The Effects of a Low Literacy Rate Essay Example
The Effects of a Low Literacy Rate
Trina Heyrman
Com/156
June 21, 2012
Pamela Brown
The Effects of a Low Literacy Rate
“The devil of illiteracy had been given a staging post in the temple of the written word” –Dean Koontz. While the benefits of a high literacy rate tend to speak for themselves, many people prefer to overlook the costs of a low literacy rate. A low literacy rate can affect just about everything a person does in their life after graduating high school. It will influence profession or career they choose, the amount of income they make, and subsequently the areas and neighborhoods where they can afford to live. It can even affect their family life and the health of interpersonal relationships. Many people are leaving their schooling with a dangerously low literacy rate, all too unknowing of the consequences that poor schooling, a lack of interest in academics, or even just the lack of proper learning tools can have on their futures. According to Literacy and Growth (Serge Coulombe, Jean-Francois Trembley), the higher a literacy rate country has, the more likely it will experience growth in terms of productivity and technology. The study also indicates that women’s literacy is more likely to have a more powerful effect on the growth of a country than the literacy rate of men. The effects that just one extra year of schooling can have are fairly large, with as much as a 7% increase in labor productivity over men. When people are more productive, they are more likely to not only understand the importance of being able to access technology, but they will also be able to afford to utilize it. This means that when the literacy rate of a country as a whole is higher, that country is much more likely to have better access to technology for its citizens. Having a well educated and literate populace also indicated that there
Trina Heyrman
Com/156
June 21, 2012
Pamela Brown
The Effects of a Low Literacy Rate
“The devil of illiteracy had been given a staging post in the temple of the written word” –Dean Koontz. While the benefits of a high literacy rate tend to speak for themselves, many people prefer to overlook the costs of a low literacy rate. A low literacy rate can affect just about everything a person does in their life after graduating high school. It will influence profession or career they choose, the amount of income they make, and subsequently the areas and neighborhoods where they can afford to live. It can even affect their family life and the health of interpersonal relationships. Many people are leaving their schooling with a dangerously low literacy rate, all too unknowing of the consequences that poor schooling, a lack of interest in academics, or even just the lack of proper learning tools can have on their futures. According to Literacy and Growth (Serge Coulombe, Jean-Francois Trembley), the higher a literacy rate country has, the more likely it will experience growth in terms of productivity and technology. The study also indicates that women’s literacy is more likely to have a more powerful effect on the growth of a country than the literacy rate of men. The effects that just one extra year of schooling can have are fairly large, with as much as a 7% increase in labor productivity over men. When people are more productive, they are more likely to not only understand the importance of being able to access technology, but they will also be able to afford to utilize it. This means that when the literacy rate of a country as a whole is higher, that country is much more likely to have better access to technology for its citizens. Having a well educated and literate populace also indicated that there