COM 170 Communication Environments

Assignment 10     Postman Chapters 3-5

Chapter 3

1.  What is the literacy rate Postman claims for colonial New England.  Although he doesn't mention all the possibilities, what kinds of evidence do you think would suggest that an individual living in 1640 Boston was literate or not?  Think of three things.

2.  Why do you think some of the colonies were so eager to build schools and later, to make education compulsory?

Chapter 4

3.  Explain three aspects of what Postman called the "typographic mind." 

Chapter 5

4.  Explain one the differences in the way the printed word communicates and images communicate, according to Postman.