In Janathan Kazol's essay, he explains the cost of an illiterate society. Three causes of an illiterate society are the parents, the teachers, and the government. Many American can read but with limited understanding. The cause of an illiterate society will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn.
The first cause of an illiterate society is the parents. A parent determines rather a child become successful or unsuccessful in life. A child will only know what a parent have taught him or her as a child. Just as a child is taught how to say no, parents can also teach a child how to read and write. In today society many young parents have hardly any educational background. The question of whether parents bear most of the blame is not easy to resolve. Parents need to influence the child before one attends school. William Kilpatrick quotes Martin Luther King by saying, "the human race is like a drunk who falls off one side of the horse and get back on, and promptly falls off again." The second cause of an illiteracy society is the teacher. Teachers are the backbone of our society, without teachers one would not have doctors, nurses, and lawyers. The reason for the widespread of education is the lack of knowledge teachers have been given. In one's society many of our public school teachers are uneducated. Dr Ronald H. Nash says, "Statistic show more than sixty percent of teachers failed the reading part of the test. More than forty six percent failed the math portion of the test and, twenty six percent could not pass the writing exam." More than half the teachers that took the test cheated. Dr Ronald H. Nash said, "While many teachers may learn how to teach many end up having little or nothing to teach about.".
The third cause of an illiterate society is the government. The government is the source; the government is what makes the teachers become successful. Is it the government who is hurting our kids? Yes! The governments say in order for one to save money one need to cut school activities.
