Introduction
Illiteracy simply refers to the lack of knowledge and education. It is a case where a person is not civilized. The illiterate adults remain unprepared for the disciplined world of skilled employment and the demands for education within the modern globalized marketplace. Adult illiteracy is the reason for the existing social problems across the world. Moreover, adult illiteracy is the reason for the below optimal tapping of available opportunities by the global society. It is a group of people that is pulling behind the whole global society in terms of development. The issue of social inequality is largely caused by this adult illiteracy. This paper argues that adult illiteracy is a major global societal problem whose only effective solution is making basic education as easily accessible to all people as possible.
Background information
Illiteracy is a term derived from the word literacy. Literacy basically means the ability to read, write and do mathematics or arithmetic. In the modern days, the meaning of the word literacy has been significantly expanded to include the ability to proficiently use language, numbers, images and computer. It involves the knowledge and practice of civilization. Illiteracy, therefore, means the inability to communicate well, use computer, numbers and practice civilization (Trammell, 2009). It is a concept that emerged with the modern formal kind of education. Additionally, adult illiteracy is the inability of grown-up people to write, read as well as use numbers and computers.
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In the ancient times, there was no problem of adult illiteracy since virtually everybody in the global society got the traditional form of education. This tradition kind of education was largely informal in nature. In many parts of the world, youths would simply be taught societal values and cultural practices by the elderly within a given community. This informal kind of education did not come at a monetary cost. Therefore, every person in the community had to pass through it.
The issue of adult illiteracy arose when formal education was introduced during the Industrial Revolution era. This formal education was accessible at a monetary cost. It, therefore, became a preserve for the financially able within the society. All over the world, it is the children of the rich who went to schools to be educated (Richards, 1998). Consequently, classes of the literate and the illiterate emerged. The erudite were mostly the upper social class while the illiterate largely came from the poor families. This trend of adult illiteracy has grown for a long time since the introduction of formal education in the different parts of the world.
It is vital to note that literacy is said to have started with the introduction of numeracy and computational devices in the world. When written communication was innovated, the gap between the illiterate and the literate widened. It is believed that the earliest forms of written communication started in Sumer, Mesopotamia. Moreover, historians common trace the earliest use of computational devices to Mesopotamia, China and Egypt. These places are also the settings for the earliest script development.
At the earliest time when written communication was introduced, literacy was basically a functional matter. It was then motivated by the necessity of managing new quantities of information. Written communication was also deemed to be the most effective way of communication in the situation of new governance form occasioned by trade and large-scale production. It is also important to note that the early writing system in Mesopotamia started with the recording system (Reiss, 1990). In this recording system, people used impressed token markings to control trade and large-scale agricultural production. Later on, people began to record information on the clay tablets.
However, as these complex forms of communication started to be developed, not all people could use them. School had to be introduced so that people could be trained on the proper use of language in communication and the writing skills. The growth of trade and large-scale production in agriculture also led to the need for knowledge on the use of numbers. People had to learn mathematics in schools so that they could do large-scale trade. The thing that brought about illiteracy was the fact that not all people could afford the cost of gaining education in schools. School became a league of the rich within the global society (Bohler, Eichenlaub, Litteken & Wallis, 1996). This trend has never changed since as time passes, the cost of getting education rises to remain at unaffordable levels, particularly to the less fortunate members of the global society. While a few people have the ability of reading, writing, counting and using computers, many families are unable to enjoy this opportunity. It has become a major global societal problem that must be tackled effectively.
Why this is a societal problem
Adult illiteracy is a global societal problem because of various reasons. Adult illiteracy is the cause of the challenges faced today by the global society. Adult illiteracy is a global societal problem because it is a major cause of poverty within the global society. It is understandable that poverty is a social issue. Adults who are illiterate do not have opportunities for the generation of income. A lot of the illiterate people do not even have the sense of seeking ways to improve their lives. Most of the illiterate adults simply stay in dependence on others, which they do through borrowing on the streets. Illiteracy among the adult people makes them not recognize the value of education. Therefore, they also keep their children away from school. This scenario keeps the whole generation of a family in the vicious cycle of poverty (Burggraf, 2002). Illiteracy among adult people in the global society enhances poverty, making all efforts to fight this social problem fruitless. The illiterate adults cannot come out of poverty because of the limited means they have at their disposal. Importantly, it is known all over the world that poverty is the cause of many social issues. Some of the social issues caused by poverty include lack of good healthcare, poor shelter, hunger and criminal activities within the community.
Adult illiteracy is a global societal problem because it is also the main cause of unemployment. Today, every national government across the world is seized with the issue of fighting high unemployment. The global fight against unemployment is hampered by the presence of illiterate adults. Adults who are illiterate cannot qualify for employment opportunities. Therefore, they end being marginalized from the job market across the world. The global job market is highly competitive as employers only go for individuals who are knowledgeable, skilled and educated. Importantly, unemployment is a social issue because it is the cause of minimal income among people. Moreover, unemployment is a global social issue because it leads to high cases of crime, especially within urban areas. Unemployment is the origin of prostitution, terrorism and theft.
Adult illiteracy is a global societal problem because it is the cause of the high rate of population growth rate. Currently, the world is fighting to limit the level of population growth rate because of the scarce resources such as land that are available to support human lives. In this course, a number of family planning mechanisms have been introduced for people use. The aim of these family planning methods innovated is ensuring that families lave lean number of children, which they take care of well. However, because of illiteracy, a lot of adults across the world do not know about these family planning mechanisms. For those who know about their existence, they choose to ignore them because of their traditional illiterate beliefs that view conventional family size control methods as harmful (Demetrion, 2001). The net result of this adult illiteracy is an uncontrollable high rate of population growth in the world. It must be understood that the number of adults who are illiterate is the majority in the whole world. It is the reason the global society is concerned with the impact of adult illiteracy on the population growth rate. Unwanted pregnancies among the illiterate adult girls are huge in the world today.
Furthermore, the political scene across the world is toxic because illiteracy among adult people. In nations where a majority of the electorate is illiterate, issue-based politics cannot be advanced. The electorate in such nations is ever passionate about politics of personal patronage, ethnic as well as racial balkanization and insults. The political space in such nations is open to massive corruption as politicians simply buy votes from the electorate. This trend is hindering development in most nations across the world since the type of leaders elected in such a competition is poor. The elected leaders cannot initiate strong development, but simply engage in further corruption while in their offices. It is the reason many countries around the world are now grappling with failing systems of governance. Democracy in countries is being watered down. This trend has massive adverse impact on the global society. Considering this point, adult illiteracy can only be classified as a global societal problem.
Finally, adult illiteracy is held as a global societal problem because it is the cause of social inequality in the world. Illiteracy makes people to remain poor and disadvantaged as those who are literate continue to amass wealth for themselves. Considering the modern global society where capitalism is the order of life, literate people have even turned against their illiterate fellow human beings. They now take advantage of their illiteracy to enrich themselves by denying them their rights to opportunities. The gap between the literate and illiterate adults is ever widening and this is a threat to the entire world. Social inequality defined by levels of literacy is what the world aims at tackling effectively. It must, thus, be held that adult illiteracy is an issue of concern to the global society.
Proposed solution(s)
The problem of adult illiteracy must be solved through effective approaches. The main solution the global societal problem of adult illiteracy proposed, in this paper, is enhancing the accessibility of education to the poor people within the world. Education must be made accessible to the poor through various programs initiated by the community, governments and the civil society groups. The main reason for proposing this solution is that lack of access to education is the main cause of adult illiteracy. It, therefore, implies that if education is made accessible to people then illiteracy will be successfully fought.
It is important to understand that the highly affected people come from poor families. It, thus, implies lack of financial ability is the reason for adult illiteracy across the world. Therefore, education should be made accessible through reducing its cost. The cost can be reduced through various means including building of many schools to increase supply of learning institutions, government tuition fees subsidies, financial aid programs to the needy students and provision of universal free education.
Globally, virtually 2 billion adult people are affected by this problem of illiteracy. Many of these illiterate adults cannot do simple activities such as opening and using bank accounts, making shopping lists and operating mobile phones. Moreover, they have quite low self-esteem and feel embarrassed to mingle openly with others and express their weaknesses. Therefore, a lot of the illiterate adults remain unassisted because of hiding themselves. Consequently, the present literacy programs appear clinical and de-humanizing because illiteracy among adults is marketed using numbers, tables and graphs (Greenberg, Fredrick, Hughes & Bunting, 2002). Statistics are used to show the serious nature of this global society problem of adult illiteracy. Considering the present poor state of affairs, an adult literacy enhancement program that dares to put a face on its awareness presentations is highly needed. There must be a program that shifts away from the conventional concentration on statistics, graphs and tables towards using the real population of illiterate adults drawn from across the world in order to establish the needs and mechanisms of achieving global literacy enhancement goals.
In this paper, a solution that aims at assisting the illiterate adults in the world while sticking to the values of community psychology is suggested. Some of these values include holism, compassion, social justice, respect for diversity, accountability and healthcare. The solution suggested in this paper is based on the comprehensive definition of the term illiteracy. As mentioned earlier, the general description of illiteracy is the inability to read, write, use numbers and computer. However, for effective tackling of this global problem, a comprehensive understanding of the term illiteracy is required. Such a comprehensive gives policy makes the variables on which to focus while solving this problem. It was Paolo Freire who described an illiterate adult person as somebody who participates in a given culture that uses letters, but he or she cannot speak or write them. Furthermore, The National Adult Literacy Survey, which is focused on fighting this problem illiteracy, defines a literate individual as somebody who has the ability of operating in a society and achieve goals using written material. It is a conventional description of literacy.
Based on some of these definitions, the global organizations have come up with initiatives and programs aimed at enhancing literacy among adults across the world. Some of the global organizations, which are actively involved in the enhancement of literacy, include the United Nations and several other non-governmental organizations. One thing that must be understood is that all the strategies used to solve the problem adult illiteracy approach it from the perspective of children literacy. The rationale of this approach to solving the problem of adult illiteracy is that children literacy is the only path towards having a future population, which is erudite. However, this approach is weak because of its futuristic nature when it comes to solving the specific problem of adult illiteracy. The problem of adult illiteracy must also be tackled in the present times. It implies that the adults who are illiterate should be given education so that they also become literate and valuable to the global society. The solution taken must not be one that is exclusively focused on children literacy.
Solving the problem of adult illiteracy requires that the focus be put on the whole population, but not individuals. The solution must not be one that misses to focus on the broad global social context of the problem. The conventional definitions of illiteracy should not leave out the issue of adults, who are highly affected by this issue.
Examples of literacy enhancement programs that are in existence, which can give a lot of lessons regarding development of an effective solution to adult illiteracy, include the Equipped for the Future (EFF). This program focuses on family literacy. This specific program provides interactive family activities involving parents and their children, training, economic self-sufficiency awareness and ageing knowledge. It is a program that educates members on how to be good citizens, family and workers. It has been lauded by many observers and analysts because of its well roundedness. Moreover, EFF has a comprehensive definition of literacy since it does include the view of the community. It concentrates on communication, parental and technological capabilities. It goes beyond the definition of literacy as just being able to read and write. In Canada, there is the Six Nations Literacy Achievement Centers that was created to tackle the problem of illiteracy among native populations. In its definition of literacy, it includes knowledge of grammar, arithmetic and the local traditions. Therefore, it essentially targets equipping the locals with knowledge regarding their social and self identity. One may also look at literacy programs present in Zambia, which offer huge support to the solution proposed in this particular paper. In Zambia, the government defines illiteracy as lack of technical capability. Therefore, illiteracy is dealt with at macro-level, but not the individual point. This aspect of literacy promotion makes the outcomes have positive effective changes on family relationships and economic development in the country.
It is important to observe that an adult illiterate person, who has the interest of gaining literacy, cannot help himself or herself. Therefore, the whole global society is needed in helping the present illiterate adult people gain literacy. There is need for both national and international partnerships in implementing programs aimed at fostering literacy among the illiterate adults. Adult illiteracy, as a global societal problem, cannot be solved at the individual level. To solve the global social problem of adult illiteracy, unity and solidarity among people is paramount.
Specifically, computer literacy must be promoted through offering of light package courses at cost-effective terms. World organizations need to partner with the various national governments to roll out computer literacy courses in the rural areas. These courses should involve the basic 12-package certificate programs. The programs should be offered on free or small cost terms. If the world engages in this idea, computer literacy among adults all over the globe will be promoted. It is important to note that the inability to use computers is one outstanding variable in the definition of adult illiteracy.
Governments also need to ensure free primary, secondary and tertiary education is provided to increase the number of adult enrolment in schools. There should be no age limit in these schools. What bars most adults from accessing education is the issue of age limit in classes. Even the old people should be allowed to go back into schools and gain basic education. It is an effective way of promoting literacy.
Most students drop out of schools because of hard examinations. The schools should not be turned into torture centers where students are subjected to complex examination papers. It is part of the reasons that are hampering the fight against literacy. Examinations set for students should be manageable to encourage learning in countries.
Prohibition of child labor is also one solution to the problem of illiteracy among adults in the world. A lot of youths drop out of schools because of the lure of cheap money offered by casual employers. Most youths choose to start employment and earn money instead of going to school for education. This trend is contributing significantly to the high number of illiterate adults in the world. Tied to this solution is the issue of scarce jobs within the job market both internationally and nationally. A lot of youths and adult people do not have the desire and interest of gaining education and literacy because of the current trend of high unemployment even for the learned individuals. International bodies and governments must work on the ways of creating jobs for the adult people so that there is the meaningful incentive to learn and become literate.
Overall, access to education is the main solution to this problem of adult illiteracy. Adults who are illiterate should be encouraged and afforded the chance to go into school and learn. Moreover, computer literacy should be enhanced through provision of free basic technological knowledge education programs. Financial literacy is also another area that should be addressed to ensure the adult people in the world are all contributing to the social developmental agenda.
Statistical data from at least three, peer-reviewed scholarly sources
The first source is an article written by Tsatsaroni Anna and Evans Jeff in the year 2014 on the issue of numeracy within the global context.
To establish the level of numeracy among the adult people in the world, Goodman, Tsatsaroni & Jeff (2014) used the above graph. The participants were asked to answer the questions regarded the year that had the largest number of births. It was established that 65% of the participants could not give correct answers. This source is highly credible because it backs its information by other scholarly sources. Moreover, the authors demonstrate objectivity by sticking to the use of statistics and existing models. They were not biased. The strength of this article is the use of the PIAAC model of survey that gives its results accuracy. Its weakness is conservativeness by relying highly on existing sources of data.
The second source is an article written by Goodman, Finnegan, Mohadjer, Krenzke & Hogan (2013) on literacy, numeracy and problem-solving among the adult people in the United States. Goodman, Finnegan, Mohadjer, Krenzke & Hogan (2013) considered an environment that is rich in terms of advanced technology.
The above figure is used to indicate the average scores of adult literacy as given by the PIAAC Survey. It shows that on average a lot of the people aged between 16 and 65 years old in countries across the world are illiterate. This article is quite credible because it uses the PIAAC as its main source, which is impeccable. Its strength is the reliance on a lot of statistical data. Its main weakness is reliance on secondary sources of data hence could be subject to biasness.
The third source is a book by George Demetrion on the conflicting paradigms in adult literacy education. Demetrion (2013) states that half of the United States adult population is basically just functional, but lacks necessary literacy skills such as computer, financial and health knowledge. Its strength is that it provides the various conceptual information regarding adult literacy efforts in the world. The weakness of this source is that it gives largely subjective views on its main subject matter. Demetrion (2013) shows some significant level of biasness considering the fact he gives subjective views.
Limitations and ethical issues
The limitation of this paper is that it is that it is solely based on secondary sources of data. It also focuses on the general issues that affect the whole world. Future studies should consider taking a specific geographical scope in which to conduct a primary empirical research on this issue. The ethical issues to consider is the fact that most illiterate adults do not want to be described openly hence revealing their identities in studies may disappoint them since they feel embarrassed to be known as illiterate.
Conclusion
The main argument in this paper is that adult illiteracy is a major global social problem whose solution is increasing easy access to education for even the poor families. The issue of illiteracy among adults is a huge problem for the global society today. The attention towards this problem has grown in the recent past because of its worsening condition. The current high pace of economic, political, technological and social development is leaving this growing group of illiterate adults highly marginalized and unable to add any meaningful contribution to the global society. This wanting situation must be rectified and measures implemented to seal the gap between the literate and the illiterate adults within the global society.
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