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Jonathan Kozol The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society

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Jonathan Kozol The Human Cost Of An Illiterate Society
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 racial injustice, would present arguments in support of knowledge because it brings freedom and independence. However, they also believe that knowledge is just as much as a curse as it is a blessing. Kozol does not have much in common with the other authors, and has not gone through the same experiences that would lead him to believe that knowledge can also be seen as a curse. Douglass and Wright begin to educate Kozol because they have additional information about the power of knowledge that Kozol does not. This additional information will portray how the power of knowledge can also be seen as a curse through their own personal experiences. The importance of obtaining knowledge is that it grants a sense of realization for freedom. Those who are not knowledgeable are socially enslaved; limiting their human rights. This form of freedom is evident in two different time periods. Frederick Douglass, a former slave in 1800’s, read “The Columbian Orator” which later sparks a flame within him. In the essay the author states: “The slave was made to say some very smart as well as impressive things in reply to his master...resulted in the voluntary emancipation of the slave” (145). The slave has a significant effect upon Douglass as he
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