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Human Cost Of An Illiteate Society, And Learning To Read By Frederick Douglass

978 Words4 Pages

There are about 60 million school aged children in the world who are not in school, according to the article “Education”. Children that are educated have more opportunities compared to children that are not educated. However, it is not just educated children that get more opportunities, it is also educated adults. It does not matter how old someone is when they get their educating, but that they are getting an education at all. This is portrayed in the excerpts “Me Talk Pretty” by David Sedaris, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society” by Jonathan Kozol, and “Learning to Read” by Frederick Douglass. Education leads to individual success and empowerment. Every person has a different way of teaching, but in the end, the teaching method should …show more content…

Sedaris has figured out after seeing how harsh and strict his teach is, that he will need to work and study extremely hard to learning French. He states, “After being singled out as a lay kfdtinvfm, I took to spending four hours a night one my homework and putting in even more time whenever we were assigned an essay” (289). This shows that instead of giving up, even after his teach made fun of Sedaris in front of the whole class, it caused him to work even harder and stay dedicated. The same goes for Douglass when he is trying to learn to read and write. He is at a huge disadvantage since he is a slave but that does not stop him since he states, “I lived in Master Hugh’s family about seven years. During this time, I succeeded in learning to read and write” (96). Although he could have gotten beaten or even killed, Douglass worked extremely hard to learn to read and write. Both of these stories show how hard work and dedication can lead to …show more content…

If people cannot write or speak the main language of the society this live in, they are very limited to how they can communicate with others. Kozol writes, “‘I couldn’t understand the bills’ a woman in Washington D.C. reports, ‘and then I couldn’t write the checks to pay them. We signed things we didn’t know what they were.’” (190). Illiterates are trying to do basics things in life like reading and paying bills, but yet they still struggle. Without knowing the language, they cannot succeed in life. They are stuck at one point in their lives and will not be able to move forward unless they get the ability to read and

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