Causes & Problems of Illiteracy

This means that there are adult men and women who cannot read newspaper headlines, or unfamiliar street signs, or menus in restaurants, or safety instructions on the job. It means that there is a sizable minority of people who are unequipped for participation in a sophisticated informationbased world economy (Dolan and Scariano, 1995).

Illiteracy is not just a matter of not being able to read books, as was indicated above. It affects many of the activities of adult daily living and it presents a major obstacle to effectiveness in job and home life. For example, statistics indicate that approximately 43 percent of those with literacy problems live in poverty and approximately 70 percent of that same population is without a full or parttime job (Fast facts on literacy, 1999). Even more telling is the fact that prisoners tend to have even lower lit

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characterized by racist and elitist attitudes. He particularly noted that the NALS study by the Department of Education was problematic. To him, most of the studies tend to reverse cause and effect, stating that literacy leads to poverty, unemployment, and imprisonment. For him, the situation is the reverse, in which poverty, unemployment, and imprisonment, along with bilingualism, create conditions in which people are unable to gain elite skills. Elites establish the norms, determine what literacy comprises, and neglect to acknowledge the value of bilingualism. He noted that elites place high value on learning a second language in schools, as long as English is the first language, but denigrate the value of possessing a native language other than English. In that case, the focus is on making English the norm, while extinguishing the first language. Wiley noted that most literacy theories are based on the deficit model, rather than on building on the skills that people already possess. In other words, for him, literacy problems are at least partially a creation of the elites who want to distinguish themselves from the lower classes, foreigners, and minority groups. This is actually congruent with some of the results of th
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Approximate Word count = 3410
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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