Functional Literacy In The United States

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In the United States alone, literacy and the basic ability to preform and demonstrate everyday, fundamental tasks is rapidly declining. Literacy is a very important key component to a functioning in a society, yet an outstanding number of U.S. adults battle with functional literacy. In brief, literacy simply means the ability to read and write. Illiteracy means just the opposite; therefore, they are unable to read or write. However, in society, functional literacy is usually what we abide by. Functional literacy is generally defined as, “using printed and written information to function, to achieve one’s goal, and to develop one’s knowledge and potential” (Kogut 1). Even though literacy is expected, many barriers are posed that can make becoming …show more content…
economy and population growth. Even though immigration fuels the nation, it also creates literacy challenges for the U.S. Immigration is one of the strongest barriers posed against adult literacy. One of the major reasons literacy is declining is due to the increased immigration rate. “Thirty percent of immigrants lack a high school diploma” (Kogut 2). That means that every one in five is a child of an immigrant. Due to the fact that they are looked at as minority, the young adults are leaving school without the basic literacy skills they need to function in our rapid moving society. According to a recent study from the University of North Carolina, evidence shows that literacy problems at an early age will cause higher dropout rates later in life. Many students that dropout lack the ability to handle their coursework efficiently and aren’t able to get help from their parents because they also dropped out without the basic, proficient literacy skills (Kogut 2). Upon dropping out, both children and adults learn everything they know from either reading or listening. Without the proficient reading skills, listening is all they can do. Therefore, they learn from either parents or those around them. They may be able to function in society but not to a proficient, academic level (Reynolds …show more content…
Motivation to pass never has to be present because anyone and everyone passed the classes. When teaching, teachers look at the minimum criteria of what has to be taught and does just the minimum. That minimum then becomes the target; no more, no less (Reynolds 13). The only thing that mattered to the teachers and their students is the final assessments. However, these assessments where also based on standardized exams, which may or may not have had anything to do with the material taught within the classroom (Reynolds 13). Due to standardized tests being offered at all public schooling establishments, now grown adults have to self- teach themselves along the way which has caused unique, illiterate gaps between every individual. The self taught education has resulted in negative, long-term literacy
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