Essay on Jonathan Kozol The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society

Picture this going through life without the ability to read or write. Without these abilities, it is impossible for a person to be a functioning member of society. In addition, imagine that someone is purposely limiting your knowledge to keep a leash on your independence. Not only is an American slave raised without skills in literacy, he cannot be taught to read unless someone breaks the law. In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the reader is given a detailed explanation of why slave masters keep their slaves ignorant and the effects such a strategy has on the slaves’ lives. In his autobiography, Douglass describes how the knowledge he obtains has substantial positive and negative effects on his psyche. He is given renewed passion and hope for freedom while struggling with the burden of enlightenment of his situation. Ultimately, however, education shapes his fate, and he achieves freedom and prominence as an advocate for abolition.

A young African boy, impacted by the society in mid-nineteenth century, wrote about him growing up with negative viewpoints all around and not being able to learn like other kids did . This boy was Frederick Douglass and this autobiography was “My Bondage and My Freedom”. In “My Bondage and My Freedom”, Frederick Douglass illustrates the impact of a like-minded society, the impact knowledge had on a slave, and slaves having knowledge allowed for them to have free thought but still not being free as a person.

Wright scrawls, “[y]et I still wondered how it was possible to know people sufficiently to write about them? Could I ever learn about life and people?”(Wright par 74). This quote shows Wright’s deeper understanding. Most likely, this occurs because Wright begins to read more. As with all readers, books increased Wright’s intelligence and opened his eyes to the world thereby removing him from a state of ignorance. Fully understanding his world, Wright’s questions cease to exist at the end of his piece. This indicates that Wright can now understand the world around him.

     It is at this time that Frederick Douglass learns one of the greatest freedoms of all. He is set free, in an educational sense. Douglass has been taught a few reading lessons form his mistress. Soon after his master discovers this, and commences the teaching at once. Soon thereafter, Frederick Douglass uses some smart tactics to resume his learning. He in a sense manipulates the children around him into teaching him how to read and write. This grand achievement taught Douglass something, as he says, “From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and

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.

Frederick Douglass, an African American slave, searches for liberation against the shackles of slavery through education; as told in Frederick Douglass’ Narrative in a Life of Frederick Douglass. Douglass portrays education as a paradox; knowledge brings him both great joy and great pain. Learning opens up new worlds for Douglass, and he becomes obsessed with the possibility of freedom. At the same time, he envies his fellow slaves for their ignorance. They do not understand what their enslavers have stolen from them. Douglass grapples with the hopelessness of his plight, but knowledge empowers him enough to set himself free from a life of benightedness, and to share that knowledge with others.

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 Frederick Douglass’s narrative, “Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass”, he speaks of how he gained his education. He discusses who helped him and who discouraged him from getting an education. He mainly taught himself how to read and write, but he would have been nothing without the help of one of his master’s wife, Mrs. Auld. This narrative has shown that even the slightest education can be very abundant and meaningful. Through this essay it becomes evident that education is only a privilege.

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.

     Although Douglass’ desire to develop the mind was strong, he didn’t always have it. It wasn’t until Mr. Auld had chastised Mrs. Auld for teaching him the alphabets that he really felt the aspiration to read. Douglass said, “That which to him was a great evil, to be carefully

Before I read this piece of art, I did not think that I would like it; I thought it was a tedious literary work like the ones a part of a colossal textbook at first glance. However, I changed my mind after reading it thoroughly. I am honestly amazed at how Douglass’ words link together to have such easy flow and clarity through each sentence. He is a better writer than some of the people who learned how to read and write at an even younger age than him. Last but not least, I love how he proves that education is important since reading and writing gave him the advantage to become a free man; this excerpt gives a lesson on why education is pivotal to gaining knowledge to have a sense of individuality.

Education is something that is often taken for granted in this day and age. Kids these days rebel against going to school all together. In the essays “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie and “Learning to Read and Write” by Frederick Douglass, we learn of two young men eager for knowledge. Both men being minors and growing up in a time many years apart, felt like taking how to read and write into their own hands, and did so with passion. On the road to a education, both Alexie and Douglass discover that education is not only pleasurable, but also painful. Alexie and Douglass both grew up in different times, in different environments, and in different worlds. They both faced different struggles and had different achievements, but they were not all that different. Even though they grew up in different times they both had the same views on how important of education was. They both saw education as freedom and as a way of self-worth even though they achieved their education in different ways. They both had a strong mind and a strong of sense of self-motivation.

When describing how they overcame the struggles of forced ignorance, Douglass and Jacobs approaches have strikingly similar methods. When reflecting on his childhood learning process, Douglass wrote, “A want of information concerning my own was a source of unhappiness to me even during childhood” (Douglass 337). Douglass writes how he

Fredrick Douglass’s “Learning to Read and Write”, gives readers insight into the struggles of being a slave with intelligence, but more importantly into his experience. In his essay, Douglass shows how he fought to obtain knowledge; however, a reading of his story will reveal that what he learned changed him for the better. Michael Scott, a former EOF student read the story and believed that Douglass’s intelligence was a destructive and to a certain degree pointless. Contrary to Scott’s statement, Douglass’s knowledge wasn’t more of a curse than a blessing. Being a slave was everyone’s curse. Douglass went into depression because he hadn’t had the same experience as other slaves and finally felt what it was really like to be a slave when he was punished for his knowledge. However just because his knowledge is what got him into trouble doesn’t necessarily make him, being an intelligent slave; a curse nor does it mean that he had absolutely no alternatives to his condition. In fact, he above most other slaves had the upper hand when it came to creating his own alternative. Douglass’s intelligence helped him become autodidactic, manipulate situations to benefit him, and develop an ambition to become free.

Frederick Douglass’ biography revolves around the idea of freedom. After seeing a traumatizing incident as a child, Douglass slowly begins to realize that he is not a free human being, but is a slave owned by other people. He is surrounded by a society that devalues him and people like him, and systematically worked to keep them ignorant and submissive. In this society, it is made clear that no slave is special, and everyone is replaceable. Rather than accept this, Douglass struggles to maintain what little autonomy he was allowed to have. When his one of his masters, Thomas Auld, bans his mistress, Sophia, from teaching Douglass how to read, Douglass learned from the young boys on the street. His biography shows him transforming from an ignorant child into his older, more learned self.