Fishing for Words
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; you have fed him for a lifetime” (http://www.amatecon.com/fish.html). This quote can be applied to illiteracy in America; basically someone illiterate cannot live on their own until they have been taught the basics, reading and writing. According to Kozol’s essay The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society the government, administration, and people of high power live by the beginning of the quote (Kozol, The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society). They help someone illiterate make a living until the person is out of their control. Yet the government, administrations, and society maintain control through illiteracy.
Illiteracy is spreading like a plague through modern society. It affects part of our lives in one way or another. The illiteracy rate per capita is alarming especially to see that the numbers are on the rise. Thirteen percent of Colorado adults are illiterate (www.nces.ed.gov). Approximately 4,420,000 people live in Colorado, and if thirteen percent are illiterate, then 54,600 people are illiterate (www.census.gov). Almost one out of every 85 people is illiterate.
An illiterate is stereotypically defined as a middle-aged adult who wears scruffy clothes. Yet in reality most illiterate look like every other person wearing jeans and a t-shirt walking down the street. The hardest roadblock for an illiterate is the ability to read. Since an illiterate cannot read or write then the person cannot work. In order to compensate our government has it in their heads that if they give welfare money to someone who is illiterate then they will go and try to learn to read and write. Why is the government’s head on backwards? The only thing that...
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...enerations. As it stands, people who are literate in America live by Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the Fittest.” The strong prey on the weak, just as someone who is literate preys on the illiterate. With the proposed solutions there will be a greater chance of equality amongst the American society. So if America just took one moment to teach the man to fish, there would be an end to illiteracy in America.
Works Cited
- Give a Man a Fish….Ross Nordeen. June 3, 1999
http://www.amatecon.com/fish.html>
- Kozol, Jonathan. “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society.” Reading Critically,
Writing Well: A Reader and Guide. Axelrod and Cooper. 6th ed. Bedford/ St.
Martin’s. 2002. 346-352.
- National Center for Educational Statistics.
www.nces.ed.gov>
- United States Census Bureau.
< www.census.gov>
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