The importance of literacy Essay Example for Free

The importance of literacy Essay Literacy is known as the ability to read and write. It is the ability to communicate with each other, and to understand the concepts of everything. It does not mean that you will find literacy in a book because it can be found at any place on a daily basis. For example, while watching television, reading a magazine, when communicating with people in social networks, and especially in school. All of that has something related to literacy because there are words and signs that have a significance. It is very important for us to read and write, because it is a way to express and communicate with each other. Strong literacy skills are closely linked to the probability of having a good job, decent earnings, and access to training opportunities. Individuals with weak literacy skills are more likely to be unemployed or, if employed, to be in jobs that pay little or that offer poor hours or working conditions Without literacy civilization as well as communication would be entirely different, it is the key for our future, because it means education, and with education we all would have a better future. Literacy is fundamental for learning in school. It has an impact on an individuals ability to participate in society and to understand important public issues. Since we were kids, we were taught to learn a language step by step. We first learned to understand it, then to speak it, and at school we learned to write it and read it. Nowadays the population of people that know how to write and read is bigger than before. Some of our grandparents are illiterate due to their poor education. My grandmother said that back in the day there was not enough money for education and only a few could afford it. But things had changed, now the government helps the students by providing them with financial support and it is easier for them to afford and education. I am one of the luckiest people that have the privilege to attend to college. I said privilege because not everyone can do it and I am the first one in my family that made it to college. A literate person has more possibilities to succeed in life. Why? Because it opens more paths tosuccess, more job opportunities and better earnings. For example if a company is looking for people to hire and they have a couple of options in which there are people with high education and people with less education, of course they are going to hire that ones with the most education. It is because they want the best for their company and they know that people with higher education would make a good job, because they have knowledge and the capacity to understand things better. An individual that is unable to read and write is called illiterate. He cannot calculate his own income and expenses, nor can keep his own accounts. An illiterate man is generally exploited by the clever men in the society. They take full advantage of his ignorance of the language or wisdom. For example, let’s suppose that you own a business, but you do not know how to administrate it. You must hire a person to do it for you, because you have no idea of how to deal with numbers. What if the person you hire is taking money from your business and you do not notice it, due to your illiteracy. That is why it is very important to go to school and learn. Some people think that going to school is a waste of time, but it is not. We need education in order to survive the daily basis. It makes a big difference in an individual’s life. Literacy is found in our daily basis, the internet, television, books, etc. But in the social networks it is very common to find a lot of misspellings. This is why you have to be aware and not believe that every word in there is right spelled. This all happens because people are being more and more adapted to the way of texting, or they simply do not care about how they a spell a word on their social networks. It is affecting our society because it makes them look illiterate and is affecting other people that are learning a language, for example English, and these people make them think that what they write is spelled right. I had a hard experience with literacy before. When I was a freshman in high school I had to learn English, since my first language is Spanish it was difficult for me to understand the English language. It took me a long time to learn it. My teacher told me that it would be very helpful if I started to read books for at least one hour a day and also to watch television in English. She told me to practice as much as I could. So I did it and as time passed by, I started to notice that my learning skills got better and my pronunciation too. The hardest part of learning a new language is when you write it, but with time and dedication you will understand itbetter. Comprehending English can be difficult, because sometimes a word sounds the same but means something different. For example, â€Å"they’re† and† there† sound exactly the same but both have completely different meaning. We get confused, that is why it takes time to dominate it, but with practice and dedication you would notice that little by little it would get easier. I read all the books I could and every time I read these books I learned new words and their meanings. Books can seem boring but once you start reading them, they are really interesting. By reading you will notice that your writing and reading skills would get better. My English teacher would always tell me that reading was very important when it comes to learning a new language, because in a book I would find different words that would help me with my literacy skills. I am looking forward to pass this course and I would do my best in this class. My expectations for this course are to better my writing skills and learn how to develop and organize a good essay, since I have problems with it. I would like to learn new strategies of writing and understanding words. I know this class would not be easy but I am going to give my best and turn in all my work. My goal is to be a highly educated person, so I need to study hard to achieve this. I hope that my literacy skills get better with time and practice and I am motivated to do it. I know that by the time I graduate I would be more educated, and this all would be because of what I learned in college, and I know that everything I learned in school would be very useful in my future. Literacy is essential in our lives. Without it we would not be able to communicate with each other or to be successful in life. We would have less chances of getting a nice job and we would be exposed to be manipulated by other individuals that want to take advantage of our ignorance. Education is the key to success and the laws state that every person has the right to an education. This is why we have to take advantage of the government help, to improve our learning and education. I feel honored to be in college right now, because not everyone has the chance to attend to school, and I will do my best in order to succeed and accomplish my goals. â€Å"Once you learn to read. You will be forever free†. – Frederick Douglass.