Illiteracy In America

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.

By this fact, it can be seen that there is a relation to the decline in America’s economy and the percentage of illiterate people. The ability to read affects our nations money spending as well as, “it costs an estimated $100-200 billion per year in unemployment, welfare, health care, and incarceration costs” (Sachwitz). This fact can be proven in Larry Roberts’ article saying that 44 million out of the 191 million adults in America do not have the ability to fill out a job

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.

Since the past, black people had been oppressed and excluded from a formal education, leading them to find ways to educate themselves. While they open their minds to new worlds and perspectives, they encounter themselves with a disastrous world that discriminates them and unjustly takes their rights away from them. In these essays, “Learning How to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass and “Learning to Read” by Malcolm X, both authors tell their stories about how they found their way into the world of literacy even though they were banned to do it. Because they left ignorance back, they realize all the injustices that surround them. In my opinion, literacy is one of the most important tool humans possess to be aware of the issues of the world. Knowing about world problems makes people able to decide how to act towards situations and helps avoid being led by people that the only thing they want from others is power.

About 20 percent of elementary students nationwide have significant problems learning to read. At least 20 percent of elementary students do not read fluently enough to enjoy or engage in independent reading. The rate of reading failure for AfricanAmerican, Hispanic, limited-English speakers and poor children ranges from 60 percent to 70 percent. One-third of poor readers nationwide are from college-educated families. Twenty-five percent of adults in this country lack the basic literacy skills required in a typical job.

This critique will be of chapter one of the book Literacy in American Lives. The author of this book is Dr. Deborah Brandt, a professor of English at Wisconsin Madison University and her main focus in Literacy in American Lives is to study about how people have learned to read, how they use their ability to read, and how literacy learning changes with time. In this first chapter “Literacy, Opportunity, and Economic Change”, Brandt focuses on how economic change can affect the value of literacy, and the impact that this change in the value of literacy has in the lives of two farm women from Wisconsin.

A synthetic analysis of two works from African American literature reveals that there is no greater accomplishment than learning to read and write. Literacy is what allows us to gain knowledge through learning. This topic is important because based on a study conducted by the U.S Department of Education and the National Institution of Literacy, 32 million adults in the U.S are still unable to read and write and African Americans are expected to make up nearly half of that amount. In both Fredrick Douglass’ “Learning to Read” and Malcolm X’s “A Homemade Education,” common themes regarding literacy and freedom are identified and both reflect why literacy is so important. The two texts prove how crucial the processes of learning to read

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

The human mind is perhaps the greatest object on the earth, animate or inanimate, but without the proper training, the mind is a relatively useless tool. Through the development of formal education systems, humans as a whole have tried to ensure the training of all minds so as to continue prosperity for the world. Most of the time, though, education systems do not realize the harm they are doing to developing minds and the subsequent negative consequences. Among the largest of these inadequate education systems is the American primary schooling system. The American education system is in fact failing; it continues to deplete children of their natural creativity and thirst for knowledge while preaching conformity, which in turn creates an

Reading is a fundamental part of the human learning experience; everyone should learn how to read. Being able to read and having the access to read was not always at certain groups of people disposal. During slavery in america , African American were forbidden to read and learn other than the required knowledge to perform their duties. The segregation time period in America also limited African American access to Frederick Douglass’ “Learning to Read” and Richard Wright’s The Library Card” are good examples of the limitation and challenges minorities had faced when trying to read. These readings shine light on how minorities groups were at a disadvantage versus the inferior race group. Both authors share the a common factor of being African

In “Sponsors of Literacy,” Deborah Brandt explains how all of us are the beneficiaries-individuals, institutions, events, and ideas that make it possible for us to gain literacy or allow our access to literacy. Brandt’s main claim is that a person’s access to literacy is largely dependent on socioeconomic factors. Supporting that main claim, she introduces three sub claims: the first being that there exists a stratification of opportunity; those with wealth and social status; and those who are rich are more likely to be the beneficiaries of literacy development. On the other hand, those of a lower socioeconomic status, those who are ethnically or racially non-white, are less likely to receive the advantages of literacy development. Another

research topic, in the 1880, fully 71 percent of all black male in the range of 10-14 were illiterate which implies that illiteracy in this group is a generational issue. This research from data can be used to compare recent data that will be collected. Alternatively, high rate of adult illiteracy in the black community derived from slavery which had a huge impact on African –American economic success. In order to make the result of my research more efficient, these collections of data will be to demonstrate that by improving illiteracy rate in the black’s community, African-American can change their ways of living, in addition, this information could be used to prove children of illiterate parents are more likely to drop –out of school and

therefore it cannot be totally revolved unless their mindset has changed. According to another research done in the past, in the 1880, fully 71 percent of all black male in the range of 10-14 were illiterate. Another problem of illiteracy rate among African-American is the low involvement of parent’s in their children success. Children of illiterate parents are more likely to drop –out of school and more likely to not be able to read or write if parents are not so involved in their lives. Many actions and efforts have been taken in place to improve illiteracy among blacks. Although nowadays, libraries have become associated with technology and non-print resources, scholars, teachers, librarians and other academics recognize the importance of

A significant correlation between race and poverty exists, with Black and Hispanic Americans three times more likely to be impoverished than White Americans (Proctor and Dalaker 2002). The cycle of poverty and low-literacy functioning is well documented, as is the achievement gap between White students and students of color. Race is a persistent factor in employment statistics, educational attainment, and the acquisition of literacy skills, with significantly higher unemployment rates and lower educational attainment rates among Black and Hispanic Americans than among White Americans. The literature on learner attrition and on resistance to participation in adult literacy programs suggests that the

From personal experiences, I can attest that many Americans are geographically illiterate. I am Kenyan and my biggest surprise was that, more than a few people often presume the African continent to be single countries. Consequently, having to explain more than a few times how big the content is, with over 1500 different languages and 54 countries. Even more concerning is how geographically illiterate many Americans are when it comes to their own country.