The Role Of 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.

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.

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.

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,

America possesses the necessary requirements for a country of well establishment, but there is always room for improvement. Each year, America attracts foreign citizens that lack the academic qualifications to climb the up the industrial hierarchy; this lack of education only enhances the need for more intellectual individuals. As a minority, I will proceed to better America by becoming a determined and educated African American female. The desire to improve our surroundings through innovative ideas and inspiration is there; however, people lack the drive to make these dreams happen. America needs more determined citizens, who see that this country has endless possibilities that need to be take advantage of. Through education, people can better

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.

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.

The problem that has prevented us from solving tyranny in government is the lingering ignorance combined with the open interpretation of each

To understand political power aright, and derive it from its original, we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of Nature, without asking leave or depending upon the will of any other man (...)

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

Jonathan Kozol’s The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society points out on the challenges citizens across the nation experience due to being illiterate. Kozol states; “over16 million adults are illiterate.” His essay is based heavily on testimonials from people who have lived or currently live as illiterates. He quotes many of their personal life experience giving the reader a well-rounded perception of how realistic and serious this condition is. “A woman in Detroit brought home a gallon of Crisco for her children’s dinner. She thought she had bought the chicken that was pictured one the label. She had enough Crisco now to last a year- but no more money to go back and buy the food for dinner” (191) this is a good example that indicates that the women who purchased the gallon of Crisco must live in poverty since a trip back to the store to buy food for dinner is not an option.

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

"To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions, and persons as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending on the will of any other man.”

America, the most technologically advanced and affluent of all nations on the earth, seems to have an increasingly larger illiteracy rate every year. This has become and continues to be a critical problem throughout our society as we know it. According to the National Adult Literacy survey, 42 million adult Americans can't read; 50 million are limited to a 4th or 5th grade reading level; one in every four teenagers drops out of high school, and of the students who graduate, one in every four has around an 8th grade education. Why? You ask. This problem will never fix itself and will take quite a bit of time to overcome. We need to make sure that everyone is aware of the social problems, poverty and lack of family interaction that occurs

The world we live in was upon centuries created by us, people, under the influence of authorities, which in most of the time were in the form of politicians, kings, emperors and so on and so forth. Politics became a large part of our society, in fact it became so large in the modern world, it is one of the most important, if not the most important area of life. It became a field, that either pushes us and everything else forward to development and social evolution or it drags us down to the depths of fear and primal instincts, like the most basic one in the form of survival. Many people were aware of the power politics have and how an influence they are to the rest of the world. But there were also people, that insightfully could detect the