Illiteracy In America

Poverty exists all around us, whether people realize it or not. Those living in poverty encounter problems that one may not understand. Children are born into poverty and are more likely to develop learning disabilities, have less parent-child interactions, and have a lower academic performance compared to those children not living in poverty (Brooks-Gunn, J., & Duncan, G. J, 1997). A major problem that is related to those living in poverty is illiteracy.

Adults living in poverty tend to have higher rates of illiteracy compare to those adults not living in poverty. These high rates of illiteracy pose problems throughout one’s life. First, those individuals who are illiterate make up to forty percent less than those who are not illiterate. Second, they are more likely to be unemployed and receiving welfare. Lastly, they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behavior which results in unplanned pregnancy (Cree, A., Kay, A., & Steward, J, 2012).

Illiteracy for children begins when they are infants because their parents are unable to read to them because they are illiterate. When children begin their schooling experience they are already behind compared to those children who are not living in poverty and do not have illiterate parents (Cree, A., Kay, A., & Steward, J, 2012). Children from illiterate and impoverished households know have heard less than twenty million words compared to children from households with professional parents. Children in poverty receive less help from parents on school work and fall behind their classmates. In addition, parents living in poverty tend to place a greater emphasis on a child working rather than a child succeeding academically. As a result, children in poverty tend to follow in their parents footsteps and drop out of high school (Cree, A., Kay, A., & Steward, J,