|
|
|
|
Researched by Jacob M. |
|
Introduction
Fifty percent of
American adults being functionally illiterate sounds impossible, right?
If I were only allowed to tell you one thing, it would be “Be aware of
adult illiteracy, for it is closer than you think.” There are levels of
illiteracy you must be aware about. Your life may be affected by having
illiterate parents. Then there are the everyday illiterates, and why
you should help them. The definition of illiteracy is not being able to
read and write to meet expectations. For example, an illiterate adult
is someone over 18 who can’t read or write.
What are the levels of illiteracy?
There
are two levels of illiteracy. They are functionally illiterate and
illiterate. Functionally illiterate is when an adult doesn’t have a
vocabulary better than that of an eighth grader. Illiterate is when
they can’t read or write simple things (e.g. bus schedule, medicine
bottle label) Twenty-five percent of American adults are illiterate.
Twenty percent of American adults are functionally illiterate. About
fifty percent of American adults are functionally illiterate or
illiterate.
Our nation’s capital is Illiterate
Sixty-two
percent of Washington D.C.’s adults fall in the two lowest levels of
reading proficiency. Also, hirty percentof Washington D.C.’s adults
don’t have a high school diplomat or the equivalent. Almost
twenty-five percent of D.C.’s residents need to improve their reading
skills. We must be aware of illiteracy, because it is a major problem.
How is being illiterate bad?
Well,
if you’re illiterate, then you probably are unable to: get a job, read
a book, and basically perform simple reading tasks, like playing a
video game, reading a news paper, or play a board game. Thus,
entertainment will be harder to find, and, besides being bored to
tears, you are more likely to commit crime. A lot of illiterates are
dropouts from school.
How is Being functionally illiterate bad?
Being
functionally illiterate is almost as bad. Though entertainment won’t be
as hard to find, a good job and surfing online wouldn’t really be an
option for you.
Why does illiteracy raise the chance a child is more likely to commit crime?
Eighty-five
percent of our treasured country’s prisoners are functionally
illiterate (or worse). Also, the average school kid watches 27 hours of
television (T.V.) a week. There are about 20 acts of violence per hour
of the show. This would mean that the T.V. is setting a bad example for
the children. The average school child spends 27 hours watching T.V.
Over the course of a year, children spend more time watching T.V. doing
anything else besides sleeping. By the time the average child reaches
sixth grade, he/she has watched 100,000 acts of televised violence,
including 8,000 murders. Forty percent of the average six-year-olds’
time watching T.V. the child is watching shows intended for adults, and
this percent doubles to eighty percent when the child reaches twelve
years old.
More illiterate, less money.
Being literate
can save you money. As of 2000, 52% of adults could figure out that a
five-cents per gallon deduction on 140 gallons would save them 7$,
which is enough to buy them two gallons of non-organic milk! If you use
4 gallons of milk a month, then this would save you $2.40 a year, which
in a decade is $24.00.
Conclusion
Therefore,
I conclude that illiterates are people who need more help than they are
getting. My volunteer experience shows that my research is correct
because it shows that people who aren’t “up to date” get in trouble
more.
Top of page