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Kailee Reece
Robert Gibney
English 101
20 July 2015
The Value of Literacy

My Role: A person who believes that literacy is not being valued.

My Audience: Anyone who does not think that literacy is necessary to function in society.
My Purpose: Is to show people that literacy can improve the world.

Literacy is vital in society. It is the understanding of written words. Information can be

obtained from far away through the internet, enabling ideas to be rapidly advanced. Keeping up
with the flow of facts would be impossible without reading and writing. Evolution and
advancement would be unattainable without literacy. Thomas Carlyle said, All that mankind has
done, thought, gained, or been; it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books.
Society cannot grow without knowledge; it is what our culture is built on. Unfortunately, most
people do not use the resources that are available to become more literate, whether it is a book or
the internet. There is a variety of options when it comes to obtaining information; it just comes
down to using them.

Literacy is the ability to comprehend reading and writing. To be literate, a person has to
understand what the words mean as well as what they are saying. Children are taught to read and

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write at a young age so that they can begin learning about the world around them. Then as they
get older, they take what they have learned when they were younger and build on it. They take
that basic literacy and use it to discover much more complex ideas. A teacher would not have
kindergartener read Hamlet because they are not literate enough to comprehend the material.
They would have the kindergartener read a simple story about a cat and mouse. David Petersen
wrote, There is no such thing as a leap into literacy. The process of becoming literate starts at a
young age and continues throughout life. Building understanding of simple stories with
elementary morals into complex themes, as time goes on, is the basis of real literacy.

Literacy is essential. Without it society would revert to primitive times. Everything that
has been discovered and invented would be made worthless. All the progress that the human race
has made would become irrelevant if no one continued with that progress. Without knowledge,
our society cannot go on to grow, and literacy is the core of all knowledge. The illiterate person
can only draw from their personal experiences while literacy grants access to everything that
everyone has ever known. The collective knowledge of our society allows people to build,
invent, and progress faster than a lone individual. If illiterate people ran the world, this collective
knowledge would be lost. However, an illiterate person can learn to read and adapt to new ideas.
As Mark Twain said, "The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot
read. Literacy gives access to information but is worthless if it is not used for a particular
purpose.

Many people do not take full advantage of the wealth of knowledge that surrounds them.
Anybody with a smartphone, tablet, or laptop can go into a coffee shop and benefit from the Wi-

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Fi. Even if they do not own a device that can access the internet they can still go to the library
and use their computers or check out a book. It seems like now literacy is required more than
ever. Most decent jobs require at least a bachelors degree. My aunt has been a successful nurse
for forty years with an associates degree. She now has to get a bachelor's degree to continue
working in her management position, even though she is planning to retire in a few years. It is
necessary to have the latest information in any field to do your job properly. As time goes on our
society evolves, and literacy is essential in being able to keep up with the evolution.

Literacy is indispensable to society. Taylor Ellwood stated, Literacy is not just about
reading, writing, and comprehension. It is about culture, professionalism, and social outlook. In
todays age, it is necessary to have some understanding of all of those things. Culture is needed
to fit into society, professionalism is needed to function in society, and social outlook is needed
to advance in society. However to continue advancing in life adaptation is key. Learning to adapt
begins at a young age and improves with time. Building knowledge and literacy is part of
adapting. Taking what is known and using it to innovate is one of the best uses of literacy. As
new ideas are presented, it is important to continue learning and expanding your mind. Do not let
laziness stand in the way of achieving insight. Being literate is one of the most valuable skills
that a person can have.

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Works Cited

Petersen, David V. Absolute Beginner's Guide to Hiragana (with an Introduction to Grammar

and Kanji). S.l.: S.n.], 2007. Print.
Ellwood, Taylor. Pop Culture Magick. 2nd ed. Stanfford, England: Megalithica, 2008. Print.