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Causes and effects of illiteracy
Disadvantages of vocational education
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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
The journey begins at the heart of the matter, with a street smart kid failing in school. This is done to establish some common ground with his intended audience, educators. Since Graff is an educator himself, an English professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, he understands the frustrations of having a student “who is so intelligent about so many things in life [and yet] seems unable to apply that intelligence to academic work” (380). Furthermore, Graff blames schools for not utilizing street smarts as a tool to help improve academics; mainly due to an assumption that some subjects are more inherently intellectual than others. Graff then logically points out a lack of connection “between any text or subject and the educational depth and weight of the discussion it can generate” (381). He exemplifies this point by suggesting that any real intellectual could provoke thoughtful questions from any subject, while a buffoon can render the most robust subjects bland. Thus, he is effectively using logic and emotion to imply that educators should be able to approach any subject critically, even non-traditional subjects, lest they risk being labeled a buffoon.
The average human would think that going to school and getting an education are the two key items needed to make it in life. Another common belief is, the higher someone goes with their education, the more successful they ought to be. Some may even question if school really makes anyone smarter or not. In order to analyze it, there needs to be recognition of ethos, which is the writer 's appeal to their own credibility, followed by pathos that appeals to the writer’s mind and emotions, and lastly, logos that is a writer’s appeal to logical reasoning. While using the three appeals, I will be analyzing “Against School” an essay written by John Taylor Gatto that gives a glimpse of what modern day schooling is like, and if it actually help kids
In the article “Against School”, John Taylor Gatto urges Americans to see the school system as it really is: testing facilities for young minds, with teachers who are pounding into student 's brains what society wants. Gatto first explains that he taught for 30 years at the best and worst schools in Manhattan. He claims to have firsthand experience of the boredom that students and teachers struggle with. Gatto believes that schooling is not necessary, and there are many successful people that were self-educated. He then explains the history and importance of mandatory schooling.
“Hidden Intellectualism” written by Gerald Graff, is a compelling essay that presents the contradicting sides of “book smarts” and “street smarts” and how these terms tied in to Graff’s life growing up. Graff felt like the school was at fault that the children with more “street smarts” were marked with the reputation of being inadequate in the classroom. Instead of promoting the knowledge of dating, cars, or social cues, the educational system deemed them unnecessary. Gerald Graff thought that “street smarts” could help people with academics. In his essay, Graff confessed that despite his success as an “intellect” now, he was the exact opposite until college. Where he grew up in Chicago, Illinois, intelligence was looked down upon around peers
Within the walls of our educational system lie many adverse problems. Is there a solution to such problems? If so, what is the solution? As we take a look at two different essays by two different authors’ John Gatto and Alfie Kohn, both highlight what’s wrong within our educational system in today’s society. As John Gatto explores the concept if schools are really as necessary as they’re made out to be; Alfie Kohn analyzes the non-importance of letter grades within our schools. Although both essays are fairly different, they still pose some similarities in relation to the educational system in today’s society.
This book covers many different points of Schultz’s life. One, Philip Schultz takes a look back at his childhood school years and writes about his troubles and understands it was not because he was not intelligent but because he had a learning disability. Second, Schultz discusses a teacher who did not believe in him; the teacher laughed at him when he told his teacher he wanted to become a writer. The way
Throughout the writing The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society by Jonathan Kozol, Illiterate America, published in New York City 1985, a question is brought to understanding that many American citizens haven’t worried or been concerned about asking themselves. What is it like to be illiterate? When we think of Illiterate-America, we often think of the votes that aren’t cast and of the un-informed decisions regarding who those said, are voting for. Jonathan Kozol brought to light some of the many problems that loom overhead one without a written language.
However, once Malcom X became more advanced in education, Malcolm became more capable of communicating with other human-beings. “Learning To Read” is an excellent example of the necessity of education. Whether the person believes it or not, education is a must in today’s society for growth and prosperity. If education is not a part of a childs life, then the person life will not be the same as the person whom is educated, if education is not a part of a childs life, then the children will track on the equivalent path of ancestors, and if education is not a part of a childs life, then todays society will start to either; plateau, or steadily fail. In the short story “I Just Wanna Be Average” by Mike Rose, many struggles came about with Mikes teachers putting him down telling him “you will not succeed.” the schooling part of learning subjects, and by his peers constantly putting him down. Mike Rose was told he was just average by his teacher, however, Mike proves to his teacher that he is anything but average. Education should be necessary to all people of every particular society, traditional or untraditional. The proper education is extremely necessary for any human-being to function
At the beginning of this essay Alexie gives some background information on his story which informs the reader that he may not have had the education that he would have liked, but he got by by reading. He says that he loves his father and he wanted to be able to read like his father. So, that’s what he did. By reading it gave him the confidence to not act like all the other young Indian boys on the reserve. He wasn’t afraid to let people know that he was smart. He cared about reading and wasn’t going to give that up. By having this strong confidence in his reading it inspired people in generations today to succeed in school even if they are in an Indian reserve and may not have the most stable
The Quality of a child’s education often either limits or opens up a world of opportunities. Those who study the purpose of public education and the way it is distributed throughout society can often identify clear correlations between social class and the type of education a student receives. It is generally known by society that wealthy families obtain the best opportunities money can buy. Education is a tool of intellectual and economical empowerment and since the quality of education is strongly influenced by social class, a smaller portion of the American population obtains the opportunities acquired from a top notch education. Many people believe that educational inequalities are perpetuated from the interests of specific classes, but some researchers like John Gatto believe that there are even stronger social forces in play. In the essay “Against Schools” the author John Gatto presents three arguments: (1) that are educational system is flawed, (2) that the American educational system is purposely designed to create a massive working class that is easy to manipulate, and (3) alternative teaching methods should be applied to teach children to think for themselves. In this essay I will be summarizing and relating each of these arguments to other educational essays. Also, I will be discussing the strengths and weaknesses of the author’s argument.
Christena CaseyEnglish 2Assessment 3.8Literacy Elements on AshputtleThe story of Ashputtle Translated by Ralph Manneim. Ashputtle's mother passed, Her father remarried, and her 2 step sisters were the worst. However fait has other plans for her. She got the princeand all from staying true to her mothers word. This paper will explore Ashputtle by Ralph Manneim and how the author has used literary elements in creating this beautiful story.Lets talk about the tone. The tone is the writers attitude. The tone of Ashputtle for me was serious, bitter, and heart warming. Ashputtle's mom told her to “be good and say your prayers; good will help you, and I shall look down on you from heaven and always be with you”. Her mother did just that and for that she got everything she could of dreamed of.
Based on the information provided by different sources, the state of Texas shows that it is top most illiterate state of the United States. According to an article published by Dr. John W. Miller a researcher who works for the “Time” magazine, conducted a study based on reading culture. This study showed the unsatisfactory number of people with a lack of ability to read and understand basic texts; such as newspapers. Also, according to Miller (2014) “Among El Paso adult population, less than one quarter had at least a bachelor’s degree in 2012, worse than most other cities.” When people talk about illiteracy it is generally inferred that the population does not know how to write and read, but this factor may not apply if the population is tested in another language that they may not master. Accordingly to an article the communities with the lowest scores in literacy examinations were cities are next to the Mexican border. This report will cover, the definition of illiteracy, the levels of illiteracy in the State of Texas and most remarkable cities as El Paso, and the causes and
Their shock was a result of the common belief that literacy is solely the ability to read and write. According to the dominant culture, if one cannot read or write at an expected level, he or she is considered illiterate and thus must be caught up to speed with the rest of society. Consequently, when the majority of students failed the entrance test, they were viewed as illiterate and unable to communicate properly because they did not have adequate language skills, as explained by the “skills discourse” (Barton 160). However, a newer perspective on literacy is that it is not just based upon one’s ability to read and write in the dominant language. Instead, it is based upon people’s abilities to communicate in a variety of ways; these multiple methods of communicating with the world manifest themselves further and change as people experience more and change themselves. In the context of education and this new perspective on literacy, written works are not the only form of literacy in the classroom. Instead, teachers consider other forms of literacy familiar to students and use those forms to mold well-informed and self-sufficient students (Barton 206-208). Perhaps if Harvard had not labeled their prospective students as literate or illiterate based on writing and reading skills, the entire issue of abolishing versus
There are three components in the video that Stephen Prothero discusses are; the religious illiteracy problem in the United States, the second is about the past and how it came to be, and finally, he talks about his proposal about the problem of illiteracy and how we can fix it.
“Knowledge is Power.” When people are asked what the key to success in life is, a few things come to their mind: being charismatic, being born into a wealthy family and knowing the right people, have a high paying job, or just plain luck. Although all of the above are true, the true key to success is knowledge. To have knowledge is to have options is to have power. Illiteracy is derived from the lack of knowledge or awareness from people. To eradicate the social divide and economic decline people must first be informed of the causes and effects of illiteracy to draw an affective solution.