Ciara Puckett
Professor Jean Schloeman
English 101
15 June 2015
How illiteracy e ffects individual people and society as a whole An Estimated 27 Million Americans are considered illiterate, and another 45 million are considered marginally competent in basic skills. (Women,illiteracy,pov)
An illiterate person in our society faces trials every day that are taxing, making life difficult mentally and physically. There is an overwhelming amount of research and studies that indicate that individuals that are functionally illiterate are more likely to be unemployed, convicted of crimes, live in poverty, and drop out of high school. Being illiterate affects the quality of one’s life as well as a communities.
The first problem associated with illiteracy is its negative impact on the workforce.
Having literacy skills is imperative to being able to learn other skills to be able to keep up with the requirements in a job. According to Lori Forlizzi at Pennsylvania State University These jobs are demanding more education and higher levels of language, math, and reasoning skills. (Lori Forlizzi).There needs to be knowledge and understanding to be able to function in your job. Doing basic tasks require the individual to be able to read, write, and follow directions. In the Deslauriers (1990) article, it states “Illiteracy affects not only their ability to carry out work-related assignments, but also their relations with their families and even their own self-worth (Deslauriers).
In the essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” written by Jonathan Kozol and originally published in the book, “Illiterate America”, is a bundle of examples of how people who are illiterate live every day. It showcases the hardships they go through, and how much of a problem it is. He had quotes from various interviews with people who are illiterate, and how many become distrustful of people trying to explain what the written document or form says, for they can never know if they are telling the truth. Kozol heavily uses rhetorical strategies, mostly pathos related, to showcase these struggles and make us take notice of this problem. Overall, he uses the strategies of logos, ethos, and pathos to push his point across.
In the essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” is written by Jonathan Kozol, published in “Reading for writers” in NY. 2013. The author Kozol is a nonfiction writer, educator and social activist. In the essay, he writes about illiteracy occur in American society, illiterates who cannot read are getting trouble with many issues in their life. He is successful in affecting readers by using rhetorical throughout his essay. Kozol has also shown his talented skill of writing with logos, ethos and pathos. With logos, he is well-developed on the core of his argument, talented in appeal to readers’ emotion with pathos, and impressing readers to believe in his reliable with ethos.
In “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, a chapter from book called Illiterate America (1985), the author Jonathan Kozol highlights that society cannot continue to sustain if we all neglect 60 million Americans who suffer from illiteracy. Kozol develops his claim by utilizing logos and pathos on describing the hardships that illiterates experience on a daily basis including their political rights. His purpose is to inform non-illiterates about the kind of life that illiterates go through, in order to bring the awareness on illiteracy. Kozol establishes sympathy relationship towards illiteracy and intended audience are two types of non-illiterate Americans who are not aware on suffering of illiterates and who blames illiterates without
Imagine waking up to an unfamiliar world. A world that only may seem familiar due to years spent breathing, but not living. In this unfamiliar world, one can only imagine the panic and frustrations illiterates face each day as they coexist. An expert on this issue, Jonathan Kozol, wrote a book that deals with his theories of illiterates in America. He mentions how democracy is sacrificed from lack of acknowledgement of this issue. While focusing on chapter four in his novel, Kozol highlights real life hardships for illiterates and defends that their freedoms are nonexistent. In Jonathan Kozol’s essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, he presents the major costs and dangers from illiterates that impact our society as a whole and that our nation fails to address.
The word literacy is defined as a person’s ability to read and write in a sentence. According to the article “Adolescent Literacy”, the literacy problem is getting serious in America because the students feel frustrated and discouraged to read and write when they are in school. Students without a diploma, they will face problems in getting a limited job or promotion to a higher level. The authors, Jimmy Santiago Baca and Malcolm X were having an illiteracy problem when they were in prison. Jimmy Santiago Baca is born in New Mexico and grow up without a proper family. Baca was caught and sentenced to prison for dealing with drugs when he was in his early twenties. He also gave free readings and speeches about his experiences within the country.
Writer Jonathan Kozol, in the essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” suggests that the alarming rates of illiteracy in the U.S. are corroding the fundamentals of democracy, reinforcing the structures of inequality that created the problem to begin with. His argument draws on a range of evidence and support from multiple sources such as philosophers and historical figures, anecdotes, and first-person accounts. Kozol’s purpose is to not simply illustrate the various personal tragedies that people with underdeveloped reading skills face, but to tell his audience that such tragedies when you add them up constitute a threat to the basic values that maintain the nation as a whole.
Statistically, based on reports from 2003, 99% of the total population ages 15 and over can read and write (CIA Library). Thus, one can conclude illiteracy is not a crisis. However, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol, implies something different. Kozol emphasizes the hardship of an illiterate, and briefly explains the importance of helping an illiterate without providing much of a solution, while Kozol’s essay was ineffective overall because of the lack of factual evidence and flawed conclusions, his strategic use of tone, repetition and rhetorical questioning provided some strength to his argument.
Envision being limited in a world full of opportunities and advantages due to illiteracy. In this society, it is unfortunate that there are individuals who are illiterate, which ultimately affects their democratic lives. Many other citizens do not face this issue, and may not recognize the disadvantages that illiterates face. In Jonathan Kozol’s text, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” he discusses the various issues concerned with illiteracy, one of them being how it affects democracy. Democracy is a type of government where power, that involves human rights and values, is held by the people. According to Kozol’s text, illiteracy undermines democracy in the United States because people are oblivious of their right to equality,
Taking things for granted is a very common practice in society, the ability to appreciate the smaller things in life is a trait not commonly found in many. Be it having the ability to attend a university, or having the proper use of all of one’s limbs, many don’t fully understand and appreciate the gifts they have. In his work, The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society, Johnathan Kozol relates this idea to the importance of literacy, and the implications and struggles that are imposed on society and those who lack it.
An illiterate person can be successful and live a productive life, a high school dropout can make a respectable wage, a person with a college education can be underemployed, and many people with doctorates who are unemployed. The literate arts do not guarantee success and money. What the literate arts do offer a person, are tools that make gaining knowledge and wisdom easier, both during and after their formal education. The gaining of this knowledge and wisdom offers other tools that make success easier – whatever success may be. If and how these tools (which are acquired through the literate arts) are used is entirely up to the individual.
The high rate of illiteracy is a major problem in the United States. Although there have been programs and initiatives started to eradicate this problem, illiteracy still plagues millions of Americans. Out of all ethnic groups, African Americans have a higher illiteracy rate. Within this project, the causes of illiteracy are revealed and viable solutions to this on-going problem will be discussed. Illiteracy Among African-Americans
Walking into a class room full of seniors, one might not suspect that some of the students can not read above a third grade reading level (Mcmaster). In fact one million teenagers from the ages of 12 and 17 do not have the reading ability of a third grader. Literacy among American people is important because it affects our economy greatly. Not only that but it also affects the lives of the American population. Illiteracy is a large problem within the United States that can be reasonably solved using different tactics.
In 2015, UNESCO Institute for Statistics reported that there are 774 million illiterate adults and 123 million illiterate children in the world today. Two-thirds of all illiterate adults and children are female. Why is this an issue? As the world’s technologies and innovations have advanced, the ability to read and write has become a means of survival. Today, 135 countries around the world provide a non-discriminating education for all. In the developing world, literacy is now recognized as a human right. When a person is denied that right, injustice is manifested. The millions of illiterate adults and children living in our world today are not only being denied educational opportunities, they are being denied the basic human right of literacy. Nine out of the top ten illiterate countries in the world are in Africa. Burkina Faso, in West Sub-Sahara, is the single most illiterate country in the world. Unfortunately, little to no changes in literacy rates have occurred for the past several decades in Burkina Faso, or in the many African countries with high illiteracy rates. Without the ability to read and write, people become trapped in a cycle of poverty, inequality and unstable and poorly paid jobs. Without the ability to read and write, women and children lose their voice in a male dominated, corrupt government, conservative culture. Without the ability to read and right, a greater division is made between developing and under-developing countries. Without the ability to
Introduction: Illiteracy refers to the adversity to apprehend and/or write. The adversity of illiteracy is a aloft agreeable activity in India. The adversity has beforehand through-out the country in a avant-garde way.It is one of the a lot of alarming obstacles in the economy’s growth.The aloft causes, abrogating accoutrement and solutions of the adversity of Illiteracy in India are
One of the problem in education is high level of illiteracy in the country. Literacy is important as it is needed in a learning process.