Eileen Asher
Increasing literacy and global communication for intellectual progress.
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Special Thanks To Dr. Ann Hall, Dr. Kelsey Squire, and Professor Allen Williams for taking the time to edit this paper, despite being incredibly busy. To Professor Jana Thompson-Chordas for her encouragement and great ideas for designing this publication. To my senior class, for keeping me in check. To Dr. Janette Knowles for being a constant supporter and motivator.
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Eileen Asher
Increasing literacy and global communication for intellectual progress. |3
Increasing literacy and global communication for intellectual progress.
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It is now possible to hold a meeting through a video camera on a laptop with another person halfway across the world. Someone can now have a book digitally delivered to his or her laptop the second it releases. Emails are sent from one cubicle to another or to another family member on the other side of the country. Technology has now made communication instant and incredibly easier. There is no longer a need to have to pull paper in and out of a typewriter. Even in the last decade, there is no more of a need to wait for a parent to stop using the home phone so someone else can use the dial-up connection to the family computer. Not many people will recognize the screeching and moaning of the desktop’s dialing tone. The United States Postal Service is faced with a crisis of keeping the mail running. Fewer and fewer people are writing letters to
each other. Even the daily newspaper can be subscribed to on a tablet and doesn’t have to land on a front porch somewhere (or at the end of a driveway in a snow bank). New words are being added to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary that relate to today’s new culture like “googling” and “selfie.” It’s very rare to find someone that doesn’t own a mobile phone in today’s culture. According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, young adult Americans send about 87.7 text messages a day. The number varies at each stage of life, but it seems those numbers are growing. Society can now communicate through his or her phones, computers, and other devices that are being released and competing against each other. It’s getting easier and easier to look up information at the click of a button. A person doesn’t have to search through an encyclopedia or flip through the actual study to find the information about young adult texters featured above. The human culture has been communicating since the dawn of civilization. These ways of communication have changed throughout the thousands of years since and around the world. Just within the past few decades, the rise of technology has influenced how the world talks to each other. Email and social media make it much easier for any one individual to voice an opinion or for a catastrophe to be felt around the world in seconds. The media has grown from just the local newspaper the day after something happens to Twitter news updates the very minute after it occurs. Information and communication is at society’s
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fingertips now, and this ability has propelled this and many other cultures forward. With technology on the rise, any one person has the ability to voice their opinion or change the world. Communication is now even more prevalent in everyday life. This is the world’s opportunity to open up dialogue to include everyone from farmers in Southeast Asia to malaria victims in Africa to ambassadors in Europe. Technology has also given those same countries the ability to voice and fix their own problems. These technologies allow for better education, which will eventually allow for greater intellectual progress in the future. Technology has allowed for all sorts of communication to rise. With the use of the Internet and social media, conversations are occurring all over the globe. Writing in daily lives has become more prevalent, and it can be used to push communication forward. Written communication has been in existence for over five thousand years. For even longer than that, oral communication has been used by cultures the world over. Communication through cultures and by individuals is both a necessity and a luxury. Because of these exchanges of words, societies have been able to expand at astonishing rates. Without communication, the cultures known today would not be in existence. Although in the grand scheme of evolution, communication was almost inevitable. As humans evolved, they had to become more aware of their surroundings and to communicate in order to survive. Since then, humanity has greatly improved types of communication. The possibilities now are endless. Societies use images, sign language, body language, and verbal communication in hundreds of languages to communicate now. All of these are enhanced due to improvements in the mediums of communication. With the help of technology and the growing resources for communication, society has the opportunity to better itself. Writing is still a relevant form of communication. Writing provides an outlet for thoughts and helps improve literacy. The world can achieve greater intellectual progress if it learns to communicate better through all forms of writing. The more an individual can write, the more it
can improve communication skills for that person. If everyone on earth has the ability to write and learn, then the world could work even faster to achieve great things. The ability to write and communicate should be given to any individual across the globe. Writing has the power to not only improve learning in individuals, but it can be the gateway to better communication for societies around the world. Every day, millions of people write, whether that’s writing on a chalkboard or texting on a cell phone. Finding ways to write in all sorts of styles can open up a person’s ability to learn new things and find better ways to express thoughts. With more ways to communicate thought, this can make people exchange those ideas to create a better world. If the world wants to keep pushing forward in its search for excellence and quality of life, it needs to be able to be more open to communication. The only way to communicate better is through writing in all its forms.
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Communication has been essential to human survival for thousands of years. Some of man’s earliest images were painted on cave walls to help illustrate a story. These paintings would serve as reminders of events, of warnings to anyone else, as stories to teach a lesson or as a way to worship. These images were some of the very first forms of communication for human beings. Since then, humanity has evolved its way of communicating throughout the centuries. Some of these forms are still used and understood today, but they take on a different style.
Before writing even existed, human beings have used oral communication. Maybe not in the same context as society may know communication and language today, but these pre-civilized humans did, in fact, communicate. For generations, stories were passed down from parent to child to illustrate lessons to be taught or in continuing a tradition for the sake of survival. Thousands of years later, civilizations have mastered and improved on these ways of communicating. Ancient Egypt has developed written languages, called hieroglyphics. Ancient Egyptians have some of the earliest versions of numbers and numerical record-keeping documents in history. Written communication and an awareness of other languages were also being developed in the Egypt as well. Three different languages are featured on the Rosetta Stone tablet that has been preserved in the British Museum: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic script, and Ancient Greek. This stone provided an essential key to unlocking this language and several others in that era. This stone unlocks translating, and understanding of languages from that time period. This object opened dialogue for later scientists to examine communication and how language functioned in ancient civilizations. As language evolves further, more cultures developed more languages and more forms of writing. However, literacy was not for the majority in every kingdom. For hundreds of years, written language was used by the elite, and books were specially ordered and paid for by those lucky enough to have the money. Naomi Baron explains, “While medieval literacy was important in the lives of the clergy, the new Anglo-Norman
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nobility, and certain members of the middle class,. . . the number of people who could read or write was quite small. Moreover, social convention often determined when those with literacy skills actually exercised them” (5). Reading and written skills were meant to be taught to the upper classes that could afford it. The lower classes would primarily listen to stories, plays, and mass. For hundreds of years, oral communication was essential, and for many reasons, it still is. In some cases, “proper literacy” is still available for those who can afford it, and this problem is what keeps the world from pursuing a higher level of intelligence by keeping language to only those who can pay for it. Throughout history, languages have evolved through communication and interaction with other cultures and other languages. The English language alone was formed through French, Norse, and German origins before it became the language known as Middle English that most English majors would recognize as Old English (Davis). The version of the English language that Americans use today is a combination of a standardized English with bits from Scottish, Irish, and Spanish origins (Davis 64). These forms of English are all direct descendants of each other; there was a standardization that took place in England in the high Middle Ages. English, at the time, could be split up into hundreds of different dialects all within the country alone. This called for this standardization that would lead from Chaucer’s English to Shakespeare’s English to, eventually, the English language that the Internet uses today (Davis 62). Languages evolve every day. New words are added to dictionaries in every language. Language adapts to its culture, and its surroundings. Languages evolve from other languages. There are French words used popularly in the
English language, as there are English words in other languages. These adaptions allow most anyone to understand language as long as there is communication and interaction with others. Years before Johannes Gutenberg used moveable type in his newly created printing press around 1439, books, newspapers, and pamphlets were being used as a form of printed production. The earliest Bibles were commissioned for monks to write and illustrate by hand. Some of the most beautiful examples of illuminated text were done underneath candlelight. The Book of Kells, for example, is an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels that was hand-written around 800 AD and contains 340 folios. This book is one of the most elaborately decorated manuscripts in history. Small intricate details are penned in, along brilliant shining colors. The enormity and extravagancy of these books are even more amazing when anyone stops to consider that each book took years of painstaking, detailed work, and if a mistake was made, the monk was to do the whole page over again. Despite this painful process of writing day in and day out, writing was the primary form of communication for thousands of years. Letters were passed back and forth between kings and queens in Europe that took days or even weeks to arrive at their destinations. Declarations were made in pen and ink, and then announced to the kingdom’s people. There is substantial evidence of written communication in almost every society in every decade; the masses would require oral communication as its main form of communication. With the invention and rise of the printing press in the early 1400s, mass production would begin to open up a world of wider and more substantial communication among cultures. Although mass production wouldn’t really become popular until a few hundred years later, the printing press allowed
For many societies throughout history, writing was a luxury for the educated upper classes.
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publishers to produce anything fairly quickly and cheaply. This led to a grander scale of mass production and would eventually lead to more people reading. The prices of books decreased, and more were available for middle and lower classes to have access. In the ancient world, reproduction was a slow process that was done by hand, but with moveable type, printing the same page was almost as easy as pulling a lever. Information could be spread more quickly and efficiently, allowing almost anyone to have access to news and other materials. Printed culture would also start to expand as public education became more available (Baron 9). As more people had more access to the tools of writing, literacy and communication would become easier as well. The concept of making books and writing capabilities more accessible ensures that literacy can be widespread, and will overall improve quality of life. Throughout history, writing has been essential to most every culture. Writing is a fruit of humans learning to communicate more effectively. Not only do cultures still use oral communication, but those cultures have taken that communication a step farther, and they have evolved to write things down. As more people learn to read and write, cultures improve the quality of life. Human beings have evolved so much that technology has been developed to give users even easier access to reading material and have made it even easier to write and continue this historic tradition.
Writing is a fruit of humans learning to communicate more effictively. 12 |
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Hundreds of years after the first book was produced, the world was already beginning to become a smaller place. Telephone and telegram were the fastest ways to get a message to someone who wasn’t a neighbor, and it proved essential during the start of the World Wars. Letter writing was still in full swing, and it was still one of the cheapest and most efficient ways to stay in contact long distance. The world grew smaller still, but the idea of a digital world was incomprehensible. The thought that ideas could be communicated to someone around the
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world in a fraction of a second was mind-boggling. It wasn’t until late 1969 that a group of scientists sponsored by the Department of Defense and two universities would get two computers to talk to each other across the United States. On October 3, 1969, a computer in Stanford was able to say “ello” to a computer in UCLA; thus, creating the prototype for the Internet (Beranek 55). Since then, technology has taken a huge leap forward in its search for progress. Today, computers are now slimmer than the average college textbook, and phones smaller than a human hand can have access to over a million websites and apps. The ability to make communication more convenient for all types of people has made the world an even smaller place. Eventually, the Internet would grow to support over millions of websites and generations of different computers would come to have access to this network faster, stronger, and more efficiently. The Internet has evolved way past its origins of two computers. Phones, watches, and now eyeglasses have Wi-Fi and data capabilities. Any user can connect to the Internet and view any sort of information in less than a second. The Internet is an infinite source of information that is at the user’s fingertips. It is so easily accessible with hundreds of Wi-Fi hotspots around the world, and more and more households are getting Internet hookups in their homes. Because of the Internet, it has become even easier to communicate with not only a neighbor, but with someone across the globe. Just in the past ten years, social media has been taking the Internet by storm. There are over a million Facebook users and even more “tweets” are posted daily to Twitter. The entire world has the ability to communicate now in an instant and they even have access in the palm of their hand. Users can post opinions in seconds to an event that was just televised. Now more than ever, breaking news stories are heard around the world. It is now so much easier to be updated on current events. In an instant, large groups of protestors are able to rally after viewing an injustice, due to the Internet and social media.
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Entire businesses have formed that have a focus on computer coding and Internet functionality. Almost every business has a tie to the Internet, via social media or its own website. Almost every person in any developed country has a tie to the World Wide Web now and that number is growing. Now that more people are using these online developments, it has become even easier to communicate. Less people have pen pals, but are able to meet someone from another country through Facebook or Chat Roulette. Businesses have the ability to talk to clients to solve problems or to create products or ideas through a computer screen. Even the medical field is taking advantage of seeing patients through the use of video chat. This is a good thing: people talking, exchanging ideas and thoughts and improving the quality of human existence. The rise of technology in communication has been a short and continuing one in the scope of history. The world has exploded with these new connections to others and possibilities. Thanks to this constant form of communication, society is now able to exchange ideas, express his or her self properly, and give them the chance to improve. It is now possible to travel faster, or there is even the option to stay home and Skype with a family member across the ocean. Technology like this should be spread to other deserving countries. These different forms of writing should be available to everyone on the planet if they so choose. Many do not have the opportunities to speak their mind out loud or on the web. With the chance to speak up,
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everyone can have the chance to experience this kind of freedom. The inventions of the Internet and social media have encouraged people to step outside their comfort zones and explore. The use of the Internet can be a very beautiful and inspiring process if used correctly. Society is able to use these sources through writing in particular. Individuals write statuses on Facebook, illustrating their thoughts with pictures and links to share. Anyone can post whatever and however they want and share their lives with the public. With Twitter in particular, a person has to be able to express his or her thoughts in less than 140 characters. Some of the most profound and thoughtful tweets have made their point in under that limit. Blogs and video blogs are also becoming increasingly popular. People are able to write about life events and comment on others in these blogs. There are people who write these blogs to connect with others who are dealing with the same things and to be able to tell their own story, and reflect on these daily events. Vlogs are video blogs where the speaker is also depicted doing the same thing, just in the form of oral communication. They can offer tutorials, advice or provide comic relief. These blogs and vlogs are another form of how writing and communication are available to the people who have technology. These blogs are able to reach all people, and this encourages communication all over the globe. Through these technologies, people are able to communicate and write more. This opens up numerous possibilities for society. The more people are writing and communicating, the more it will expand relations and improve progress on a global scale.
Because there is so much potential in this online world of communication, society must be more open to change and acceptance. There must be a push for this communication and to make it stronger, if not better. Every culture is being presented new ideas, languages, thoughts, and those cultures must be prepared to respond intelligently. Every culture needs to be able to hold its own in the face of intelligent discussion and progress. Every country and every culture should push for more social interaction through the relatively new uses of the digital world. Through these interactions, individuals can inspire and create greater things to help push society forward in progress. The more people are engaged in their own world, the more action can be taken, and the more likely it is for society to improve upon itself to better the quality of life. Communication and understanding is key in these interactions and all of this can be done through writing. Writing through technology can push this world forward into a stronger global awareness.
Now that more and more people are using these online developments, it has become even easier to communicate.
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If the world as a whole wants to continue on the path of progress, the world needs to be open to all forms of communication. That means that every individual needs to take advantage of all the opportunities to communicate across the globe. Human beings have been communicating since they first figured out how to. Thoughts and ideas had to be spread through communication of those thoughts from the “sender� and the participation and understanding of the receiver. Now that the world has the ability to talk to someone across the globe in seconds, it is crucial that every person joins in on the conversation. Every person should be given the opportunity to have his or her say in how the future looks. If countries and cultures become less isolated, it can open them up to dialogue
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and improve global and social awareness. Once awareness is established, the world can work on a new level to push forward into progress, and improving the overall quality of life on a global scale. Now, there needs to be a call for better communication, through any form of writing and education. The functions of communication are changing more and more as each year passes. There is easier access to written or typed material, but how that language is being perceived is also changing. The world as a whole has evolved so much from where it first started to communicate thought. Now, that thought can be transmitted across the globe and translated to a completely different language and understood just the same. The world of communication has expanded so far and will continue to expand until the end of time. The
possibilities for means of communication are endless. This vastness of options will hopefully encourage someone to take advantage of it. It is essential for society to communicate if it wants to stay on its path of progress. Innovations in technology and how society understands communication have led to some of the greatest inventions and breakthroughs in the world. Science has taken leaps and bounds from where it once was hundred of years ago through collaboration, made better through mutual understanding of languages. This is proof that language and communication play an important role in the world. Countries and individuals are connected now more than ever and the result has created a smaller world, figuratively speaking. Now that the world is connected by traveling, Internet, business, and other means, countries and languages of all sorts are joining the global conversation. Every day, new issues and ideas are being discussed. Awareness is being brought to the forefront on many issues like disease, human rights, and environmental standards. Because the world is constantly talking to itself, there is no hiding from subjects like these and these issues can be addressed and resolved. Many problems have been solved due to increased awareness from communication. For example, during the first weeks of the Ferguson riots, countries all over the world were showing support for the divided city in Missouri. Social media outlets were flooded with hashtags, pictures, statuses, and news articles. It wasn’t just the news media that was reporting certain events, it was the people themselves who were bringing attention to this issue and it spread like wildfire. The same happened in France after the terrorist attack on a
satirical newspaper, Charlie Hebdo. The effect was almost instantaneous: people were tweeting and posting from the streets as they saw the events happening. More and more people are communicating in an instant, and events that would normally be isolated or under-reported are now being spread in a matter of minutes to millions across the globe. For this reason, communication and writing is essential. Whether someone is posting a status on Facebook, typing an email on their laptop or writing in a journal with a pen, communication is part of everyday life, and just because it is so common that means that society should be more concerned about preserving it. Writing is what pushes information sharing and thought creation forward. Writing is a crucial part of literacy and how an individual learns.
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Language is how the world communicates, and that communication is essential to moving forward as a society. Proper communication can mean extraordinary things: movements, inventions, and overall, a better future. Languages around the world have evolved after several centuries. Words and terms are added to Webster’s Dictionary every year. More and more phrases are being coined and trademarked as well (with the power of Internet and paperwork). The language is evolving slowly and is vastly different from what it was just decades ago. Even words that had one definition for one generation, now has a different connotation entirely for the next generation. A language is constantly changing and defined by those who use it. The people that use this language have the ability to morph and change it through speaking and writing, and it is especially evident in social media. Sadly, this level of communication is hard to access for many people around the world. Millions do not have access to the proper education to be able to learn how to communicate in the first place. However, literacy rates in other countries are at an even lower rate. Globally, one in 5 people are illiterate; two thirds of the world’s illiterate are women. 98% of the illiterate are centered in South and West Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Arab States (“Global Illiteracy”). In just the U.S. alone, “over 93 million people have basic or below basic literacy skills” (“Global Illiteracy”). Clearly this isn’t just a problem for just one country. This call for literacy is worldwide. If society as a whole is to improve and work towards intellectual
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Millions do not have access to the proper education to be able to learn how to communicate in the first place.
progress, then eliminating illiteracy should be everyone’s concern. In some cases illiteracy stems from lack of human rights, illustrated in the statistic that many women are illiterate. Education needs to be a priority for every human being in every country if it is to see any progress whatsoever. The above statistics should be a shock and should offend. For many in America, education is a privilege. For a country that takes education relatively seriously (support from taxes, government funding, private funding, and legislation), the amount of people who are not educated enough to reach a basic understanding of language is appalling. The reasons for illiteracy vary in every country, but clearly, these reasons are affecting people on a global scale. Literacy plays a vital role in the progress that the world strives for. If the majority of people don’t have the ability to access the tools to communicate and learn, how can they ever improve and strive for something greater? If everyone strives for this greatness, think of all the good that could come of it. Farzaneh Roudi-Fahimi and Valentine Moghadam state that, “as female education rise,
fertitlity, population growth, and infant and child mortality fall and family health improves� (1). Many global crises could be solved if more people find the ability and the words to communicate and have an education in general. Therefore, this push for literacy and education is beneficial for everyone. If a global literacy is established, no matter the language, it will increase communication between countries and people, as well as aid in global efforts to solve many issues. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics explains the importance of global literacy: Literacy is a fundamental right and a springboard not only for achieving Education for All but also for eradicating poverty and broadening participation in society. Literacy is a vehicle to . . . empower the poor in particular. As a component of basic education and a foundation for lifelong learning, literacy is the key to enhancing human capabilities and achieving many other rights, it carries wide-ranging benefits not only for individuals but also for families, communities, and societies. (1) Society should vow to continue the conversation that is growing throughout the planet. This call for communication is meant for anyone’s ears. The goal is to create better literacy and communication through a better appreciation for communication and for writing. Literacy can’t be achieved without writing. This call is to write in any way that is possible: whether that is with a pen, a crayon, or a keyboard. An increased interest in language leads to an increase in writing, which will eventually spread into a wider form of communication
around the world. This act is not just for the fortunate; this call needs to reach individuals at all levels of education. This issue affects the world. The less the world talks to itself, the less the world is able to move forward. The world needs to learn to communicate on a grander scale. Literacy needs to take the forefront of global issues. Once the world is communicating, listening, and understanding, then the world is able to solve other issues with a clearer objective. Countries and individuals need to be on a level playing field if anyone is to see an improvement of quality of life. The conversation has already begun; it just needs to get better.
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Now that technology has allowed for easier communication, this ability must be spread throughout the world. Every person on Earth deserves the right to have an education, not the just the rich of societies. Since civilizations first started forming, education was for the upper classes. Peasants didn’t have the time or ability to learn a language or even the privilege. Still to this day, many underprivileged people do not have access to the tools to educate themselves. If the world realizes that learning how to communicate well has a direct correlation with the wellbeing of humans, then they should push for better education and communication on a global scale. Sadly, many countries and cultures forbid certain individuals from getting an education. Those same countries also disapprove of free speech and other forms of communication. That communication is kept controlled from the rest of the world. If those
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countries want to progress into the future at all, they need to realize that education is important for every citizen of any class. Prejudices and controlling governments keep people from communicating with others, and this can have a detrimental effect of the global community. From some of the statistics mentioned earlier in this essay, there is proof that the more people are literate and educated, the more that country can prosper. The people who have the resources to learn and prosper must find a way to help those who cannot help themselves. More organizations and individuals should be concerned with the state of global literacy. While the rate has been rising within the last decade, the fight to keep it rising is not over. There are organizations that are fighting to provide tools and resources for people to learn and in turn to communicate those new ideas to the world. While the world has all the resources at its disposal, society needs to use them to
its fullest extent. There is no shame in how someone chooses to communicate. If someone prefers to write with a pencil in a notebook, then that is great. If they would rather use their laptop or an app on their smartphone, then they are more than welcome to. If there is someone who is most comfortable when they are tweeting their thoughts, then they better write to the best of their ability. American educators are finding new ways to reach students by using technology and Internet resources. Organizations are utilizing social media to spread word about endeavors to increase literacy and the value of education. Regardless of how someone writes, they need to write. Writing is the key to communication and preserving thoughts and ideas for the future. Writing is one of the best ways to improve thought processes and to present information in an orderly manner. For many, writing provides a release from emotions or anxiety. Writing gives a person power to voice their own opinions and tell their own story. Writing provides students with a way to explore any subject. Everyone has to communicate somehow. No matter what field of study or of work, there is communication involved. Public relations managers oversee press releases. Scientists have to be able to record findings from their experiments. Doctors need to communicate with both the nurses and their patients. Artists find new ways to communicate by writing stories or creating images. Without a mutual understanding of how languages and communication works, the world wouldn’t be in the pace it is in right now. There are “languages” that were developed for those who cannot see or hear. Communication is how the world can survive and push itself into the future. Writing is one of the best outlets to get to that point. The world has progressed so much because of people making new discoveries and being able to communicate those points to other people. With a world of information at anyone’s fingertips, it is possible to push the boundaries of communication. Why stop at one language? Why not learn one or several to better improve communication between people? If someone can be a translator, then it bridges the communication gap even more so that all
can join in the conversation. The more people that can join in the global conversation, the more likely the world can progress intellectually. If someone learns to communicate better than they did before, they may be the ones to discover something new or solve a problem. An individual in Zambia may be the one to discover a cure for a disease. A new leader may learn to communicate her point better and eventually, work her way to the top of government. Many of the social issues plaguing countries would dry up if those who are suffering learn to speak up. Individuals have fought and died for the right to learn and to tell their own stories. Communication, literacy, and language are powerful things.
Regardless of how someone writes, they need to write.
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Let this conversation continue in all its forms.
As long as humans have stood on two feet, they have been communicating. This communication has evolved into over a thousand languages and those languages continue to evolve as society grows and changes. Thanks to technology, all of those languages now have the ability to communicate with one another at a rate that would stun anyone maybe a decade ago. The ability society has today to talk to one another is astonishing. Through social media, texting, email, phone calls, video calls, the results are endless. Countries have a much better way to communicate to solve
problems now more than ever. These forms of communication are spreading to underdeveloped countries and even to poorer sections of society. More and more people are getting the chance to raise his or her voice to address an issue or share an idea. Communication is essential to intellectual progress; therefore, there needs to be a push for higher literacy and a better form of communication on a global scale. If the world hopes to continue its stride forward intellectually, there needs to be more of an interest taken in literacy, language, and communication. Language has played such an important role in developing cultures and that momentum needs to keep moving forward. This may lead to better conversations and the ability to expand communication around the world. However, this push needs to come from individuals and institutions alike. The interest should stem from lower and higher levels of education with an understanding that the need for communication is on a global scale. Students should understand that literacy is not just a concept based in the classroom. It stems farther outward into the world, to continue conversations that occur in all countries in many languages. History has demonstrated the need for interaction and communication through how its writing abilities have evolved. Society started as just an oral culture, and eventually, evolved into a written culture, and that society developed technology to make writing and communication more accessible and easier to manage. Ideas and issues can now be shared much easier today than a letter on the back of a carriage to a far off land. Messages can be sent in an instant and responses can be received in the same
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amount of time. The world has already come so far from its primitive beginnings, but it still has farther to go. Many of the world’s problems stem from human rights issues and with the power of the Internet, these issues are seen more widely and can be addressed on a global scale. The problem is getting everybody involved in the conversation. If the more cultures can communicate and bridge this gap, it may reduce these problems. Communication has been important for the evolution of the human race. More people can join the conversation through social media, writing, and reading. These essentials should be taught on a more widespread scale in educational settings. More emphasis needs to be put on younger minds that literacy is a global issue. If someone has the ability to learn a language, take advantage of it. Hopefully, society will understand that an improvement in literacy is a global issue, and there will be a push for an improvement worldwide. Language needs to make a comeback, and that starts from the ground up. Communication has been and always will be essential for human survival, and society will realize how heavily it depends on that basic level of understanding. No one should be afraid to join this conversation; all voices need to be heard from all walks of life to truly make a change for the better. If society wants to keep on its path to intellectual progress, the conversation needs to continue. If someone can express a point clearly and concisely to an audience of millions, think about the change it could bring. Let this conversation continue in all its forms. Write, type, and communicate better.
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