Necessity of Inquiry

In her chapter "Intercultural Inquiry and the Transformation of Service" Linda Flower discusses how volunteers often approach service opportunities with attitudes and expectations that may add to the problems of situations they are addressing rather than providing long-term help. She says that such "guerrilla service" only "reinforces the distance between the giver and receiver, especially if the contact is superficial and the junket uncomplicated by reflection"(153). She says that the key to successful service is engaging in intercultural inquiry. Eager to help, sometimes volunteers can be overzealous in the wrong ways and end up doing more harm than good. Rather than approaching service opportunities with the mentality that we (the academics/volunteers) are the experts, we need to posture ourselves as learners. The point of this is not to deceive the communities we serve into thinking that we don't have all the answers; it is a reality that we have just as much to learn from them as they do from us.

I could relate to this chapter because I mentored young women at a Residential Treatment Center for two years. These girls were at this facility because of alcohol, drug, or behavioral problems (or a combination of the three). I remember times of hoping that if I could just say the right thing, maybe I could help them not go back to their addictions. I had to learn that I could not change or “fix” anyone and that I needed to listen to their stories and ask the right kinds of questions. Although it wasn't directly related to literacy, I had to engage in a form of intercultural inquiry, which was especially challenging given the fact that my background is very different from most of the girls I interacted with.

I didn't follow “The Effect of Hypertext on Processes of Reading and Writing” by Davida Charney quite as I did well as Flower's chapter. However, the connection I saw between them was the point that learning what is best for others requires inquiry (and often research and experimentation). Designers of hypertext systems must not assume that readers want or will benefit from hypertext. Everyone has different preferences and abilities and so it is important to to keep this in mind when designing literacy tools as well as in teaching a classroom full of students. Inquiry is essential for serving others well, and for transforming our own understanding as learners.