Literacy pt. 2

To be Illiterate or not to be is the question. This is a question one must ask him or herself being agents/products of this world. Could one imagine going to a grocery store with a list and not being able to read? Picture the confusion or the chaos of frustration one would have to endure as a shopper. What about the drivers? How would they know that a Stop sign reads Stop? Or worse, their 'check engine' light comes on and they have no idea what it says. Cellphone texting would be an insult to an illiterate mind. How would one text? This world would not survive. Everything around us is based on Literacy. For the people who are illiterate in this world, the question is How did this happen?

For example, there are a lot of stereotypes dealing with the inmates behind bars. There is one major stereotype that stands out. Literacy. Most of the inmates can't read or write. This makes sense to a certain degree. One would assume that their life of crime prevented them to get a fair education. Even crime requires criminals to be able to read and write, so I guess thats how they get busted. This is shocking. Now they have Inmate Education which strips away years of a sentence if enrolled. This is how prisoners are spending their time during their sentence. They are being taught to read, write, count, etc. Jail bergs should be among the smartest people on the street. They are on lock down twenty-four hours, all seven days in a cell. They are not distracted by Televisions, the will of going out, or crime.

They are in a cell full of books. Reading and learning as the time flies. This explains why there are a lot of religion converts in prison. Some were persuaded through verbal, and some through books. Some inmates know all the laws and rights when they come out of prison because they spent time reading about it. In other words, the people on the outside of the prison are so busy and distracted that they fail to learn the rights/laws. So in a sense, we are all illiterate. Just because we know how to read/write does not excuse us from this subject.