Problems Faced by Illiterates

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Imagine for a minute that one day you wake from a nights sleep to find nothing as it was, you don't know where you are, the people around you, or any aspect of your life that you were so sure of the night before. Imagine the feeling of confusion and uncertainty that a situation of that sort would have. This chaos is not far from what millions of illiterates feel on a daily basis.

The phrase "illiteracy" applies to more than a simple inability to read or write. There is also "functional illiteracy." Functional illiterates can read words but they cannot comprehend their meanings, synthesize information or make decision based on what they read. Illiteracy could also be defined as restriction or confinement due to the simple fact that, that's the type of life many non-readers lead. Illiterates choices are restricted in just about every aspect of their lives from where they travel to, to what they eat to how informed they are. Kozol mentions in his story The Human cost of an Illiterate Society, that

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"illiterates can not read the menu in a rest...

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