The Problem of Illiteracy

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According to “The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL), it has been recently estimated that 14 percent of adults in the United States have a below basic level of prose literacy. Basically what that means is that adults with this level of prose literacy range from being nonliterate in English to only being able to locate easily identifiable information in short, commonplace prose text. For example, people with below basic prose literacy would be able to find out “what a patient is allowed to drink before a medical test”, but generally couldn’t say or find “in a pamphlet for prospective jurors, an explanation of how people were selected for the jury pool.” Shockingly enough, 55 percent of those in the lowest prose-literacy group had not finished high school.” (“The Silent Epidemic -The Health Effects of Illiteracy”) That is a really alarming number! Over half of the people that have the lowest level of literacy didn’t finish high school… wow! “Although statistical rates of functional literacy may vary from one study to another, it is still apparent that a high number of adults in this country are poor readers.” (“Literacy Education”) Illiteracy is becoming such a problem in the world that it is preventing many people from achieving success. This is a situation that needs to be solved, and can be! Possibly through general reading programs for adults and older children, literacy integration programs at work and in businesses, and early action by teaching children to read at an early age.

Although illiteracy is becoming an increasingly important problem in today’s society, it often goes unnoticed as people fail to identify it as an “affliction” and therefore disregard its significant impact on society. The problem has g...

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"Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society." Education-Portal. June 13, 2011. 27 February 2012. http://education-portal.com/articles/Illiteracy_The_Downfall_of_American_Society.html

"Literacy by the numbers." Publishers Weekly 27 June 2005: 6. General OneFile. Web. 28 February 2012.

"Printing=literacy=knowledge." Graphic Arts Monthly May 1989: 143+. General OneFile. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

Franklin, Geralyn McClure, and Susan Z. Washburn. "A modern workplace in the face of an age-old problem: illiteracy." Industrial Management Jan.-Feb. 1992: 2+. General OneFile. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

Sawchuk, Stephen. "Early-Childhood Literacy; America's Early-Childhood Literacy Gap." Education Week 23 Sept. 2009: 5. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

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