Message-ID: <36A4C547.32EE2E92@direct.ca> Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 09:47:51 -0800 From: cbelshaw <mailto:cbelshaw@DIRECT.CA> Subject: Re: Unicef: one billion illiterates To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
I agree. Also check out places like Costa Rica, Australia and New Zealand.To say that literacy is insignificant in development is to say that populations should be continually dependent, that they should not have the choices of their futures that literacy brings, that they should not share knowledge etc etc.
There is another major effect of literacy, namely the multiplier effect. Literacy brings demands for reading materials, schooling, letter writing, publication, communication -- even email.
Cyril Belshaw
Kerry Miller wrote:
> Wilbur
>
> {
> { The statistics for the USA, the country with the highest literacy rate, is
> { 1 out of 5 adults is illiterate. That's 20% right there. The statistics
> { for the entire World that I've heard are 1 out of 3 are literate. I don't
> { know the World's total population off hand, but I thought that there were a
> { lot more than 1.5 Billion people on the planet.
> {
>
> I expect someone from Scandinavia can help us out with more precise
> figures, but I am sure 20% is not the top rate. In any case, it seems
> slightly ironic that its not at all clear whether you're talking about
> plain (2R) literacy, or 'functional literacy.'
>
> { Well, I think that the value of Literacy in terms of "reading and
> writing"
> { is often highly overrated. While the value of "Literacy" in terms of
> { knowing what to do is buried in the campaign started by the scribes about
> { 3,500 years ago.
> {
>
> The point I defend is that literacy offers a cheap, nonpolluting,
> nonoppressive *different point of view* . That anybody would argue
> against that is not only baffling to me, but seriously alarming.
>
> Tho I have to admit, the complacency with which the ruck of Internet
> users is accepting the surrender of the DNS system to corporate
> management suggests that the videate west no longer even *wants to know
> whats going on.
>
> kerry
>
> P.S. You might take a look at Andrew L Shapiro,
> _We're Number One: Where America Stands -- and Falls -- in the New
> World Order_ (New York: Vintage Books, 1992). I dont think the numbers
> he provides are too far out of date to be enlightening, yet.