Order Number |
MNHJ786543 |
Type of Project |
ESSAY |
Writer Level |
PHD VERIFIED |
Format |
APA |
Academic Sources |
10 |
Page Count |
3-12 PAGES |
Adult illiteracy has continued to spread in the whole according to recent studies. Over 28% of people in the world are illiterate according to a study conducted by World Statistics Institute. Another related study by the same company shows that the rate at which illiteracy levels increases in the world is 31%.
These figures are imperative because illiteracy has different effects on any society. The higher the number of people in a country, the harder it will be for a country to develop. Illiteracy is an inhibitor of development in any setup or institution. An example of this fact is this:
The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, and it has an illiterate level of 5%. Canada which is also a developed country has only an illiterate rate of 85. This shows that for a country to develop it must reduce its illiteracy levels. On the other hand, Turkey has an illiterate rate of 61%. This rate has inhibited development in the country because they are an underdeveloped country. Iran which is also underdeveloped has an illiterate rate of 43%.
Another significant effect of illiteracy there is lack of competition in the new global knowledge economy. Literacy gives people the ability to compete for jobs and positions in prominent institutions in the economy. Lack of education renders many positions to remain vacant for the lack of trained people to take these positions. Therefore, illiteracy deprives many people the opportunity of earning livelihood and passing their knowledge to people who may need it.[Order Now]
Illiterate people do not have the ability to scrutinize things well, and they tend to believe things too easily. They do not investigate what they are told, and this can make them prone to being conned or cheated. The society has portrayed uneducated people as slaves and assistants while the educated people in the society are seen as leaders and people who can take the society forward on matters of development. The difficulty in understanding social issues lowers the level of community involvement and its participation in civil affairs.
Adult illiteracy also has negative impact on the health of the people concerned. Illiterate individuals experience more accidents due to ignorance. The illiterates also have the tendency of misusing medication because either they do not understand the importance of the medication or they do not know how to read the relevant information in medication which are the warnings, dosage, contradictions, etc. Misuse of medication has adverse effects on an individual and can even lead to death.[Order Now]
Solutions to Adult Illiteracy
According to Quigley, B. Allan in 2002, adult illiteracy has been a global problem for a very long time even though the definitions and statistics keep changing.
The focus of this problem has been highlighted by the media. Adult illiteracy has been identified as one of the key areas that need improvement. Each state is required to focus on this issue to help alleviate problems. In 1991, the National Literacy Act was passed by the United States Congress.
The primary goal of the formation of this Act was to enhance the skills of adults and ensure that all the adults in the United States acquire the necessary skills that must ensure them to do any job effectively. The goal of the act was to ensure all people become educated in the country. The Literacy Act was also intended to strengthen the programs that offer adult literacy education to everyone that is illiterate.
These programs received both federal and state funding, and they were aimed at increasing everyone’s ability to read, write and carry on with their work. This act was followed by the launch of America’s Reads Challenge in 1996 by President Bill Clinton. The main aim of this challenge was to help and increase literacy among all the people of the family.
It has been noted that if a child grows up in an illiterate family, that child will remain to be illiterate themselves because the members of the family will not expose him or her to the importance of illiteracy. This is usually known as the cycle of illiteracy. This cycle brought the need for the America’s Reads Challenge since strengthening the literacy of the whole family would help the children in that family to be exposed to the importance of education.
In France, the French National Agency started a campaign aiming to make the fight against illiteracy a national cause in 2013. The current political commitment to focus on education in the country is a real opportunity for the nation to deal with the problem of illiteracy for the proper cause of the country. The country intends to improve primary schools, middle schools, and high schools to reduce illiteracy in the coming few years. (Nicole Bella, 2012).
In spite of all these efforts from the government in coming up with policies that assist in promoting literacy, there has been the microscopic improvement in the fight to end adult illiteracy.
Lack of intended progress in this fight has been blamed on many reasons. One of these reasons is that there is lack of a universal method that can be used to address the illiteracy problem among the people. There are various programs that with different objectives that depend on the learners themselves, funding or the objective which it represents.
Another reason as to why these programs initiated by the government to end illiteracy are not effective is that most of these programs that focus on eradicating adult illiteracy believe that adults only need skills for him the only purpose of economic benefit.
This is very wrong and sends message to people that there is no any other importance of getting literacy skills other than to make more and have a high living standard, which is not the main purpose to some people. If an adult has a job even though he or she is not illiterate, he or she may not see the need to acquire these skills live well.
Apart from the United States, other countries have also started passing legislation acts to address this issue. Brazil is one of such countries. The country has been having adult illiteracy programs for almost 70 years, and many Brazilians see his issue as an act of patriotism, (eradicating adult illiteracy in the country).
Kenya is another example of a country that is focused on dealing with the issue of adult illiteracy. The government of Kenya started the program of offering free primary education to every child in the country in the year of 2003. This program was aimed at ensuring that everyone in the country gets access to education so that adult illiteracy can be done away with in the long run.
Other than government policies, another strategy that can deal with illiteracy is utilizing engaging, practical and self-chosen texts in different forms. The high-interest text will attract the learner into wanting to read them. Practical texts assist the learner to realize how literacy can help him work well in society.
These informative texts provide the learner with more information on the topic that one is studying. They work together provide am an environment in which the student can see the several uses of literacy. Self-selection gives the learner some confidence and necessary skills to deal with illiteracy.
Avoidance of techniques such as ability grouping is important in promoting literacy. Grouping individuals according to their abilities to learn will create a wrong impression among the learners because those that are placed in the lowest group will keep in mind the notion that they are weak students.
The grouping brings a negative image and learners begin to lack self-confidence regarding education. This mindset is carried on to adulthood discouraging an individual’s eagerness to pursue further education. Eliminating these ability groups will give learners confidence and work with their peers to gain the necessary skills together.
These learning groupings can be done without discriminating the understanding capabilities so that all the people can learn and discuss together.