One of the 21st century challenges that I have been interested in recently is literacy in the U.S. and around the world. I don't think we are covering this topic in class, but it is one that I think is definitley worth considering. In a developed country such as ours, it's hard to believe that so many people live and work everyday without a proper education, but to me, the lack of education is the root cause of so many other 21st century challenges.
Here are some startling statistics I've come across:
- more than 30 million people in the U.S. are functionally illiterate.
- of those 30 million, 15 million are part of our workforce!!!! What does that say about the quality of our work?
Like I mentioned before, so many problems arise from the lack of a proper education:
- Unmarried teenage girls are 6 times more likely to get pregnant if they lack the ability to read.
- 90% of welfare recipients are high school dropouts
- 85% of juveniles found in court are functionally illiterate ( can't read or write)
The most astounding problem I've come across in learning about this 21st century challenge is that people who are illiterate avoid medical offices. Now that I think about it, it makes sense! How are we supposed to expect people who can't read to follow prescription instructions? Or sign medical forms? Recently, I've heard so many horror stories involving these situations. ABC news did a story on an illiterate woman who signed off on getting a hysterectomy while she was in the hospital, and had absolutely no idea! My mom saw a new story about a man who almost killed his daughter because he gave her 4 pills in an hour instead of "1 pill every 4 hours" like it said on the bottle.
Anyways, I've written a lot, but my point is still the same. Literacy is a huge problem that isn't easy to tackle. In my opinion, if we can figure out how to solve this problem, so many other big issues in our nation and around the world can be conquered.
Here is an article I found on illiteracy that I think you all might enjoy:
Great post, Komal. I agree that education is at the core of any 21 C. solutions -- and it's also at the core of the challenges we face too.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in the qualifier in the term "functionally illiterate." Seems to imply some wiggle room -- doesn't mean that folks can't read or write. It's that they can't read or write WELL.
I think it's important to define what we mean by "well." Certainly not everybody needs to read or write like an English professor.
Seems to me there's two issues here:
-- A cultural commitment (both in the U.S. and on a global scale) to providing a baseline education that allows ALL people to be functioning members of society. We don't have this now.
-- But not just stopping there. I think we need a commitment to education that helps more (all?) people be actively engaged in the complex issues of our time. Because things don't seem to getting simpler. They seem to be getting more complicated.