I LLITERACY B Y V ICKY C HAN AND S HANSHAN W U

W HAT IS I LLITERACY ? Illiteracy is the inability to read and write. There is about 1 billion of non- illiterate adults today. That is 26 % of the world’s population. 98% of the non- illiterates live in developing countries.

T YPES OF I LLITERACY Total Illiteracy: people who cannot read or write at all Functional Illiteracy: People who can read and write on a limited level Cultural Illiteracy: People who do not know or understand a common body of facts about one’s nation, state or even hometown. Professional Illiteracy: People who concerns the language needed for special kinds of work. The most common types of illiteracy are total and functional illiteracy.

W HAT C AUSES P EOPLE TO HAVE I LLITERACY ? There are many reasons that cause illiteracy such as: Poverty Lack of literacy within a family Learning disabilities such as dyslexia, central auditory processing disorders and short term memory difficulties. Health problems that cause absence from school School system is not working well as it should. Move from place to place so often that students cannot catch up.

R ESULTS OF I LLITERACY W HAT HAD I LLITERACY CAUSE US ? Economic Suffering  Low Productivity  Industrial Accidents  Poor Product quality Political Suffering IIlliterate people often helpless to understand and voice their rights as citizen. They can be powerless to stop their nation from falling into hands of an oppressive or unstable government Illiteracy costs the US more than $20 billion a year in diminished productivity, lost tax revenues, disability benefit paid in event of injury, and welfare payments.

P ROBLEM Should we continue to ignore this major global issue that costs economic, cultural and political problems? If not, how can we decrease the number of illiterate people to lower the costs and losses that results from illiteracy?

S TAKEHOLDERS W HO AFFECTS THE P ROBLEM AND T HEIR V IEWPOINTS Illiterate people affects the problem. They feel hopeless and helpless to understand and voice their rights as citizen. They feel left out, like they don’t belong in their community. They have to rely on welfare for living, since they are often jobless. They feel useless. They have low self-esteem.

S TAKEHOLDERS W HO IS AFFECTED AND T HEIR VIEWPOINTS Illiteracy affects everyone on Earth including us and the illiterates. For example: Illiteracy decreases the chance of employment; therefore, illiterate people commit crimes such as robbery for living. These victims could be us. No matter what, the final outcomes will always affect us. Some people might feel angry that their lives is affected by the illiterates, so they blame the illiterates. Some people might feel sorry for them While some others ignore the illiterates completely when the they try to ask them for help Others listen and help them to feel better about themselves

O UR V IEWPOINTS We think illiteracy should not be ignored anymore. We need to tackle the issue as soon as possible Its not too late to fix it. We should try to make the illiterates feel better about themselves. We think everyone have the responsibility for this troubling situation that had irritated many illiterates.

I LLITERACY R ATES BY R EGIONS

W ORLD ’ S C OUNTRIES L ITERACY P ERCENTAGE

S OLUTIONS

S OLUTIONS : Improve the quality of education Give courses to illiterate people Making the spelling phonetic Order a national assessment

S OLUTION :I MPROVE THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION. Make education a higher standard. Make the education materials more advance. Pros: Help the illiterates becoming more illiterate which will lead to better job, higher self-esteem, might decrease robbery, etc. Cons: It might be hard for some people to catch up if the improvement went too fast.

S OLUTION : G IVE FREE COURSES TO ILLITERATE PEOPLE Give courses to illiterate people to help them become more literate. Pros: Help illiterate people become more literate which means helping them to have a better future. Cons: Giving courses to illiterate people might some times cost a lot since it requires books and people to teach the illiterate people. The economy is very poor right now.

S OLUTION : M AKING SPELLING P HONETIC Making spelling the way it sound. Pros: It allow illiterate people to learn spelling easily. Cons: Basing the spelling the way it sound might allow it to have many spelling and people might not know which word it meant.

S OLUTION : O RDER A NATIONAL ASSESSMENT Ordering a national test/assessment that will help determine what each person need to learn. Pros: Help students in the area they need so they become more literate. Cons: People might give up if they got a bad grade on the assessment.

O UR SOLUTIONS Increase the amount of educational programs for the illiterate people. Increase school time.

O UR S OLUTION :I NCREASE THE AMOUNT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR THE ILLITERATE PEOPLE. Pros: Increasing the educational programs allowed more people to become literate and help them have a better future. Cons: Some educational programs might cost a lot and the low income illiterate people might not be able pay for the program.

O UR S OLUTION : I NCREASE S CHOOL T IME Pros: More things can be learned each school year with more time and it will help the students in the future with more knowledge. Cons: Students might get very tired and not wanting to learn because the school day or school year is too long.

S TAKEHOLDERS : WHO AFFECTS THE SOLUTION AND THEIR VIEWPOINT Volunteers who help to teach the illiterate people and help with the educational programs. They feel that helping people becoming literate can make the world a better place. The government who provided some of the educational programs. Illiteracy had become a national issue. Organizations that organized some educational programs for the illiterates. They feel that helping illiterates can help the world. People who funded for the educational programs. They feel that funding for the illiterates will help them have a better future.

The people who did something for the illiterates.

S TAKEHOLDERS : W HO IS AFFECTED BY THE SOLUTION AND THEIR VIEWPOINT The illiterate people who learned how to read because of the solutions. How are they affected: Higher self-esteem. Better job meaning higher salary. Feel better about themselves. Being literate can be less dangerous for them because they can read signs.

W HICH ONE IS THE BEST ?

T HE E ND