Illiteracy Impairs Intelligence (need proper MLA formatting) Illiteracy is the famine of the mind.

Just as the human body requires food to carry out life processes, the mind requires literature in order to develop intelligently. A mind, incapable of reading or writing, starves in a similar fashion to a man dehydrated and malnourished. If left untreated, this hunger gives rise to negative consequences. Illiteracy shuts down avenues to intellectual growth while leaving the mind vulnerable to mental predators. It is abuse of the mind that is becoming more prevalent but easily overlooked. Illiteracy is an increasing issue in society because it results in academic failure, imposes social limitations, and creates emotional problems. Illiteracy undermines a students ability to comprehend, think critically, and follow instructions. Teachers help reconsolidate concepts discussed in class by assigning pages of reading material daily. An illiterate student, unable to read, will not receive any of this fortification, and he will develop a lack of understanding. ood !onsequently, he will not be able to recall concepts with as much certainty due to his limited e"posure to the content. reat This will, in turn, impair the illiterate students ability to manipulate and apply the concept to different and unfamiliar situations. #ow$ %ven better$ &econdly, educational institutions continually challenge and improve a students creative and critical thinking through written responses to prompt. This process will be non' e"istent to illiterate students because they are unable to write. !onsequently, they become underdeveloped in the fields of creativity and analysis, two significant aspects that contribute to academic achievement. good (astly, written instruction will serve as an obstacle for higher achievement in illiterate students. )or instance, a chemistry lab procedure contains key instructions that demand strict adherence for success, and it draws attention to key safety precautions. An illiterate student, unable to read, will not comprehend the instructions. As a result, he will likely perform the procedure improperly and become a victim to technical pitfalls, which will ultimately lead to failure of the assignment. %"cellent *esides academic failure, illiteracy raises social barriers. +k transition to your ne"t paragraph, but can be more sophisticated. Illiteracy places social limitations on relationships with others, employment opportunities, and self'e"pression. )or e"ample, eating out at a restaurant becomes problematic for an illiterate person due to his inability to read the menu. ,e will have

trouble ordering his food, and he will suffer mortification as a result. This will discourage illiterates from attending social gatherings in fear of being embarrassed. ood !onsequently, they will have fewer opportunities to forge and enrich relationships with others. great -oreover, unemployment is more likely among the illiterate. They are unable to fill out a .ob application or write a resume due to their limited writing capabilities, so already an obstacle lies between them and employment. (iteracy is becoming an indispensible quality that employers e"pect of employees in the modern workforce due to its link to increased productivity. !onsequently, businesses will inevitably favour hiring literate workers rather than illiterate workers, thereby leading to reduced employment of illiterate workers. This sad fact ultimately leaves many illiterates unemployed. True (astly, illiteracy inhibits self'e"pression. Through reading, a man develops his vocabulary. *y leaving the books unopened, the development of his vocabulary is dormant. !onsequently, illiterate people may struggle with e"pressing their ideas and communicating their opinions to others in an eloquent or coherent manner. This will, in turn, result in poorer social e"periences because illiterate people may have difficulty getting their ideas across, and thus may be unable to fulfill their intentions or purpose of communication as effectively. %"cellent /albeit a bit wordy0 Illiteracy is not only socially disabling, but it also creates emotional problems. *etter transition Isolation, low confidence and confusion are the by'products of illiteracy. 1eally nice focused topic sentences$ In todays modern society, vast libraries of knowledge and enormous social networks inhabit the web. ,owever, the webs medium is words. Illiterate people cannot access this network because they are incapable of deciphering this medium. As a result, they become disconnected from their peers that belong to these social networks, and they become separated from the information of the world. )urthermore, illiterate people will lack confidence in themselves. They will have e"perienced much failure in the academic environment and much re.ection in the realm of work due to their limited capabilities. 2aturally, these repeated failures will erode away at ones self'confidence as illiterate people are e"periencing a mountain load of negative feedback. Inevitably, illiterate people develop lower self'esteems. %"cellent (astly, illiterate people may often feel perple"ed and lost. )or instance, an illiterate persons stroll down a city street is a parallel to a tourists adventure through a foreign

country. An illiterate person will not be able to make sense of the traffic signs, street names, or numerous wordy advertisements that surround him. %verything will seem like a foreign language to him. !onsequently, he will, like the tourist, have trouble finding his way around. This lack of direction leads to profound confusion. %vidently, illiteracy can be very troubling towards a persons mental well'being. In short, illiteracy disables a person academically, socially, and mentally. It not only restricts high academic achievement and social fle"ibility, but it also stirs a mind towards isolation, self'doubt, and confusion. )ortunately, organi3ations such as 42%&!+ are making initiatives to eradicate illiteracy from our minds. 42%&!+ has made initiatives to increase literacy in countries with literacy rates under 567 and has raised global awareness through its international literacy day on &eptember 8. ,mmm9this is ok, but if youre mentioning an organi3ation out of no where, you should bring up a few so its a bit more general. radually, these efforts are spreading literacy across the globe. As literacy spreads among the population though, it will introduce a new hunger into our minds: the curiosity to know more. This curiosity, above all else, is what has sparked our human innovation and is what has propelled human civili3ation forward since its e"istence.