Illiteracy In America

    1 in 7 U.S. adults can't read. That's about 32 million people. Imagine looking at written words and being completely lost. Imagine walking through the world and not being able to read the signs around you. Imagine looking for a certain street on the way to a friends house and not being able to find it. People often don't realize how often the read, even if they don't sit down with a book every day. Reading is so much more then that. It's reading through a contract to make sure you aren't being scammed. It's looking at friends Facebook statuses and commenting in return. It's sending emails to teachers and friends.   
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     I have always had a strong connection to both reading and writing. I read everything and anything and not being able to do that would stress me out. I can't imagine 1 million people living through that every day. It may not be quite as bad as cancer but it's still a problem, and a problem is a problem.

     In 2008 upwards of 1 million people lost their jobs due to the fact that they had little skill in reading and writing. The fact that they can't do these things that we take for granted are making it very hard for people to help them. If they can't read or write there are little to no jobs that would accept them. If these people learned how to read a whole new world would open up. They would have more ability to find signs that read "HELP WANTED" and to be successful in the interview.

    It's not that people are refusing to read or dropping out of school, it's that they don't have the ability. Many of the people in America who are illiterate are below the poverty line. This often means that they don't or didn't have the chance to go to school.

    Although the rate of people who are illiterate was decreasing it is still unsure how it will be affected in the 21st century. If it raises people will be shocked but it is unlikely to be a big enough news story to really inform people about what is happening.

    I'm wondering what some of these children who don't get the chance to go to school do. Are there not public kindergartens that will allow them in? Is it the parents not being able to take them? Are things being done to help the future generate have a high literate population?

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Comments (1)

Nia Hammond (Student 2015)
Nia Hammond

I never noticed that it was as much as 1 in 7 ADULTS that are illiterate! That's crazy! I wonder if there is a certain area of the US that people cannot read and write. What if there was an organization that helped improve those rates in all parts of America? Or is there already?