In the world america ranks as number 22 in literacy(http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=us&v=39). According to (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literacy) literacy is the ability to read and write. While most of the people in america are literate they vary according to how literate they are. What is elementary to us may be surprisingly difficult to someone else. In America although the literacy rate is 99%(http://www.reference.com/motif/society/literacy-rate-in-america) 3,109,120 people in America or 1% of the population is unable to read and write. Texas itself has 3 out of 5 of the least literate cities in America! No wonder people think being from texas makes you stupid. (http://time.com/9549/the-5-least-literate-cities-in-america/). Out of 75 cities Corpus ranks number 74 in literacy. That means that we are next to last not second place. According to Wall Street Corpus is almost the most illiterate in America.
With statistics like these it makes me wonder what is there that can be done and I found the literary council in Corpus Christi, Texas. “The mission of the Corpus Christi Literacy Council is to identify, develop, promote and coordinate comprehensive programs and resources that will measurably reduce functional illiteracy in the Corpus Christi Bay Area.”(http://ccliteracy.org/about-us/mission-and-goals/).
Their goals are to advocate the importance of literacy, start and keep a program to continue fighting illiteracy, develop a service to continue providing services in the community, stat and keep an independent branch to research and secure funding. These goals are there to help people and to keep the program alive. When i was there they had several thngs going. They had a volunteer group from TAMU do a techin...
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...out accomplishments for a reason.
Another program that the CCLiteracy Council has is ESL. English as a second language. I myself am an ESL person. I spoke spanish before english. The main problem was my assumption that all the individuals in the class were Mexicans. When i think of ESL i do not think of people from Arabia, India or France and Japan. Dr. Gleason actually surprised me when she told me they serviced more than just Spanish speakers. They actually knock 2 birds with 1 stone in their ESL classes. They have their English classes on a computer. With this they are actually helping them with multiple things. It teaches the students English literacy. Without literacy these individual would have even less social justice than illiterate americans. The reason is due to no cmmunication. In america we speak English so it is expected for immigrant to speak english.
My mom is Panamanian and a very bright woman and loves school, while my dad is African American and didn’t care for school at all and isn't very educated. My mom first came to America to study at Vanderbilt University and my dad never went to college. When I was four my parents got a divorce and my mother maintained custody of me. In this day in time people would say that my odds are against me when it comes to becoming literate. Why? Well, I didn’t grow up in the best neighborhood. The area I was raised in was nicknamed "Little Mexico" because many illegal immigrants lived there. I quickly learned that most of the people around me didn’t know how to read or write and they only spoke Spanish. Imagine them living in an English speaking country. If they couldn’t read or write in their own language living in America must be pretty complicated. It would clearly seem like I wouldn't have much access to literacy sponsors at all. Literacy sponsors can be people, places, or even events that shape how a person reads and writes. Those same people, places, and events can play a big factor in a person's opinion about reading and writing as well. However, it was almost impossible for me not to have any literacy sponsors with my mom being in my
Illiteracy is defined as, the inability to read or write. After reading Jonathan Kozol’s “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” I have never felt so sympathetic towards any group of individuals. The essay has several examples of the challenging problems illiterate individuals experience, and the effects illiteracy has on society. Illiterate individuals experience shame and humility, while being used for others’ personal gain. Furthermore, many illiterates have trouble communicating and making a living. I have to agree with Kozol’s main point; Illiteracy is an issue that should be treated as a main threat by democracy in today’s society.
"National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) - 120 Years of Literacy." National Center for Education Statistics. Ed. Tom Snyder. U.S. Department of Education, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.
Despite numerous literacy-promoting programs all over the state of Florida, literacy still remains a problem for this state. People just don’t seem to want to waste their precious free time staring at words on a piece of paper, but would rather stare at moving pictures on a screen. Obviously this is a problem, as Florida’s FCAT scores are less then perfect when compared to the scores of the rest of the nation. Something needs to be done to get Florida reading.
As the world advances through the modern age of information and connectivity, having a literate society is crucial to being able to work effectively with the outside world. Jonathan Kozol’s book, The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society, portrays the life of illiterates in the modern world and argues that society has an ethical obligation to fix the problem of illiteracy. Kozol believes that illiteracy has the greatest effect on the education of current and future generations, the way food is consumed and wasted, and various economic costs to both illiterates and those around them. Kozol’s main point throughout his book is that society as a whole needs to face the problem of illiteracy, as not one single group or person can do it on their own.
“Land of Literacy” is a literacy program designed for Kindergarten students to promote the love of literature as well as build a strong literacy foundation. The purpose of this literacy program is to integrate unique and fun ways to learn literature while taking into consideration developmental and cultural differences. The idea of the “Land of Literacy” program is to show parents and students that through literature we can all connect as one diverse community while sharing and learning literacy.
Mulcahy, Kate. “20 Types of Illiteracy.” ListVerse. Listverse Ltd., 4 Apr. 2012. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.
To be literate is to have “the ability to read, write and speak English proficiently, to compute and solve problems, and to use technology in order to become a life-long learner and to be effective in the family, in the workplace and in the community” (Roman 81). Literacy is a foundation to almost everything in daily life, from the most basic information on food labels to the most important notice on bank accounts. Reading and writing is crucial to know and useful to have. It is surprising how illiteracy can be so common even though we are living far away from the period which the alphabetical order was first invented. There are many factors that cause illiteracy to keep in mind, for example; poverty, population growth, government corruption, and even gender-based has a part just to name a few. To place the blame solely on one party is not appropriate because each of these factors plays a role in illiteracy in society today.
Finding a definition of literacy is not as easy as it sounds. The Webster definition says that to be literate is to be” able to read and write.” But to some researchers, this definition is too simplistic, leading to multiple models of literacy. Most Americans adhere to the autonomous model, which falls closest to the standard, dictionary definition. Believers in this form say that literacy is a cognitive activity that students learn like any other basic skill. It has a set of proficiencies that one must master in order to be capable of decoding and encoding text (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). A competing theory is the ideological model, which claims literacy is intrinsically linked to culture, and therefore what constitutes a “literate” individual is ever-changing. Society is the largest influence on literacy, according to this thought, and it is affected by politics, religion, philosophy and more (Alvermann, 2009; SIL International, 1999). These two are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, some studies recognize “literacy as competence,” which is a “measure of competence to do a given task or work in a given field,” (SIL International, 1999) such as being computer literate. Although more researchers are recognizing and exploring multiple literacies, the one that most influences American schools is the autonomous, cognitive model – the ability to read and write. For many, it seems a simple task, but millions of adolescents are struggling or reluctant readers, and there are many reasons why young readers have difficulty with reading. XXXXXX------NEED HELP WITH THESIS STATEMENT HERE PLEASE—(This paper will focus on the effects of low reading skills, some of the possible causes of reluctant and struggling readership...
Literacy, or the capability to comprehend, translate, utilize, make, process, assess, and speak information connected with fluctuating settings and displayed in differing organizations, assumes an essential part in molding a young's persons trajectory in life. The ability to read speaks to a key factor of scholarly, social, and financial success (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). These abilities likewise speak to a fundamental segment to having a satisfying life and turning into an effective worker and overall person (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1999). Interestingly, recent studies have demonstrated that low reading skills lead to critical hindrances in monetary and social achievement. As stated by the National Center for Education Statistics, adults with lower levels of reading skills and literacy have a lower average salary. Another study evaluated that 17 to 18 percent of adults with "below average" literacy aptitudes earned less than $300 a week, though just 3 to 6 percent of adults with "proficient" reading abilities earned less than $300 a week (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998).
Last school year, I took a college class that required hours of field experience in a high school English class. I was able to observe different English classes and different high school grade levels. What made a big impact on me was to hear some of those high school students struggling with reading more than the third grade students I was teaching that same school year. These students were expected to read and comprehend grade level text when they were reading at an elementary level. Illiteracy “is considered the blackest mark of a person’s finally in school and the greatest failure in the American school system” (Tchudi, and Tchudi 75) and there are around twenty-five million functional illiterates in the United States (75). Why are our middle school and high school students still struggling with reading? What can English/Language arts teachers do to help these struggling readers?
Overtime, the ELL population of students has been overlooked and have not been given the amount of help they have needed to be able to become successful in the United States. Literacy is not the only thing ELLs have to deal with, but also assimilating to the American culture and just trying to survive economically. According to the NEA (2008), “two-thirds come from low-income families and three out of four ELLs are Spanish-speaking” (para. 3). Many immigrant families come to America to have a better life, but many end up struggling even more because of the lack of financial support and their language barrier. By sending their children to American schools and having them in English Learning programs, parents hope their children will have a better
These theories, methods, assessments along with the evidence of success in reading at home make it clear that it is extremely important we try our hardest to support literacy in every child. All students can learn. It’s just a matter of making materials interesting and relevant to them, challenging them (but not to hard), and supporting them along the way.
Being literate defines who I am, and forms an integral part of my life. From the practical to the creative, it aids, and enables me to perform in the tasks that modern society dictates. I shall explore the many aspects of my life that are affected by literacy. Through this, understanding in greater depth what it means for me, to be literate.
Now that I have defined illiteracy, I want to raise the awareness of this problem, how it relates to women and propose a policy to help solve the problem. Illiteracy exists in America and in all nations all over the world, and the percentages of illiterate women are much higher than illiterate men. Many people assume that illiterate Americans are concentrated in large cities with troubled schools. Although this may be true in some cases, there are rural areas where illiterate women are overlooked.