The Illiterate Epidemic
There are so many things we take for granted. We take things for granted as individuals and as a society. Everyone is on the same page, or at least that is what we think. One area specifically we make assumptions in is reading.
Society assumes that all adults has basic reading skills. The only exceptions we understand and accept are when the adult has a different language as their mother tongue and struggle with the local language. But nearly half of the adults in America barely have basic reading ability. — “Forty-three percent of adults read at or below the “Basic” level. This accounts for roughly 93 million individuals” (NAAL, 2003). What is called “basic” is not as common as society thinks.
What is Illiteracy
Per Webster, illiteracy is “the state of not knowing how to read or write; the state of not having knowledge about a particular subject; a mistake that is made in the use of language : an illiterate statement or expression”. It can be pulled from this that there are various degrees of illiteracy. It is not just a matter of not being able to read. True illiteracy goes beyond that.
It all comes down to being able to read and communicate with the majority of society. That’s where the fork in the road develops in the idea of literacy. Reading enough to navigate driving down city streets and traversing the…
