Preview

The Effect of Illiteracy

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
510 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Effect of Illiteracy
The effect of illiteracy

Every person has the right to gain the basic knowledge of reading and writing. People that do not have this education are known as illiterate. Even with the extremely modernized society that we live in, illiteracy still occurs and has a big effect on the overall success of the country. Illiteracy has lots of effects on the society. It affects the development of the country, the people in the society, and the illiterate people themselves.

First, illiteracy has a major effect on the development of the country. Illiterate people can not be part of this development and progress. They do not have the basic education and the proper simple skills for them to get employed. Due to this lack of skills they are forced to work in jobs that do not require lots of skills even reading and writing. This may result in making them end up in poverty. In addition, because illiterate people lack education they can be a huge burden on the country. So some countries might help them with donations to help them in getting the basic materials for living. This will effect in the economy of the country and stop its progress and development.

Second, illiteracy has an effect on the people in the society. It mostly affects the life of illiterate parents, where they can not get good jobs to support their families. So this will in turn affect their lifestyle and their needs. In addition, illiterate parents affect their children. If the parents were not properly educated, this can pass to their next generation. In other words, children get many of their views and ideas from their parents, so if a parent does not feel that education is an important factor of success, these feelings will be carried over to their children. Illiterate people also affect people around them. It is hard for literate people to get involved with the illiterate. They will just slow their progress down and not benefit from them.

Lastly, illiteracy also has an

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Been Illiterate has a negative effect in life. Can you imagine not been able to eat what you want to eat at a restaurant or not been able to go out to any place because you do not know how to go back home. In USA, approximately 60 million people are illiterate. In the story “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” Jonathan Kozol discuss how illiteracy is powerlessness. To be able to have democracy we need to have principles of social equality and respect for the individual within a community. Kozol believes that democracy is false and untruthful when illiterates do not have the knowledge to understand their rights, causing a negative effect in the political construction.…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many passages have been written on the issues of the importance of proper education. One very relatable passage would be “ The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol. This Passage is all about things that can not be done when you are not properly educated. Most understand that if you can not read…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Only after reading the short story “The Human cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol, did I realize that 1 out of 5 Americans is illiterate. Kozol points out several examples in his short essay of how many Americans have suffered because they cannot read. Many…

    • 1098 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As I type this essay I am using one form of communication available to those of us who are literate. Sadly not all of us have the ability to do what most if not all of us who are lucky to be literate, take for granted. One such article, "The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society?" elaborates on the issue of illiteracy, which is utterly apparent in America. This essay is written using exemplification to show that knowledge is indeed power and those who are illiterate are almost powerless in today's society.…

    • 719 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The essay made me aware of how little I initially thought about this issue in the context in which he put it. Kozol made the dangers of illiteracy, in my eyes, very clear. Not being able to do everyday task that require one to read in order to know could be a very hard way to go about life. I can’t imagine not being able to read a menu in a restaurant, not being able to know what the side effects of a medication that I am taking are, or who to trust or not to trust when it comes to informing me of my rights or necessary deadlines for payment of bills that are due. To me living in this world being illiterate is like being sentenced to solitary confinement in prison. You are so limited in your daily movements about life because you cannot read; just like you are limited to daily movement because of your confinement. I hold heartedly agree with illiteracy being a moral issue in that how can it be just to allow people to miss out on all that is to be offered in life because illiteracy gives them no choice. Kozol states that choice, in almost all its facets, is diminished in the life of an illiterate adult.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society by Jonathan Kozol, is an article which illustrates the reality for millions of Americans, and the impact illiteracy has on the overall population and that individual and their family. Kozol draws emotional and personal stories which impact the reader as well as allude that the lack of literacy is in direct correlation with Democracy and how illiterate people will vote, if they even do at all.…

    • 366 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If the literacy develops, the economy will develop too. The development of the economy leads to earn more benefit and power.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This is a huge problem we have here in the United States because “according to a study that was conducted by the Department of Education, 32 million adults in the United States cannot read, that is almost 14 percent of the population, in addition another 21 percent of the people can only read below a 5th grade level, and also 19 percent of high school graduates cannot read.” This rate have not changed in the past 10 years and that is unacceptable because there are so many opportunities that we can take advantage of and we do not just because we tell ourselves “I do not need this”, which is not true, we need as much education as we can so we can have a better society. In addition to this the article also mention that, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence and crime is welded to reading failure” Many people think because they do not know how to read or write that gives them an excuse to commit different crimes but that is not true, you can better yourself if you really want…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Praise of Illiteracy

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Every third inhabitant of our planet manages to get by without the art of reading and without the art of writing. This includes roughly 900 million people, and their numbers will certainly increase. The figure is impressive but misleading for Humanity comprises not only the living and the unborn but the dead as well. If they are not forgotten, then the conclusion becomes inevitable that literacy is the exception rather than the rule.…

    • 1882 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “The Human cost of an illiterate society,” Jonathan Kozol attempts to convince his reader that illiteracy is extremely harmful to a society, and that it is the ultimate destruction of a human being’s life. He explains with great detail how being ignorant (unknown) at something so universal like being able to read the directions on a medicine label, can lead to a lifetime of hardship and long term agony. Kozol develops his reasoning by contributing meaningful but real world examples on how being illiterate is dangerous and fatal. For example He uses not being able to explain where you are if something fatal was to happen, and not being able to understand the dangers of a cigarettes label with a surgeons warning on it. After giving a plenty load of examples, he then brings the discussion back to his central argument on how being illiterate can be costly. When a person does not understand what they have wrongfully done it can be difficult to prosecute or judge that person. If he is not able to read then that person might not be aware that giving a child too much aspirin could result in overdose which can ultimately lead to death. The question that still remains is should that person be held accountable. According to today’s society the answer is still unknown but to protect the people of this society from that illiterate person, the answer is yes that person must be limited. What this ultimately means is that, he must be kept from society so that he won’t cause harm for his on ignorant habits. He will have to be watched, fed, and kept in an environment where he will always be stable. This top of living can cost a lot of money and this is the financial burden that cost a society so much money. In a way this is unfair…

    • 367 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Literacy is often taken for granted by those who have attained it. It seems inseparable from all other parts of life. So many small parts of a daily routine have the necessity of this education ingrained into them. For instance, reading street signs or a map. Illiteracy is not just a small annoyance when obtaining directions, however.…

    • 1505 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Illiteracy affects everybody in America but especially the poor, in which already struggle to get by with everyday life. The rate of people that live in…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many will argue that this issue only affects the individual who happens to have a low level of reading skills or illiteracy, or that individual’s immediate family; this is not the case. Low literacy levels affect the nation as a whole. In our democratic society we rely solely on the people, so while not everyone needs to be a scholar, our citizens should be educated and informed to contribute to…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The ability to read and write are in fact, of great importance in everyday life. Everything from walking down the street and reading street signs, to signing and understanding contracts, even being able to secure an ideal job require literacy. In this day and age, literacy is a necessity if one wants a shot at any normalcy in life. Obviously, being able to read and write for leisure and entertainment is good thing, but to think that that's all it's good for is ridiculous. For example, if a man wants to get his driver's license and purchase a car, he must read and understand the driving manual, be able to read the test questions, and interpret the street signs on the road. Not to mention all of the paperwork and signatures that come along with buying a vehicle. The positive aspects of literacy make themselves quite evident when looking for and applying for a job, and meeting certain pre-employment criteria. Literacy should be of utmost importance to everyone, and aside from being useful for entertainment and leisure purposes; it is imperative to become successful in…

    • 1064 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the essay “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society”, written by Jonathan Kozol. The essay was published in “Reading for Writers”, and in the city of New York in 2013. The main argument that the essay brings forth is that life for an illiterate has been really hard and they are not treated equal compared with the rest literate people. To further explain my last sentence Mr. Kozol has pointed out things that it shows us how back than illiterate people were not treated equal. Here are some examples of ways they were not treated equal including with voting, education, bills, healthcare, housing, travel, and so on.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays