Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Written Statement:

For my biology project, I choose to focus on the illiteracy crisis in the world. When I first started my research, I thought that most of the illiterate people in the world were in third world countries. After a lot of research, I have proven myself wrong there are many illiterate people in the world including America. Literacy is a privilege that everyone should have no matter who they are. The main problem behind illiteracy is that is leads to other major global issues like over population, poverty, crime, disease, and learning disabilities. Illiteracy is also a problem because in some part of the world more than 50% of a community is illiterate. We should be concerned about the illiteracy crisis because many children now are illiterate which will lead to many m ore adults being illiterate in the future. If people are illiterate than they will not be able to work. This problem need to be changed, we need to educate our youth. We need to keep our kids engaged in school, and make sure they are happy. By doing this less children will be illiterate, which would lead to less adults being illiterate. Illiteracy can easily be fixed, we can open more clinic to help adults and children read, and we can get people to donate books supplies and money (which I did).These simple things will help save the lives of so many people, buy giving them the gift of literacy a lot in the world could happen. There are around one billion illiterate adults (persons 15 years old and above) in the world today and that is ashamed, With the public school systems, each child should be able to at least graduate from High School. So if there are other reason why kids are not getting educated, then something needs to change. The law of every child needing to go to school needs to be enforced. It is about time. (http://www.reading.org/downloads/meetings/ILD2007_literacy_facts.pdf) In this website I found out that by teaching mothers to read it decreases the infant mortality, which is not that shocking, but shows that illiteracy just does not affect the person who can not read or write, but their family and friends as well.

Case Studies:

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001455/145587eo.pdf

This article is about how the government is spending our money on unnecessary things. When they should be using the money on schools and not wars. There was also an idea about getting more cost-effective schools.

http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/23/62/9a.pdf

This article is about adult literacy in the third world. It said that most women are illiterate in third world countries. This article also talks about how some places are starting to get programs for adults, so that they can learn how to read. Some of these programs are lacking people, because some illiterate people are too ashamed to get help. There are also some tips on literacy, and how to deal with it.

www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/.../Plutzar_CaseStudyMigrants_EN.doc

This case study is about how illiteracy is needed in the world. So that there are the people in th e world that will help out with little things and not be paid. The rest of this study is mostly about migrant immigrants, and how we need them to be our “hamsters” to see if the testing, and literacy teaching is working.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Articles:

Title: Indigenous Education and Illiteracy in The Third World:
Summary:
This article is about how the government is spending our money on unnecessary things. When they should be using the money on schools and not wars. There was also an idea about getting more cost-effective schools.
Author: Donald Hirsch

Date Published: 1991

Source

Web Link: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001455/145587eo.pdf




Title: Adult Literacy In The Third World: A Review of Objectives and Strategies
Summary:
This article is adult literacy in the third world. It said that most women are illiterate in third world countries. This article also talks about how some places are starting to get programs for adults, so that they can learn how to read. Some of these programs are lacking people, because some illiterate people are too ashamed to get help. There are also some tips on literacy, and how to read effectively.
Author: Lind, Agneta, Johnston, Anton

Date Published

Source

Web Link: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/23/62/9a.pdf





Title: The Literacy Crisis
Summary:
This article is just a general overview of illiteracy. What it is, how to keep your kids engaged, and some facts, and examples about illiteracy. This article is very sad because it proves that illiteracy is a major problem and a lot more people have it then we think. In this article you can also learn how to spread the love of reading, and making sure you help out in your community.
Author: Carol Lynn Mithers

Date Published: September 2001.

Source:

Web Link: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=9&did=78365048&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1274999886&clientId=7827




Title: Lack of Education in This Country
Summary:
This article is about how some students are illiterate because of their teachers. If a teacher is not passionate about what they are teaching, they can only fake the enthusiasm for so long. If a teacher really likes a class, they are more likely to want their students to be engaged. If a teacher hates the course that they are studying then they will not want to have to answer question, and be more likely to pass a student who is not supposed to be passed.
Author: Lauren Turchin

Date Published

Source

Web Link: http://www.helium.com/items/794937-lack-of-education-in-this-country





Title: Never too Late to Get Started on Reading
Summary:
This article is very inspiring. It talks about how there are clinics and libraries that are made for Adults who are fed up with not being able to read. They can go to these clinics and learn how to read and write from tutors. When adults leave they are able to read street signs, drug prescriptions, book which is a great achievement for these adults.
Author: Clyde Haberman

Date Published: April 19, 2010

Source:

Web Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/nyregion/20nyc.html

The Science Behind Illiteracy

There really is no science behind illiteracy, but there have been many case studies about illiteracy, and what causes illiteracy. There also have been case studies about what illiteracy causes. Illiteracy causes overpopulation, poverty, crime, and learning disabilities. Illiteracy can cause overpopulation because most uneducated people do not understand over population, and the effects of it so they just have kids because that is about all they can do. Illiteracy causes poverty because if you are illiterate you will not be able to find a decent job. Any jobs you get if you are lucky will pay badly, and if you do not have a job you will not be paid at all which leads to crime. People will start to steal things and hurting people because of their insecurity and anger. Illiteracy also leads to learning disabilities, because if you have not been reading or writing since you were 2 and you are twenty now your brain is not as “open” to learn (scientifically) like it would have been if you 2.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

10 Websites:

http://plancksconstant.org/blog1/2007/07/why_young_people_are.html
This website is about how the human brain is being filled with pointless thing, and the really important things that we need are not sticking in the brain. A teen would rather remember something that they say in a movie or on TV then remember a fact from class. The author of this article say that when a teen now a day sees something as simple a fly, they will just let it pass them. When he sees a fly he associates it with the may thing that have to do with the word fly, whether it be something that flies, or someone that has the word fly in their name. The video at the end of this article really proves his point.

http://thesouthasianidea.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/is-illiteracy-a-cause-of-poverty/
This website proves that illiteracy does not lead poverty in India and Pakistan. In India there are high literacy rates, where in Pakistan there are not, but Both of these countries have high poverty rates. This website also explains that the countries have “short changed” their citizen a proper education. This is very sad knowing that illiteracy does lead to other global issues, and if a parent is illiterate because of their country than their child will most likely be illiterate too.

http://www.readingstore.com/illiteracy_and_violence_confusi.htm
This website proved my major point about illiteracy leading to many other global problems. This happens because kids are stressed, they might not always know what they are doing at the time, but they could get themselves into real trouble just because of the frustration that builds up inside of them. The author of this website also say that illiterate children are not doomed, they can learn and be on “top” even if their life home is not good, as long as they want it for themselves.

http://www.care2.com/causes/education/blog/fighting-chicagos-53-illiteracy-rate-what-does-it-take/
This website is about a bookstore in Chicago called Open Books, who teach kids how to read and write, and listen to their life stories, by doing this the kids learn how to read and use their voices. This is a recent organizations, in Chicago, but the Open Book Organization has been around for a while helping many kids.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Education-in-Third-World&id=347995
This website tells it reader how there are some good schools in third world countries, and they teach children a lot. It also says that “ a good education is still viewed as the best way to a better life”. This website also states that the poorest people worry about getting money to buy food, clothes, and shelter rather than give their children an education.

http://belrayam.com/2010/03/05/lack-of-education-can-triple-unemployment/
This website says that the amount of kids who did not graduate from high school has gone up in the last 40 months, and that a lot of them have jobs, but about 3% of people with bachelor’s degrees have no job with. The main summary of this website is that illiteracy leads to no jobs.

http://www.drh-movement.org/Articel.asp?NewsID=100
This website has a bunch of facts about illiteracy. It also is about how illiteracy is affecting Africa. On this website a story is told about how an illiterate woman wanted to be educated so she learned, she rode her bike to school every day, then with some other women in the village she taught other kids how to read, which made their whole village literate. What the author is saying is that it is easy to get educated and be educated if you really want to be and get educated.


http://www.efmoody.com/miscellaneous/illiteracy.html
This website is about illiteracy in the U.S and how it affects people in the U.S. This has many shocking facts about illiteracy that most people do not know. This website is very sad because of the facts and you would not really expect so many people in the U.S are not able to read. This website also has a timeline of how illiteracy has grown and decreased up to now.

http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/education/Adult-Illiteracy-Threatens-Nashville-Economy--92768534.html
This website describes how most of the illiterate people in the world are too ashamed to tell anyone that they are illiterate, or too ashamed to get help. It also says that people may be working with people who are illiterate, without even knowing. Many illiterate people dropped out of high school, so now they do not know how to read. Some people “overcome” their fear of reading. The economy is making more and more people want to learn how to read and write because when they are firing people who are illiterate they will not be able to get a new job because they cannot write a resume or read an application.

http://www.nrrf.org/essay_Illiteracy.html
This website is a debate about whether illiteracy is incurable disease or an education malpractice. It talks about statistics, and if America really does have an illiteracy problem. This website also give two ways to teach reading, and research that is being done. It also has what federal program impact illiteracy. This website takes a looks at illiteracy as a global issue, see what is being done about it now, and sees what is working or not.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Local Solution

For my local solution I made a flyer asking for book, money, and school supply donations. I put these up in my dorm and at my parents jobs. I also sent out an all-school email, and with the help of Mr. Harris, a all faculty email as well. So far I have gotten three boxes of books, and more are still coming. If I do get money I was going to donate it to Efran Penaflorida, who gets kids out of gangs and off drugs in Vietnam by education. I am donation all the books and supplies to http://www.booksforthirdworld.org/ .





FAQ.

What does it mean to be illiterate?
If someone is illiterate, they cannot read or write

How does illiteracy occur?
Illiteracy can occur in many different situations. If a family is poor, and they can barely afford food and clothes, they are not necessarily going to have money to send their children to school or buy their children uniforms. If a child’s parent is not educated, they will most likely educate their children, unless they do not want their child to follow their example.

Who is prone to illiteracy?
Parents, who cannot read or write, pass along illiteracy. The cycle can easily be broken, but in some places, it is hard to because of where they live. In other countries, more women are illiterate than men because of the society.

What are the causes of illiteracy?
No money, poor housing, world hunger, and other global issues all cause illiteracy. The global issues all affect the students and what they are capable of.

How many people does it affect?
42 million American adults can't read at all; 50 million are unable to read at a higher level that is expected of a fourth or fifth grader. Illiteracy effects the illiterate person, and their family.

Where is it more popular?
The most illiterate countries are Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some provinces in Africa 50% or more of their population are illiterate.

Can it be cured?
Yes! Illiteracy can easily be cured, It really just takes dedication, to want to know how to read and write.

How can I make sure my children are literate?
If you send your children to school, they will be literate, and if you make school and their classes’ fun for them then they will want to learn and try their hardest.

How can I help?
You can help by donating books to organizations that help secure literacy around the world. You can also help by making sure the kids in your community are getting the best education they possibly can.


Are there illiterate people in my community?
Yes there are, an illiterate person does not go around telling people that they are illiterate. There 45 million American who cannot read and this was shocking to me because I am privileged to have such a great education, I never really took the time to think that some people cannot read or write.