You Can't Teach That

Guillory states that : “If the formal study of Latin-American novels in the university does not really transmit or reproduce Latino culture, it follows that the relation of even Latino students to these artifacts will not be entirely unlike the relation of “American” students to the works of “Western” (American of European) culture”(1474). Guillory says this in relation to the alienated atmosphere the school creates, and it seems to me that it is a false one, one that pretends to transfer useful information but instead ends up creating something entirely different than the intended material. I agree that culture can’t be taught, that the only pure way is to live culture and it makes sense that one can get only ideas of a culture in a school setting rather than being able to “learn” a culture.

I think it is important to separate a text from the absorption of culture, as text isn’t the only thing that a culture relies upon. Guillory address the subject of oral tradition, which to me is just as important as text, if not more so. Oral tradition seems to have more of a personal aspect because its only means of transfer is between people. You can’t have oral tradition without a gathering of some sort, whether it be between two people or a group of people. This seems more beneficial to culture.