The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society Analysis

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.

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

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.

Being without the ability to read brings along many different problems. One of the most important problems is that dealing with economics. In his article to the “Vocal Point”, Mcmaster emphasizes that how illiteracy affects the nation’s economy by stating that,

One way democracy is threatened by illiteracy is people forging a signature to vote because one is not aware of their rights. Not having the knowledge of what was signed could lead to choosing the wrong president to benefit the government. As quoted, “The number of illiterate adult exceeds 16 million the entire vote cast..more frequently, the vote for a face, a smile, or style, not for mind or character or body of beliefs”(Kozol 115). It is unbelieveable almost half of the world is not able to distinguish that

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.

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.

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.

Knowledge is an effective factor in which human society relies on. Throughout history, those who were knowledgeable were well-respected, honored and revered. Author Jonathan Kozol writes his essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” to project the importance of knowledge and to explain that without it, one can suffer disastrous repercussions. He highlights real-life examples of how people suffer as a result of chronic illiteracy, and his entire essay is an advocacy for knowledge and literacy. Other authors such as Frederick Douglass and Richard Wright would use their personal experiences in completely different settings to highlight the power of knowledge. Douglass, a man born into slavery, and Wright, a man living through

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.

Alliterate is when someone can read, but choose not to. Illiteracy is when someone cannot read. People in America are alliterate and some are illiterate. This problem can be caused by a few different things such as laziness, environment, money, and drive. In the article The No-Book Report: Skim It and Weep it states that in 1991more than half of the American society used to read and least a half hour a day and by 1999 the number had dropped to 45 percent of the population. It also says the in 1999 Gallup Poll found out that only seven percent of people in America were voracious readers and 59 percent of people in America had not read more than 10 books in the past year. In 2013 things were not looking much better on average 32 million adult

In Jonathon Kozol’s essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” he brings to light the negative effects of people in the United States who are illiterate. Kozol mentions one founding father, James Madison, who recognized the dangers illiteracy would pose on the U.S.

These children are defrauded not just of an education, but also of the ability to be socially mobile. Researchers of the American Psychological Association found that education level directly correlates with socioeconomic status. A lack of education undermines any individual’s true capability, preventing them from surpassing their academic limitations. Potential important figures and world leaders may never come to be if not given the tools to become what they can become. The next generation’s Einsteins and Gandhis will not exemplify their prowesses if never given the rudiments

Illiteracy and poverty are highly connected. This is well known. A child who grows up impoverished in a developing country is likely to be illiterate. An illiterate and impoverished child has an incredibly low chance of succeeding as a person. If those chances weren't low enough, imagine that child is growing up being discriminated against because of his or her religious affiliation and cultural background. In The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, the character Hassan exemplifies the poverty stricken illiterate child. He has grown up as a servant and never acquires a useable skill and never makes a live able wage. Conversely, the character Amir has had access to school, is a member of the dominant religion of Afghanistan, and is supported by a wealthy father. Because he was born into a family with money and privilege, he is likely to be a competitive member of the economy and will follow in his father's footsteps in that way. The future of each of these characters can reliably be traced back to one thing: their ethnic backgrounds.

The problem is not only that illiterate people are dependent on others, it’s also that the literate, well-functioning people of society aren’t always willing to put forth help. Help may only take a few minutes out of someone’s day, and to them be no big deal. For an illiterate person, those few minutes may be the defining of their lives.