Effects of Illiteracy in the USA.
January 30, 2011 | Education
The basic lack of reading and writing skills or illiteracy does not preclude the ability of a person to get through life, but illiteracy certainly does preclude that any quality of life will be achievable.
The USA provides free public education up to high school level, yet many people remain uneducated, but this does not mean that such people are stupid, dumb, or without a natural intelligence. So what are the effects of illiteracy?
Poverty and illiteracy often go together. An effect of illiteracy is that it can replicate and be passed down the generations. Illiterate adults have a far greater chance of having illiterate children than normally educated families.
Children born into an illiterate environment will accept this as being the norm, and develop the view that one can get through life without the need for writing and reading skills. In the society of the USA today this is false thinking.
If the value of education is not expressed, the children or more likely to become drop outs and become destined to a life of poverty, totally lacking in any form of quality.
For any illiterate person there are many issues associated with health and the ensuing burdens placed on society. There are organizations who will deal with the poor, but how is an illiterate person supposed to deal with filling out the many forms and documents required for assistance applications for medical care etc?
If medical aid is made available for a poor, illiterate person, how can the medication be taken without supervision, the medicine labels and dosage will be meaningless to the person and his or her illiterate family.
Many poor people whose poverty has been caused by illiteracy may be reluctant to seek medical care in the first place. They will be too ashamed of their illiteracy and their health will be compromised, placing the burden for solving the problem on society generally
There are other aspects relating to the way illiteracy will affect the life of the person. There will be little chance of getting a job. Difficulty will be experienced in traveling from location to location with the impossibility of being able to read street signs or directions. Any illiterate person will not qualify for a driving license for a car or truck.
The filling out of the many forms associated with living in today’s US. society will be impractical for any illiterate person, and being poor they will often want to apply for welfare assistance or food stamps. Once again it will be society left to carry the basket.
Even shopping will be difficult, the labels and prices of all food stuffs need to be read. How can this be done by an illiterate person?
There is no doubt that illiteracy condemns a person to an exceedingly narrow lifestyle, and while statistics show, that less than 5% of USA citizens are illiterate, this figure is doubted by many, who believe the number to be far greater.
Whatever the true number of illiterate people it is society generally who has to pick up the tab for illiteracy, there is no reason why, in the USA today, that any person should lack the basic skills of reading and writing.