Knowledge in Knowing

What keeps this world together is the art of communication, and the key concept of communication is literacy. To be literate is to know how to read and write in order to express yourself. According to some psychologists, our population would be much less than what it is today if people were still illiterate. Literacy has helped us as human beings progress in life, live longer, get along, and most importantly become more knowledgeable.

Literacy can open many doors for you. Whether it’s to get by in this world, open your mind to more ideas, become educated, or be able to have your own thoughts about situations by analyzing, reading and writing is knowledge.

In an essay I read called Learning to Read and Write, by Fredrerick Douglas, he explains his journey to learning how to read and write as a slave. He discusses that gaining the knowledge of literacy was to finally be aware of what was happening around him. What he learns in his readings are the reasons to why they were keeping slavery around. He also explains to us that while he did something good, which was learning to read and write; he discovered horrible things that made him angry like reading about the slave situation. Douglass felt angry about the truth that surrounded him, but without knowing to read and write, he would have never figured out any of this. The concept I got from his story is that the more knowledge I gain, is the more I think, and the more I think is the more I contradict things in this world.

When you begin to wonder what is going on around you, and you finally come to an understanding of why certain things take place; you individualize yourself from other people and come up with your own conclusions and perspectives on situations. You gain more knowledge by doing this, and most knowledge comes from reading.

I have read all kinds of things from religion to scientific methods, giving me lots to think about. I start to contradict many ideas and make up my own conclusions. In history class, reading about the past has opened my eyes to why we do things the way we do today. It explained to me why we have so many laws and so much security where we live. Reading about past events, has helped me to see the right from wrong. When knowing the rules or laws, it is harder to break them. It also explains why we have education, freedom, and many more things we are guaranteed. In Political Science I learned many different political views. Only by reading what they stand for, and I have made a choice of which one I am closer to. I may not like to read and write, but I have gained a great amount of knowledge from it.

Of course people learn through experiences and observations, but the most common and the most used way is through reading. Being illiterate would have a huge impact on anyone’s life in today’s world, specially a teenager. We would not be able to e-mail, text, or be on these website that allow us to chat with friends and family in different countries, such as facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. Without reading one can not educate themselves or have the ability to progress in life. Success if mostly brought by education and to be educated, is to have gone to school and learned to read and write correctly. The key to succeed in life is education and literacy plays a big role in this stage of life.