Can You Read This?
12% of the world’s population are considered illiterate. That means that out of the 7.4 billion people on planet Earth, 781 million of them cannot read or write in their native languages.
You may be thinking, well, why should I care? Or, how does this affect me?
It’s often assumed that since the United States is the epitome of a first-world country, everyone is literate. So people rarely imagine that even in powerful countries, citizens still don’t have access to proper education and learning materials.
There are 36 million adults [in the U.S.] who can’t read better than the average third-grader… In Detroit, Michigan, a widely cited 2003 survey conducted by the National Institute for Literacy found that almost half of residents over age 16 were functionally illiterate. — Arnold R. Grahl, Rotary
So what? What does it mean if certain people in the world are not literate?
Illiteracy affects everyone in the world. Being illiterate can trap a family in poverty and lead the economy to decline. If a person cannot benefit society, then society cannot improve!
Imagine you were illiterate. You can’t read the list of ingredients on a package of food, you can’t read the signs on the road and you most likely won’t be able to read the information on a cold medicine bottle.
Just because you don’t have the ability to read and write in your native language, you can poison yourself or others with something you or they may be allergic to, you can’t drive and you could end up accidentally overdosing because you can’t figure out the correct amount of DayQuil to take.
Those with low literacy skills are far more likely to live in poverty, face health problems because they can’t read prescription labels or instructions, and grow isolated in a world increasingly dependent on computers. — Arnold R. Grahl, Rotary
Even though us first-world nations have access to so many resources, we are still faced with literacy issues. But why?
Well, for starters, if a parent is among the illiterate, he or she may raise the child to not care much about school or learning in general. This creates a domino effect and leaves the younger generation to grow up illiterate as well.
Other causes of illiteracy can be due to a lack of books at home and at poor schools, not completing secondary school or high school and even learning disabilities that aren’t being treated properly.
So we know there is still a significant literacy problem in 2017, but what can we do?
The easiest action anyone can make is to donate books specifically to schools in need of better resources. These can range from children’s books to adult books whether they’re fiction or non-fiction.
The simplest place to donate books would be at your local library but if you would like to make an even larger impact on the world there are national and global organizations:
The Salvation Army is a national company helping those in need since 1865. Another option is Goodwill, which is a company that helps improves people’s lives by providing education and work experience to underprivileged communities.
Better World Books will take your donated books and either sell them to raise money for various charities or give the book directly to a child in need. Lastly, Books For Africa provides our used books to children and adults in 46 countries.
If you want to help eradicate illiteracy even further, you can always become a teacher or volunteer as a tutor in your community.
A little bit of help can make a huge impact on not only a single person’s life, but also on the world.
Kayla Keller is an intern with Blooming Twig and studies Linguistics, English and Writing at Stony Brook University.
