Please Mum take credit for my mad child-skills.

It's a shame, my mum never draws anymore, cause I think she's pretty good at it. And I think I thought that as a kid. 

As Pierre Bourdieu theorised, the acquisition cultural capital (non-financial assets: i.e. literacies that are valued in school) is largely influenced by one's habitus: the surrounding social and cultural influences that shape one's mind. Bourdieu's social constructionist theories inform alot of the dialogue generated in this course around literacies. The development of personal literacies cannot be separated from the array of social and cultural influences that surround the child: one notable influence being the family home. 

I remember days before attending school, asking mum to draw me things, and at my request she would. Often she would expect a drawing in return. This aspect of my relationship with mum lead to the implicit preference for drawing as a mode of language (over writing). I think this explains the gap between my visual and linguistic (writing) literacies as a kindergartner. While I read and write alot these days I still value and enjoy the process of image making. The current literature around the importance of visual literacy is most inspiring, as I am training to teach art. In the image saturated 21st century proficiency in visual literacy will be more important than ever for empowering students (Duncum, 2001). In the words of Ludwig Wittgenstein, "The limits of my language are the limits of my world.." (cited in EDUC3038 lecture wk.3). Today visual language pervades every aspect of our life, and thus has never been so important.