Illiteracy In I Just Wanna Be Average By Jonathan Kozol

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Recommended: Causes and effects of illiteracy

Illiteracy poses a threat to political, economical and social constructions that shapes the individual life. Jonathan Kozol laid out the idea that illiteracy is detrimental to human lifestyle. He supported that claim, saying, “Illiterates live an uninsured existence,” meaning that they cannot take care of themselves, as they are unable to make the right decisions. This disability burdens them because they can’t be independent but dependent on a friend, family, co-worker, or a stranger. Undeniably, in the “I Just Wanna Be Average” text, one sees Ken Harvey’s story of growing up, being labeled as “slow”, which he took for granted and believed it. As a result of that Ken didn’t want to become better, he just wanted to get by and be “average”. Which could be considered an example of not having his own identity as Ken assumed the one he was given, of being “Slow”. This, example confirms Jonathan Kozol’s views on illiterates in our society. Therefore, we see a point of commonality concerning our society and the school system that is meant to educate us and help us become better human beings but otherwise fails to, as it separates the somewhat educated from the ones that are considered beyond average. This similarity reveals the …show more content…

This hurts our society because these are the people that will vote for the next president and educate the next generation of members of our society. While the text “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose doesn’t present an extreme case of illiteracy, one could argue that Rose’s placement in vocational education class can be blamed on his parents, they were unable to question the school why, and took it for what it was. Thus depriving him of the opportunities that could have been presented to him earlier in his

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