Literacy In America Essay -- Illiteracy In America

At least 40 million American adults need stronger literacy skills to take advantage of more lifelong learning opportunities (Knowles 12). first base literacy limits life chances, regardless of how it is defined or measured. According to The Random House Dictionary literacy is defined as the quality or state of being literate person, esp. the capacity to rent and write. Another breakdown of the word, from the same source is possession of education. Basic skills and literacy abilities are widely viewed as necessities for lifelong learning and the development of success among individuals, families, communities, and charge nations. Better knowledge about literacy is an essential condition for improving it. Helping children improve their literacy skills can help them develop the capacity for lifelong learning, keep measure with changing educational expectations and rapid technological change, and achieve their life goals. Today in society there are many adults with poor literacy s kills who lack the stem they need to find and keep decent jobs, to support their childrens education and help them mold a literate future. I have taken one and only(a) small step towards this difficulty by tutoring at two schools. The more time people put towards helping the youth of America is the more literate our population can become. Every small action can help, even if it is just tutoring at local middle and junior high schools.To determine the literacy skills of American adults, the 1992 National mature Literacy Survey (NALS) used test items that resembled everyday life tasks. The NALS classified the results into five levels that are now commonly used to describe adults literacy skills. In Level 1 almost all of the adults can read a little but not well enough to fill out an application, read a food label, or read a simple story to a child. Adults in Level 2 ordinarily can perform more complex tasks much(prenominal) as comparing, contrasting, or integrating pieces of inf ormation but usually not higher-level reading and problem-solving skills. Adults in levels 3 through 5 usually can perform the same types of more complex tasks with increasing length and subject matter (Knox 37). Very few adults are completely illiterate they hardly fall into the lower levels of literacy. Between 21 and 23 percent of the adult population or approximately 44 million people, according to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS... ...lar choice of activity and I feel this project helps our community run in an unending circle of assistance.Through volunteer work such as the activities that I have participated in the past semesters, I foresee the solution of the illiteracy problem in the country. There is hope for the future of this problem because people like myself work for this cause. If others get involved, illiteracy will continue to be reduced. Literacy is at the heart of a nations future . . . and the family is at the heart of literacy. The home is a childs fir st school . . . a parent is a childs first teacher . . . and spoken communication is a childs first subject.-UnknownWorks CitedKlevins, Chester. Materials & Methods-In Adult and Continuing Education. Los Angeles Klevens Publication Inc., 1987.Knowles, Malcolm S. The Modern Practice of Adult Education. Chicago Follett Publishing Company. 1980.Knox, Alan B. Helping Adults Learn. San Francisco Jossey-Bass Publishers. 1986.Merriam, Sharan B. An modify on Adult Learning Theory. San Francisco Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993.Stein, Jess. The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. New York Random House, 1966.