Illiteracy in the US Essay Example for Free

Illiteracy in the US Essay Literacy has become a topic of concern in the entire United States of America. The media has often called for attention on the literature crisis with a large proportion of adults being illiterate. There are a large proportion of the Americans who are however, literate in their native language as well as English. However, the much concern about literacy is due to the fact that the expectations for formal education tend to increase with the changes of generations. Another concern is that many of the American adults lack literacy and more so English literacy to help them carry on well in the contemporary US society. Data from literacy surveys are considered by many policy makers as a barometer for the nation’s well being as well an indicator for the nation’s preparedness to compete in the global economy. It is also used as a measure to gauge how the schools have equipped the students with the skills that are necessary for the social, economic and political participation (Wiley, 1994, para 1). Many definitions have been given to the term illiteracy. The nature of the criterion that leads to the definition varies from one point to another. For instance, in 1930 the Bureau of the Census defined illiterate as any person over the age of 10 years who was unable to read and write in any language (http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-illitera. html). However in the census of 1940, the issue of functional illiteracy was adopted. In this case, any person with less than five years of schooling was considered to be functionally illiterate, (http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-illitera. html). Since then, the concept of functional illiterate has grown, but there have been many changes in the definition with the complexity in most social activities. By 1970, the office of the US Education considered the minimum years for literacy to be 6 years and sometimes 8 years for schooling to be a minimum criterion for functional literacy. According to the report of (http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-illitera. html), in 1990, about 5% of the adult Americans did not meet the criterion. According to the United Nations, illiteracy is the inability to read and write a simple message in any language. Using the definition of the United Nations, the United States and Canada have an overall illiteracy rate of about 1%. However, in some disadvantaged areas of the rural south in the United States, the rate of illiteracy is much higher (http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1E1-illitera. html). Literacy has been laden with related issues such as quality of life. Members of the minority group who do not have any of their literature written in their own language or any other language are usually marginalized and usually on the downside of the digital divide. It has been found that income of an individual correlates with the education level of that individual Literacy rate Per capita income Below 40% Less than $600 Above 98% More than $12,000 Source: (http://www. sil. org/literacy/issues. htm) According to these figures, as the literacy rate doubles so does the per capita income. In economic terms this may mean that literacy has some payoffs and it is thus a worthwhile investment. Illiteracy on the other hand may be a loss of income to the individual as well as the society at large. â€Å"According to the National Adult Literacy survey, in the US alone, adults estimated price tag of more than $17 billion per year as a result of lost revenue, welfare, unemployment, crime and incarceration, and industry†, (http://www.sil. org/literacy/issues. htm Para 4). This implies that the price tag for illiteracy is much more than the cost of literacy. However, literacy cannot merely be equated to better jobs, on its own, but several factors have to be put in consideration. For instance, fluent literacy, well developed writing skills, mathematics and general knowledge that is far beyond what was acquired in a normal class of adult literacy. Furthermore, literacy cannot be necessarily equated to wealth. However, literacy would mean betterment of live of the people in general. Literacy would therefore be able to provide an option for the member of the society to become more self esteem, understand issues well, and be able to represent themselves. Adult functional illiteracy is a major problem hidden in the United States society that affects all the adults regardless of the race, gender, or economic status. â€Å"An estimated 27 million Americans are functionally illiterate; they are unable to read, comprehend, write or compute at a level which enables them function in a complex world,† (Bell 1984, pp 1). The pool of functional illiterates continues to increase each year especially with the increasing number of immigrants. The other cost of functional illiteracy is that no adult can be able to secure and keep a job while being illiterate. Functional illiteracy lowers productivity and contributes to unemployment in the society. For the functional illiterate adults who manage to get employment, they contribute to a lot of loss to the organization due to issues such as clerical errors, mistakes on production lines or even industrial accidents that can be caused by the functional illiterates. According to Bell, many studies have shown that there is a correlation between illiteracy and crime, as many of the inmates are illiterate (pp1). There is an urgent need to be able to communicate efficiently in the United States. The ability to read and write is one of the chief means of communication. Adult illiterates must be taught properly how to read and write so that they can function successfully in the society. There many methods that are used to teach adult literacy in the United States however, most do not work effectively. Most of the programs are affected by inconvenience scheduling of classes, physical distance that causes transportation problem, and change of address (Kim, 1997, para 2). Many people have devised means of tackling adult illiteracy, but there is no single agreed solution that has been reached at. The solutions in fact have ended up causing quarrels between the policy makers and the organizers of adult literacy programs. There are many countless ideas on how to solve adult education because there are many researchers that have published there ideas about adult education, while others just publish papers for the sake of publishing (Kim 1997 para 4). Some authors in fact just publish for the sake of contradicting and contrasting what they see as wrong and invalid ideas. Therefore it can be argued that some authors just publish their work without minding what it contributes to the community. It is not unusual for one author to come across ideas published that are different from his/hers. In such cases, some authors will take initiative to contradict the other authors purposely. Therefore, to avoid various confusions on the ideas of adult education, the government should take initiatives to take part greatly in adult education by providing more resources such as teachers and the locations of the education centers that are convenient to the students. Works Cited Bell T H. Toward a learning society; the Secretary of Education discusses the breadth of the Problem of adult functional illiteracy and his commitment to solve it, 1984. Retrieved on 18th Dec 2007 from http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m1011/is_v20/ai_3199375

Against Animal Testing Essay -- essays research papers

I'm definitely against animal testing because it is cruel! It is morally profligate to torment animals for our own benefits. These animals, who cannot defend themselves against abuse, are legally imprisoned and exploited. Every single day a human being talks about his or her rights. If they feel their rights have been taken away from them then they will fight back. It?s hypercritical for humans to torment and kill, innocent and unprotected animals if they talk about their own rights. Animals should receive the same rights as humans. Over 115 million animals have been tormented daily for scientific research. People seem to find this acceptable but if the same number of humans were to die at the same time, it actually be considered a tragedy. I would be considered immorally wrong and I would be called a psycho killer, and would be sent to jail. How come scientists can do this every day and no one thinks twice about it. These scientist wouldn?t be called a psycho killer because if they do manage to create something beneficial from the torture of these helpless animals, then they will be known as heroes. We need to put an end to this cruelty! Can a animal hold a pen or pencil if they don?t have any thumbs? I've never met an animal that can speak English or other types of languages, Its unfair to give tests to these poor animals! Everyone should put themselves in the animal?s position, living in a locked room without control over anything of your life. You can't choose when and what you will eat, how you will spend your time, or even have anyone to talk to. You can't even decide when the lights go on and off. Think about how you would feel if you spent your entire life like this, even though you haven?t committed a crime. Ev... ...d other animals, but killed 61 people and caused austere reactions. Some animal testing is not even needed but they do it anyway. There are over 500 companies that still test on animals. Cosmetic companies perform more then half of all animal tests, such as L'olay, Cover Girl, Suave, and Johnson and Johnson. I am believe that today?s technology testing products on animals is completely unnecessary. Animals do not need to be tested on for the development of new cosmetics or hair products. Animal produces imprecise and dangerous results and its just a waste of time and resources. New test are just being ignored. Animals are just like us. They feel pain and want to live just as much as we do. We are better than the other animals because we often say we are. The testing and experiments is to make our lives better, so it should be performed on us? Not other animals.

Organ Donation Essay

Organ Donation The process of taking functional organs and tissues from one person for transplantation into another individual is called organ donation. Whereas, any part of the body that performs a different and special function is referred to as an organ. Transplantation takes places quite successfully today between well-matched human beings. Majority of the organ recipients are able to live five or more years. Skin, cornea, bone marrow and kidney transplants are the most common today. Moreover, lung and heart transplants are also gaining precedence. In commonplace terms, organ donation is the removal of working, healthy organs from the body of an individual who had pledged while being alive that his organs could be donated to a person requiring it. Usually the tissues or organs are taken out in a manner similar to surgery. Moreover, all the incisions are clogged at the end. Organ donors can include people of all ages. It is not restricted to any particular group, nor is it restricted to any cert ain age limit. In the present era, organ transplantation is widely recognized as of the most gripping medical advancements. It is almost the elixir of life to individuals with deteriorating organs who require other fellow beings to donate them organs. With the increasing cases of organ failure in society and the insufficient supply of organs, there is an enormous gap between organ supply and organ demand. Subsequently, it takes ages for a person with deteriorating organs to get functioning organs from another being. Moreover, numerous deaths have been reported in that waiting. Thus, these events have aroused moral, societal and ethical concerns regarding the allocation of organs, supply and the use of surviving donors as volunteers,  including those who qualify as minors. Unfortunately, it has spurred the practice of selling organs by money-makers for their own monetary gains and vested interests in many parts of the world by exploiting the poor. This has spurred corrupt practices where organ donation is concerned (Shroff, 2009). While we are on the subject of organ donation, an ethical issue is the procurement of organs and tissues. Firstly, this includes the buying and selling of human organs and tissues: There are some people who believe that human organs and tissues ought to be bought and sold in order to quantify the supply and show deference for other people’s autonomy. On the other hand, there are people who believe that treating any part of the body like a saleable good is a violation of human dignity. Organ donation has evolved considerably in the last 50 years. Following is a history of the procurement of organs and tissues. †¢ Successful transplantation of various organs Initially, organ transplantation started with kidneys, but now it has diversified to lungs, livers, hearts and other organs. It has slowly evolved to encompass various parts of the body. Progress in organ donation and cadaveric practices To decide who can donate organs has been a continuously evolving process. Firstly, it started with living donors and later moved on to include dead and brain dead donors. Even today, there are debates about growing and limiting the qualified donors. In the year of 2001, the surviving donors managed to even outnumber cadaveric donors. This was a milestone in the history of the United States. Formulation of anti-rejection drugs to enhance development and success The formulation of anti-rejection drugs has compounded the success of organ transplants. In the 1960s and 1970s, immunosuppressant drugs were used to increase the success rate of organ transplants (Flaman, 2008). Cyclosporine was stumbled upon in the 1980s. It greatly improved the success rate for patients undergoing transplants. The overall results were also improved. A phenomenon called xenotransplantation also became well-known – this entails the usage of animal organs for human transplantation. Subsequently, the firs t xenotransplantation was conducted  in 1986. This breakthrough means of transplantation started gaining popularity and researchers started performing more intensive studies on it. The number of people who required organ transplantation started to multiply. The discovery of the first artificial organs In the 1980, the first artificial heart transplant took place which was followed closely by the American public and the news media. This basically involved segmenting organs into pieces (either from cadaveric donors or surviving donors). In 1996, the first split liver transplant too place. It permitted one cadaveric liver to be used among several patients who required a transplant. Stem cell research: This basically involves the examination of human embryo and adult’s cell in an endeavor to find out how organs are development and what stimulates their development. There are certain ethical concerns regarding how organs and tissues are obtained. For instance: a pharmaceutical company in France buys placentas from 110 Canadian hospitals in order to produce blood products and vaccines. However, there are some poor people in countries, such as India, who sell their kidneys for $700 or even more than that. There have also been cases reported in India where people have gained consci ousness after a kidnapping incident, only to discover that one of their organs has been removed in that process (Caplan, 2010). In regards to this issue, there are people who draw a difference between waste matter of humans, certain body parts that happen to regenerate such as blood and non-regenerative human organs such as kidneys. There are many people who differentiate profit making from covering the donor’s expenses. If a donor has to pay for organs, this can put undue pressure on him. It nullifies a contract or free consent. There are some people who are also fearful of the fact that if the buying and selling of organs became a notorious business, then it would undermine the nobility associated with organ transplants. It could be detrimental if the organ just went to the highest bidder. The equity would be compromised upon as donating organs would depend upon the ability to pay rather than finding out how they should be distributed. There are some people who argue that this can be brought under control by monitoring sales. If the buying and selling of organs and human tissues is completely restric ted, then it would drive the market underground. Since there are numerous controversies associated with  the buying and selling of human parts, there are many who believe that other alternatives should be adopted (Thomas, 2009). Media Publicity There are several instances when an organ or tissue is acquired for a person by showcasing their need through the media. This could negate the other transplant channels through which it is normally obtained. Moreover, the correct criterion of selecting recipients, which is usually done on the basis of greatest needs and greater likelihood of benefit, can also be overlooked. However, publicity through media creates awareness in the public domain about the need for transplants and in the long run will increase the supply of organs and tissues. Voluntary consent basically entails a person making an intended offer to donate their organs after their demise. In the case of cadaver donation, a person can intimate their consent by advanced directives, such as by filling out the Universal Donor Card, part of their driver’s license. When the transplant is from a living donor, free consent is necessitated. However, it is best to have established consent regarding a deceased donor because this act exhibits love and responsible stewardship over one’s body. Moreover, it also communicates the wishes of health care professionals and family to the individual as well as others. When there is no pre-existing consent, the person who holds responsibility for the dead body should be approached regarding donation. It is imperative that the wish of the deceased person should be upheld. Medical ethics in organ donation has become imperative. This is basically a system comprising of moral principles that applies judgments and values to the process of organ donation. Autonomy is the sole prerogative of the individual to choose what happens to him/her even if this means dying in the process. In this regard, even if a person wishes to contribute his organs to another and thus die, he should not be prevented from doing so. On the other hand, fidelity entails adhering to the choices of someone, even if paying no heed to them would save another person’s life. Confidentiality means protecting the names of the donor from being let out in public or as per the desire of the patient. Hence, if a person prefers to remain unnamed while consenting to donate organs, his wish should be upheld. The team performing the transplantation can ask questions, but foremost it is imperative to prioritize the desire of the patient over anyone else (Truog, 2005). In order to address the ethical issues associated with organ donation stated above, it is important for health care professionals to be acquainted with the meaning of organ and tissue donation. They should be well-versed with the procedure of organ donation and to perform it in the best and most efficient manner possible. It would also be a good idea to render training to members of the health care team so that they can approach potential donors and families in a sensitive manner. To facilitate the process smoothly, they should be able enough to provide the necessary social and personal support during the process of mourning. Providers of health care also need to learn that respecting a dead person is a prerequisite of our humanity. It is also pertinent to mention that any reference to the deceased should be done with utmost sensitivity and using the most appropriate names. Furthermore, to compound the potential for transplants, providers of health care have a fundamental duty of rai sing the general level of awareness of needs. It should be done in a way that protects the rights and privacy of the patient, does not tamper with the medical process in any way and also does not remove attention from other urgent matters (NHMRC, 2012). References Shroff, Sunil, NCBI Legal and ethical aspects of organ donation and transplantation, (2009), Retrieved from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779960/ Flaman, Paul, Organ and Tissue Transplants: Some ethical issues, (2008), Retrieved from: http://www.ualberta.ca/~pflaman/organtr.htm Truog, Robert, The Ethics of Organ Donation by living Donors, (2005), Retrieved from: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp058155 Thomas, Chris, Ethics around Organ Donation, (2009), Retrieved from: https://www.chf.org.au/pdfs/hvo/hvo-2008-1-ethics-organ-donation.pdf NHMRC, Donating organs after death, (2012), Retrieved from: http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/publications/attachments/e29.pdf Caplan, Arthur, Organ Procurement and Transplantation: Ethical and Practical Issues, (2010), Retrieved from: http://www.upenn.edu/ldi/issuebrief2_5.html

Public smoking Essay - 909 Words

Smoking in Public â€Å"One thousand Americans stop smoking every day - by dying.†(The Quote Garden). It’s no surprise that smoking is one of the leading causes of death in the nation. There is overwhelming evidence that smoking affects our health. However, when one lights up a cigarette and smokes where other are present, one not only affects his or her own body, but others as well. This refers not only to the inconvenience of someone smoking near you, but also to the affect of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke has to ability to affect ones health, even if they never touch a cigarette! This poses the question whether or not smoking in public places should be legal. There has been much controversy over this question; whether or not†¦show more content†¦Smoking is one of the highest causes of diseases (Harder). Smoking cigarettes is known for causing many illnesses, such as cancers, diseases, and strokes. Smoking on a daily basis will take ten years from your life! So why do people do it may ask. Some people think it looks cool. Others smoke cigarettes because a family member does it (Hirsch). However, the leading reason why people continue to smoke, even though they know it is affecting their health, is because of nicotine (The Effects). People get addicted to nasty habit of smoking cigarettes from the drug nicotine. This is what causes people to keep coming back for more. Nicotine is a very addictive drug, and after you have it, it makes you crave it more and more. It gives you a â€Å"good feeling.† However, when it is absent, the body tells your mind that you need it and without it, you are stuck with a â€Å"bad feeling.† This is why quitting smoking cigarettes is one of the hardest addictions to break. These people realize they are affecting their bodies in a negative way (Nicotine Addiction). However, they may not know that when they decide to smoke in a public place, they are not only affecting their own bodies, but also the bodies of others through secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke, just like firsthand smoke, can cause a premature death! Secondhand smoke is often referred to as â€Å"passive smoke.†Show MoreRelatedSmoking In Public Places - Is a Public Smoking Ban The Answer?1023 Words   |  5 PagesIs A Public Smoking Ban The Answer? Imagine... you come into a restaurant and are seated in the smoking area, you chose to sit in this area even though you dont smoke and you know the smoke bothers you. A smoker comes in and sits down at the booth next to you and lights up. What do you do? A) Ask the waitress for another location in the non-smoking area. B) Ask the person who just lit a cigarette to kindly put it out? Or C) Get up and leave the restaurant? 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