Illiteracy In The World

Imagine a world where everyone around you is uneducated. Imagine a world where your family, friends, and neighbors struggle with the simplest tasks concerning reading or writing. Imagine a world where being able to go to school is not a necessity, but a privilege. Unfortunately, this is much too common in our world. “Education is the most essential condition and powerful agent of progress. And literacy, the ability to interpret and manipulate written symbols--that is to read and write--is the most basic and necessary of learning skills, the "key" that gives access to the storehouse of knowledge” (UNESCO Courier). The opposite of this is known as illiteracy, as in, not being able to read or write. And unfortunately, it is something that too

Just how many people in the world are actually illiterate and why? How will being illiterate actually impact someone? “Over 95 per cent of the illiterate live in the developing regions of the world, with Southern Asia (54 per cent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (53 per cent) having the highest rates, followed by the Arab States (49 per cent), Eastern Asia (24 per cent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (15 per cent). In absolute terms, the majority of adults who cannot read and write are in Asia, 671 million, with India and China alone accounting for more than half of the world 's total. The situation of women is more serious than that of men. While about one-fifth of men cannot read or write, one-third of women are illiterate” (UNESCO Courtier). -Logos. 95% of the illiterate people in the world live in developing nations. The majority of them are in Asia. That means that if you were to live there, the chances of you directly knowing someone who is illiterate are pretty high. The chances of knowing a woman who is illiterate is higher than the chance of knowing a man who is illiterate. This is because in these areas, females tend to have to stay home, in order to help the household run, whereas the males in a family are encouraged to find a job, which is more likely to happen if they have had some schooling. Females are expected to learn how to run a family and take care of household chores,

But the truth is, illiteracy is everywhere. Even in the U.S., illiteracy is too frequent. We have to be able to at least help those around us, no matter how difficult of time-consuming it may be. Everyone should be able to help in whatever way they can. Not everyone has to necessarily become an ambassador and travel to developing nations every week, but they can still help in other ways. They can donate money, books, and even just bring attention to the issue. Making sure that everyone is aware of the dangers of illiteracy and how common it is is essential in order to take those next steps to improve the situation and do as much about it as we are doing about famine and poverty.-Ethos. I think that we should donate some of our used books to the Maryland Book Bank. The MBB takes new and gently used books and delivers them to schools, teachers, and students who need books but cannot afford to have them. This will help to promote literacy and education throughout our community. We should also try to let people know about this issue, even if it’s just our friends and family. Hopefully word will spread and more people will get involved. I really believe that all it will take to help stop illiteracy completely is some pencils, papers, and words. Our children are our future, and it’s important that our children are educated, so our future can be