In this essay we are going to talk about the Illiteracy. We live in a highly advanced world which is quick and very fast moving in almost all aspects. In fact, the world is emerging in such a way that one will have to expect the unexpected. A lot of things happen in today’s world. Most of them are unexpected and it is only after facing it that experience is gained. It is not the just applicable to the materialistic aspects like profession, career etc., but it is also applicable to emotional aspects as well as other life aspects where unexpected twists come about.
Short Essay On Illiteracy
If we are especially in a situation where we’re not prepared or find no solution or way to deal with unexpected scenarios, then that is where things start to become even more challenging. Such scenarios can be explained with several examples. One of the best and most effective examples to explain all of these different by having them converge under just one unexpected situation is the current situation that is on going around the globe. Yes, the pandemic, which is being fought by almost every country on earth is one such scenario which can converge all the unexpected aspects into one whole situation. The pandemic had originally begun in the city of Wuhan, located in China. As it showcased its severity in China, it then eventually spread to different countries across the world, thereby becoming a pandemic from an epidemic.
It resulted in severe deaths, a lot of businesses were shut down, people had struggled a lot of financial issues, a lot of suicide cases were reported due to the frustration that the pandemic brought about, a lot of people lost their jobs, those working away from their home countries and wanted to visit their home countries were not able to travel due to the shut down of borders of many countries.
This pandemic was an incident that was unexpected. In fact, none of us might have even got the slightest thought that this epidemic would emerge into a pandemic and create a lot of chaos across the globe. Now, why the example of the pandemic? Well, firstly it is a convergence of all the problems and unexpected scenarios that one could possibly face in life. Secondly, despite the chaos that it caused across the globe, it brought one crucial thing to the light of people- Illiteracy.
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Illiteracy is usually defined as the inability to read and write or even the of knowledge about a particular subject or a topic. So, how is illiteracy connected to this example of the pandemic? Now, pause a little and think again. Illiteracy also means lack of knowledge and it is due to this lack of prior knowledge about the corona virus and its actions on the world as a pandemic that led to great losses under all norms and aspects. It does not mean that everyone in this world is illiterate, or they are uneducated, but it means that they were illiterate under a particular aspect, which in this case, is the pandemic. Since it evolved unexpectedly and the losses were unexpected, people had no idea how to react to it or deal with it when it came without any prior warnings.
So, even if the most educated person on earth existed, he/she would still turn out to be an illiterate in this scenario since even he/she would not know what to do at first. Many people mistake illiterate people to be those who do not have an educational qualification or those who cannot read and write, often neglecting the second meaning which states that even lack of having knowledge with reference to a particular subject or even aspect. Let us understand this with an example.
For instance, let us take a look at a college student who is a topper. He/she secures 100% grades in all the subjects. That does not mean that he/she is not illiterate. Now, he/she may be a topper from the academic perspective but when it comes to facing the real world, he/she do not even have the slightest idea on what to do! So, this makes it clearly evident that he/she is literate only from the academic perspective but, he/she does not know anything with regards to aspects required for living the real life.
Sometimes, this form of illiteracy is so intense that the student may not even know the value of money. Sometimes they do not know to travel alone or to even interact properly with people. Of course, yes, this is not the case with all the toppers but there are some people who are focused on educating themselves in just one aspect of life, thereby neglecting the others. As a result, when the time for them comes to face the real world, their position is at absolute zero! So, this is another form of illiteracy or rather the term illiteracy itself that is present within people despite having an educational qualification. So, having looked at the overall concept of illiteracy let us have a detailed cruise of the effects that come about as a result of being illiterate.
Life becomes difficult
Being illiterate can indeed make life difficult. Yes, there are a lot of known personalities today who were school or college dropouts, yet they have succeeded in life like Mukesh Ambani, Sachin Tendulkar, Bill Gates etc. These people do not have an official educational qualification, but it is due to their talents in their respective fields that they were able to have success bestow its glory upon them. In other words, they were illiterate from the academic perspective but in life’s perspective, they were not. The question may arise on “How is this possible?” The answer to this is simple; they educated themselves further through their strong points that they possessed.
For example, Sachin Tendulkar was a school dropout for he had failed his tenth grade, however, he was a talented cricketer, and he used that very talent to educate himself further to reach the position that he is in today. Similarly, Bill Gates was a college dropout, but due to his interest in computers and his talent in technology, he is currently the owner and founder of one of the biggest and most popular world-wide known software company, Microsoft. In fact, even some of his colleagues who were better than him in studies and even had degrees beyond undergraduate and post graduate work for his company today. So, this is the overall terminology. It is not just the marks we secure in our schools and colleges that will get us to our desired destination. The main thing is talent and self-education.
No other means of teaching can teach you better than learning it by yourself, of course, you can have teachers or other experienced professionals or even mentors to guide you through so that you can understand concepts better, but the only moment when you will genuinely feel that you have learnt and understood something is when you do it by yourself! So, being educated in all aspects of life is very important because illiteracy is powerful enough to ruin a person’s life. Let us take another example. We live in a country where child marriage is still an ongoing issue in many remote villages.
Although child marriage is an offense that is punishable by law, it still does not seem to come to an end! Why? The main reason is illiteracy. The stereotypes of girls being homemakers and boys having all the rights are easily imposed on people who are illiterate and hence they end up in senseless initiatives like these. However, a literate person, irrespective of having or not having an educational qualification would never do such a thing because of the awareness and the self-education that they have towards life. So, literacy is one of the most crucial needs that is required to make life easier.
More accidents
There are numerous cases of road accidents on highways, at construction sites, at low lying farmlands etc. The reason is due to illiteracy. The blame to this cannot be imposed on the illiterate employees alone but also the illiterate employers who are very careless with the safety of their employees. For example, a tire factory owner is an illiterate who does not have an educational qualification and yet he runs a factory comprising of let’s say 1000 employees or maybe even more. Suddenly, some of the employees suffer some sort of sickness and when diagnosed, it turns out to be that the reason to their sickness is due to the carelessness at their workplace resulting from lack of protection that has to be worn during work, proper exposure limits to chemical and a lot more.
Even if they are unaware, at least the employee should take an effort to find a solution to this problem. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case mostly and the root cause of this is illiteracy. Had he been aware of all these at least through some sort of resources like the internet or maybe professionals who are knowledgeable about all these, he would have initiated safety standards ensuring everyone’s safety.
More crime rates
A lot of people who are illiterate fail to utilize their talents to develop themselves and get to a better position. The reason to this is low self-esteem and as a result, they engage themselves in illegal activities like theft, smuggling, and all other crimes.
Having 100% in all subjects in school/college doesn’t mean you are literate. Everyone is illiterate in accordance with certain concepts in real life. So keep learning, because the more you learn, the more you grow!